In this episode, #107, Denise and Nicole Nutile of Wiley discuss how to incorporate sustainability or "going green" into daily life and the workplace, emphasizing the importance of small, impactful changes.
Nicole Nutile shares her journey from working in operations to becoming the global co-chair of the Wiley Green Group, driven by her passion for eco-friendly practices. She highlights surprising statistics about plastic pollution and other types of litter, emphasizing the urgency of environmental action.
Additionally, Nicole offers a free PDF on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, inviting listeners to DM her or Denise on LinkedIn to get a copy and start making a difference today.
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Episode Transcript
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Denise Venneri (00:01):
Welcome to the My Curious Colleague podcast
with your host, me, DeniseVenneri. We'll be talking all
things consumer relations with afocus on consumer product goods
organizations and the brandspecialist and analyst roles and
responsibilities. So if you likeCPGs, like I like CPGs,
(00:22):
marketing, insights, and caringdeeply for your consumers, well,
take a listen.
Hello My curious colleagues,this week, I'm curious about
getting green at home, at work,and in the contact center. And
to help me do just that thisweek is my colleague, Nicole
(00:42):
Nadeel, who is manager of clientservice and customer experience
at Wiley, and who, in additionto that 9 to 5 gig, I should
also add is the president-electof SOCAP.
That's the acronym for theSociety For Consumer Affairs
Professionals that you alwayshear me talk about on, on the
(01:03):
podcast. So with that, hello,Nicole, and welcome to the
podcast.
Nicole Nutile (01:10):
Hi, Denise. Thank you so much for having me on
your podcast. I feel veryhonored, and I'm really excited
to do this.
Denise Venneri (01:17):
Oh my gosh. Same here. Same here. You've kinda
opened up the idea of well,we'll get into it. ERGs,
employee research resourcegroups, and the opportunities
for for folks there, and talkingabout it.
Let's start with getting to knowyou a little bit. How did how
did you get to this point inyour career?
Nicole Nutile (01:42):
Very interesting way. I had kids. So, no, I, I
always worked in operations, andthat's been from the contact
center, and I transitioned overto, you know, the brand side and
working and contributing to ateam. And when I joined, Wiley,
(02:02):
it was a great opportunity forme to connect with people while
we were in that, you know, sortof virtual world. And, I had my
son, and I was thinking that Ican do everything, you know,
really naturally andholistically and recycle
everything.
And very quickly, it wasoverwhelming, and it just went
(02:22):
out the window. So I found, theemployee resource group. It's
the Wiley Green Group. And whatI wanted to get out of that was
just to understand what everyonein that organization was doing,
what was important to them, and,learn in small bites how to make
a change and really, you know,teach my kids. And it became, a
(02:46):
passion.
I started to volunteer more. Igot involved over the last 3
years, and I just recently, onlylast month, took over as the
global cochair for the GreenGroup for the Americas side of
it because we have chairs allover. But it's it's great. It's
it's something that is importantfor me to pass on to my kids.
(03:09):
And even if it's small things, Ijust wanna make that difference.
Denise Venneri (03:14):
Yeah. Well, first, I should say
congratulations on your path tobeing named a cochair of a
global group. That's quite anaccomplishment. Thank you. Very
proud of you.
And, I, I need to sadly say, Idon't know a lot about this
topic. I wanna learn more, likeI'll take the recycling out and
(03:35):
I think, oh my God, that was anaccomplishment just to pull that
together from the week. So I amso open to learning more, and I
know you've got tons of tips forus. So tell me what you've
learned so far in the the greengroup.
Nicole Nutile (03:50):
Well, it it's really interesting because I
thought the same way. You know,you're thinking about you're
taking the recycling out andyou're separating your plastics,
your containers, your sharps,and, you think that's kind of
it. And, really, that's just,like, the very beginning of it.
There's so much more that goesinto it. We're really starting
(04:12):
now in my house to, you know,reuse, repurpose, and then
eventually when it's like, youcan't do anything anymore,
recycle.
Denise Venneri (04:20):
Yeah.
Nicole Nutile (04:21):
And there's a lot going on in the world that's
supporting this. And, you know,we follow at Wiley the United
Nations' 17 goals that theyhave. They're called the SDGs,
sustainable development goals.And, you know, I try to focus on
them the same way I, you know,at home, thinking about what we,
(04:46):
focus on at work and what UnitedNations is trying to do. There's
15 goals in total.
The top 5 are no poverty, 0hunger, good health, well-being,
quality education, and genderequality. And, I hope that I can
share with your listeners thePDF. And it's so great just to
(05:10):
read about what progress they'vemade over, you know, the years
and what we still have to do. Ifyou're looking to contribute,
that's a great place to start.
Denise Venneri (05:19):
So perhaps if you're interested in receiving
that from, Nicole, you can DMher in LinkedIn or DM myself,
and, we'll make sure to get thatto you. I appreciate that that
offer, Nicole, very much. Yeah.Tell
Nicole Nutile (05:37):
me about the queen.
So it's really, it's sort of ajourney when you're thinking
about getting green and how youcan apply it to different parts
of your life. It was reallydaunting at first.
I started thinking, like, I'mgonna solve all the world's
problems, and it was like I Icouldn't. I couldn't even figure
(05:59):
out how to not use shampoo and,in a single plastic use bottle.
So I started to, learn frompeople who had much more
expertise than I did. And thisamazing, CEO, she's the founder
of City by the Sea in, theUnited Kingdom. And she said to
(06:22):
me well, she said in aninterview kind of, pod not
podcast, like, a meeting that wedid.
She said she was the queen ofsmall achievables, and I thought
that was amazing. And I realizedwe can't solve all the problems
right now, you know, worldhunger, the climate crisis, but
we can make small changes toreally make a difference. And I
(06:45):
think that it's important.Right? We wanna stop plastic
pollution.
That's what her organization isdedicated to. That's one of,
like, the hardest things to getaway from in our world. Right?
That's kinda that's what we do.We use so much plastic.
But I think that's a good way tolook at it. If you can take
small bites out of it, you know,how to eat an elephant kind of
(07:07):
thing, It's really a great wayto start getting involved.
Denise Venneri (07:14):
I like that. Any stats you wanna share with us?
Nicole Nutile (07:18):
Yeah. Well, when you start really, like, learning
about it, it's kind of, it'smind blowing. Right? We think
about plastic and all thebottles, like, that we use every
day. And even, like, women.
Right? Like, our our menstrualproducts. You don't realize it,
but it's like there's so muchplastic in use and single use
(07:41):
plastics that bottle caps.Right? When you think of, like,
water bottles, they're found inanimals and, you know, they're
eating them.
So, you know, they're in theirdigestive tract. And, it's 80%
of plastic, right, that is Okay.On land is going into the ocean.
That's, like, 12,000,000 tons.And right now, it's estimated
(08:04):
that there could be a199,000,000 tons in the oceans
right now, because we don't evenreally know for, like, the
depths of the ocean.
But that's a lot of plastic, andit's really it's scary. It's in
our, you know, our sea life, andit's getting into our water. And
it's just you know, it's a scaryfact. So I think it's also a
(08:26):
motivator to make us want to dobetter and drink from our
Stanley Cups and drink from ourmetal water bottles or
refillable water bottles and usebar shampoo if you're not into,
you know, completely getting ridof a shampoo bottle using, you
know, a recyclable one, one thatyou can fill up. And Mhmm.
(08:48):
Another fact that I thought thiswas really interesting when I
first heard about only because Ididn't realize people still
smoke anymore. But people smokecigarettes. And, when you think
about it, right, globally,that's, you know but also here
in the United States, there's9,700,000,000 cigarette butts
that are littered in the USevery year. Every year,
(09:12):
9,700,000,000 cigarette butts.And they're chemical.
Like, they're not good for you.And they're saying about 4
they're estimating about4,000,000 of them are entering
the waterways. So that's makingup 20% of the litter, which is I
think it's just crazy becausethat's a lot of cigarette butts
and something so small, it'sreally making a a really
(09:33):
terrible impact, you know, onour environment.
Denise Venneri (09:38):
Yeah. And I think just sharing that
knowledge, and the expansivenessof it really kinda brings the
point home. Like, a lot ofpeople don't know these these
details. I appreciate yousharing sharing them. I know you
had said couple tips, but we'llget we'll get back we'll get
back to that.
Tell me about some of the eventsthough that maybe is come that
(09:58):
that are coming up that you'vebeen working on that you're able
to share with us.
Nicole Nutile (10:03):
Yeah. We had a World Ocean Day event yesterday,
which was really nice, and theglobal green group got together.
We have, one of the she's aregional chapter leader, in the
green group, and she is also, amarine biologist, which is
amazing. And so she joined usand shared all of what she
(10:25):
learned in her research whengetting her masters and how, you
know, different, techniques areused to make the water safer,
better, how they're, you know,taking care of it in the bigger
picture. We also had the LongIsland Aquarium join us.
They they came on virtually,which is really cool, and they
(10:46):
did a tour of how they havethese, you know, rehabilitation
of animals, how they're takingcare of animals, and we got to
see them. You know, the fish, wewere talking before, right,
about, the Nemo and andclownfish, the dory fish. And
they have a whole setup in how,like, the ecosystem works and
anemones, and it was just soreally nice to see. And then we
(11:08):
saw, the penguins, like seaotters, and they were giving us
the breakdown of what eachanimal is Yeah. Eating, what
they're fed, how they'retrained, how they're, you know,
brought back to feeling betterif they come in not feeling
good.
So it was a really great event.And, you know, World Ocean Day
is one day, but we cancelebrate, you know, the oceans
(11:32):
all throughout the month ofJune. Let's see. In July, July
is, free plastics, and that's athat's a really big one. Right?
Because you know how importantit is to start. We have to think
about, you know, the plastic,usage in the world, and you can
be part of the solution. There'sgreat examples and links that I
(11:54):
can share with you. And we tryto do besides our monthly goals,
we set, our monthly calls. Weset goals for ourselves, what we
can do to limit the use ofplastics.
Even if it's for the month, youfind that you start to
incorporate it into yourlifestyle throughout the year. I
stopped using regular shampoo,and I use bar shampoo now. I
(12:15):
never thought that I would belike because I had those
favorite brands, and I justthought that was the one. And, I
said, you know, I'll try it for,you know, a plastic free July,
and it just stuck. And and I waslike, well, my kids have to use
that, and they like it, and it'scool.
You know? It's easy travel. So,really great ways to get out
(12:36):
there and get involved. And evenif it's just reading about it
and trying to learn more, that'sstill a step in the right
direction. Yeah. And we'rehoping to do that with your PDF
and the links.
Denise Venneri (12:49):
Yeah. Yeah.
And the websites that I went tothat you shared with me, they're
all bright and sunny and reallyeasy to click on. It's not like
this very at least the the 2that I looked at, It's not this
real serious, tone and jargon.So alright. You gave us some
ideas for June, July.Something's happening in
(13:10):
September.
What's going on there? Or whathave you done in the past in
September?
Nicole Nutile (13:15):
Yes. September is a good one. We have, national
cleanup day, national cleanupmonth in September. And for us,
around the green groups in Wileyand the global Wiley green
group, we usually organize, youknow, teams that are near us,
hybrid. You know, some peoplehave moved during the pandemic
(13:35):
and, you know, or some of ourcolleagues are on the other side
of the globe, but we all find away to get together and, you
know, go and clean up something,whatever it is.
A lot of places, like, where,our community is great. They
list different ways that you canget involved in cleanup. I've
been going to 1 for a few years,and we get the family involved.
(13:58):
And we go, and we just make surethat we're cleaning up these
waterways because we wanna tryto keep it clean as it flows
through to the ocean. But thereare so many ways that you can do
that.
There's garbage in parks.There's pickers, and Wiley has
been amazing at supporting this.They will make sure we have all
of the things that we need.Family comes, you know, you have
(14:20):
your gloves, your pickers, andyou make a difference that day.
When you see, you know, 20 bagsof garbage, even if it's 5 bags
of garbage, you know, thatyou've collected, it's something
that's not getting into thewater.
It's not getting into, you know,what we're drinking, and I think
that's really a powerful thing.And most people can do that if
(14:40):
they have local, you know,volunteer options, they can
check that out, like, in theirrecreational boards. Usually,
they post stuff about it therein their communities. But,
another link I'll share is forthe National Cleanup website,
and it has you could put yourZIP code in and find out if
there's something going on nearyou.
Denise Venneri (15:00):
Amazing. Amazing. How about some more of
the ideas that that I could doright now? You mentioned the one
that was the bar soaps, whichI've heard about that a little
like, somewhere along the line,somebody had a you know, maybe
it was a face wash, but such ait seems like such a simple
(15:22):
idea. So give us more.
What else can we do, like, rightnow?
Nicole Nutile (15:27):
Well, for sure, we talked about the bar shampoo,
bar conditioners. Those are agreat way, using refillable
water bottles, which everyoneknows that. We're getting so
much better at that. You see,places to fill your water, you
know, in parks now. They're inthe airport.
It's it's great. We're trying tomake it more accessible so more
(15:48):
people do that. Refillablecontainers. Right? Those are
fantastic if you're not going todo the bar shampoo, and I get
it.
It's like a but, I use a brand.It's called Kitsch. But if
you're taking stuff on vacation,you don't wanna carry all of
these bottles, especially ifyou're thinking about the ounces
that you can travel with, youcan get these travel size ones.
(16:11):
They're usually, like, I think,the silicone, that soft material
because you can refill them,then you can take them home and
wash them out when you're doneso you can use them again. But I
put everything in there.
My kids' Aquaphor, their suntanlotion, anything, aloe, whatever
it is that I can squeeze out ofa bag and put it into a bottle,
it's better. Powering downelectronics when they're not
(16:33):
being used, really, a great wayto conserve energy. When you're
on the plane, putting it onairplane mode, right, or do not
disturb, obviously. They tell usthat when we take off to not
interfere with thecommunications to the cockpit,
but it's also great if you'rejust, you know, not using the
(16:54):
technology. Powering downcompletely, obviously, is the
best.
But, I think about you know, wehave little kids, and I'm
downloading movies for them towatch so they're not so if I
could sort of, you know, giveone and take away from mine, I
try to do that. And travelinggreener, that's another really
great one that people could getinvolved in sort of right away.
(17:16):
Right? We don't want anyone tostop traveling. The aviation
emissions are low in terms ofwhat they're putting out when we
think of, like, you know, planesflying and, but there are ways
to travel greener.
So and it's not just abroad.Right? It's domestic travel too.
If you have a travel agent thatyou work with, you most likely
can tell them, hey. I'm lookingfor some green options, and they
(17:38):
have all of that.
They'll help you with the sortof best practices in in green
travel. And then there's otherways thinking about economy, how
you're traveling. You know, it'sall sort of, starting they're
actually starting to lay it outmore on the different travel
websites. So if you see thoseoptions, you can go down that
path. But I think it's, youknow, even going to a hotel when
(18:02):
you're visiting.
We all like to have that momentof being pampered. But if you
don't wash your towels every daywhile you're in you know,
staying there and you hang themup and let them dry, less
bedding being changed. You know,it's less of the, you know,
machines running that, you know,constant cycle of, you know,
water churning andmicroplastics, you know, getting
(18:25):
into the water. It's just a it'sa great way to make a small
change.
Denise Venneri (18:31):
Yeah. Love that. There are some really excellent,
yes, physical changes you couldmake, literal physical changes.
How about, can you share somedigital type footprint tips for
us?
Nicole Nutile (18:48):
Yeah. A lot of the, obviously, the the bigger
names we know, they're theyfocus on on green. Right?
They're they all have goals. I'msure you watch commercials, and
it's like, you know, promise togo green or whatever by 20
something.
And Right. They're it's not justphysical. Like you said, there
(19:09):
are digital ways to our carbonfootprint. We think about old
electronic emails and storagethat the servers have to
support. Every day, the digitaltrash we create as individuals
sits somewhere in a cloud, thatsort of that cloud.
And this cloud uses aconsiderable amount of
electricity. So along with theweb, all the systems that we
(19:33):
need to host all of thesethings, we are producing about
900,000,000 tons of CO 2emissions, and that's 4% of the
global greenhouse emissions. Soit's kind of almost equal to the
aviation industry, which iscrazy because it's just an
email. It's these servers anddata center. It's all, and it's
equal to about, the aviationindustry emissions.
(19:57):
And, really, it's expected toincrease, right, with all
technology to more than 20% overthe next 6 years, and that's a
big impact. So we could doreally great things just to make
that less, and it's like digitalcleanups. Those are a great way.
They happen the 3rd Saturday inMarch, and doesn't mean you have
(20:19):
to wait till that day. You canbe conscious and and do it
throughout the year.
We are all, notorious, I think,for that reply all thank you,
email. We can start thinkingabout not doing that. Right?
And, old presentations orsettings in your computer where
you can say, if I haven'ttouched this file for a long
time, you know, trash it.Something probably from maybe 6
(20:43):
years ago.
I know we like to think we'regonna search it and find it, but
that that file that's sittingthere is is really making an
impact on the world. So I tellpeople just to think consciously
about what you're saving andwhat you can delete.
Denise Venneri (20:56):
Nicole,
that digital emissions thingthat you just shared, that was a
real to me. Like, you don't evenwanna look at my personal
emails. At work, they're they'reI'm totally compliant. But at
home, I you know, I've got anAOL account that I've tried to
shut down. I still have my g Idon't even wanna tell you what
(21:16):
else is going on, but that issuch an I had no idea that that
was con contributing.
You mentioned something, and itmade me think about the contact
center. Can you give us somemore ideas to share with, you
know, your contact center ormaybe just like an internal team
that you might be on?
Nicole Nutile (21:36):
Yeah. I started thinking about how to do this. I
know we're all familiar withcustomer service week in in
October. Yeah. And a great wayto incorporate something green
there, especially if you haveteams that are remote or
celebrating virtually, globally,is to give them an electronic
gift versus, you know, a lot oftimes people are sending gift
cards or they're buying bulkgift cards and they're shipping
(21:58):
them out or they're ordering,lunch in so many different
locations.
And, we encourage potlucks evenand saying cook something at
home, share that recipe. We'llcreate a sort of cookbook,
right, out of it, and we'll beable to share that. But trying
to do those things that Mhmm.Serving multiple locations
(22:19):
without having to, you know,impact the world so much. I
think that there's always gonnabe the times that we have to do
that, but I know people loveelectronic gift cards now.
I mean, my kid is 5, and he'sinto it. I'm like because that's
what they get for theirbirthday. They're like, it's
better than going to CVS andbuying a gift card. You know,
(22:40):
they're getting it. It's like alink right on, you know, your
phone, and you can get themsomething.
You can get yourself something.And I I think it works, like,
globally, right, when you haveto transition, dollars or
pounds, whatever it is. It workswonderful that way. We like the
idea of repurpose, reuse,recycle, maybe even doing
(23:03):
upcycling events if you'reactually in the contact center.
Some people have a hybrid, youknow, world right now.
Some people are in office. Somepeople do both. Some people just
are remote. But there's stillways to contribute. If you know
your team is doing something andthey're recycling or upcycling
or whatever, crocheting, maybegoing to the food food shelter,
(23:25):
trying to think of those thingsand doing them together even if
you're in your own area.
I think that's special. We alsodo incentives for, like, digital
cleanups by measuring the beforeand after space used, and that
becomes then a regular practice.And I think that's just a nice
(23:46):
way to get something that is aneed done, but also making it
fun and exciting. Right? BecauseI'm sure you go back and you
could be like, what's the oldestdate email you found?
And then you add a fun elementof it to the, you know, customer
service week kinda thing. Right.I think you can also share more
that way. We were used to andand that's an amazing thing to
(24:10):
do in office, these types of,you know, competitions or
potluck parties. And I thinkthat everyone should still
continue to do that because itbrings people together.
It's community and culture. ButI think when you're trying to
think outside the box to do itvirtually, those are great ways
to do it. You can do awardceremonies virtually and create
(24:30):
a fun presentation.
Denise Venneri (24:32):
Mhmm. Great ideas. Great ideas. You have
given us ideas now. Well, Iadded March because is March
Earth Month?
Is that I think it's EarthMonth. April. Oh, April is? Oh
my gosh. So you've given usideas for April, June, July,
September, October with customerservice week.
(24:53):
So that's, like, you know, 5months. I don't even know what I
just said exactly, But that'ssuch a great a great start, and
I I appreciate that. I knowyou're very passionate about
this topic, and I'm wonderinghow else could people help,
perhaps not necessarily in theform of, donation, something
outside of that? Any ideasthere?
Nicole Nutile (25:15):
Yeah. I think, a lot of times, organizations have
giving platforms, and you canlook into that. I'm sure. But I
think the most impact we get isfrom volunteering locally,
getting involved on a globalscale if you have that capacity,
you know, what you're doing inyour life right now. But also
(25:36):
making changes, big thing.
The resources that I have toshare with you today, all of
this is outlined, and Iencourage anyone who's in New
Jersey, and wants to getinvolved. And if you're
interested in learning more tojust ping me on LinkedIn, and
I'm happy to do a cleanup withyou, or you can join my
cleanups, And we could justconnect, and there's so much
(25:58):
that you can learn in thisspace. We are all on a mission.
And for the larger brands outthere, I I challenge everyone to
think about this. We all haveour goals that we set and our
organization sets.
And I think we have to make surewe're mirroring that in what
we're doing every day, but alsothink about our vendor partners.
(26:23):
I know a lot of times, we wehave, valued partners in the
contact center space, in thetechnology space, and making
sure that their sustainabilitygoals are aligned with your
organization's goals so that wayyou can work in tandem to
achieve them is really going tomake even you know, it's gonna
double the effect that we haveon on making this impact. So I
(26:44):
think those are a few thingsthat people might not realize,
and it's it's a great way to getstarted.
Denise Venneri (26:52):
Perfect. Sadly, we're wrapping up. But thank you
so much for spending yourafternoon with me, Nicole. I
really, really appreciate it.
Nicole Nutile (27:04):
Yeah. I'm so glad that you had me, and this was
wonderful. And thank you forgiving me the opportunity to
talk about it and also just tochat with you.
Denise Venneri (27:12):
Absolutely.
If you've learned even a kernelof an idea or was inspired by
this episode, please considerrating and reviewing the podcast
on Apple Podcasts. Be sure toshare out the hashtag CPGCX
because CPGCX really and trulyrocks.
(27:32):
You have been listening to theMy Curious Colleague podcast
with Denise Venneri. Thank youfor your time.
Welcome to the My Curious Colleague podcast
with your host, me, DeniseVenneri. We'll be talking all
things consumer relations with afocus on consumer product goods
organizations and the brandspecialist and analyst roles and
responsibilities. So if you likeCPGs, like I like CPGs,
(00:22):
marketing, insights, and caringdeeply for your consumers, well,
take a listen.
Hello My curious colleagues,this week, I'm curious about
getting green at home, at work,and in the contact center. And
to help me do just that thisweek is my colleague, Nicole
(00:42):
Nadeel, who is manager of clientservice and customer experience
at Wiley, and who, in additionto that 9 to 5 gig, I should
also add is the president-electof SOCAP.
That's the acronym for theSociety For Consumer Affairs
Professionals that you alwayshear me talk about on, on the
(01:03):
podcast. So with that, hello,Nicole, and welcome to the
podcast.
Nicole Nutile (01:10):
Hi, Denise. Thank you so much for having me on
your podcast. I feel veryhonored, and I'm really excited
to do this.
Denise Venneri (01:17):
Oh my gosh. Same here. Same here. You've kinda
opened up the idea of well,we'll get into it. ERGs,
employee research resourcegroups, and the opportunities
for for folks there, and talkingabout it.
Let's start with getting to knowyou a little bit. How did how
did you get to this point inyour career?
Nicole Nutile (01:42):
Very interesting way. I had kids. So, no, I, I
always worked in operations, andthat's been from the contact
center, and I transitioned overto, you know, the brand side and
working and contributing to ateam. And when I joined, Wiley,
(02:02):
it was a great opportunity forme to connect with people while
we were in that, you know, sortof virtual world. And, I had my
son, and I was thinking that Ican do everything, you know,
really naturally andholistically and recycle
everything.
And very quickly, it wasoverwhelming, and it just went
(02:22):
out the window. So I found, theemployee resource group. It's
the Wiley Green Group. And whatI wanted to get out of that was
just to understand what everyonein that organization was doing,
what was important to them, and,learn in small bites how to make
a change and really, you know,teach my kids. And it became, a
(02:46):
passion.
I started to volunteer more. Igot involved over the last 3
years, and I just recently, onlylast month, took over as the
global cochair for the GreenGroup for the Americas side of
it because we have chairs allover. But it's it's great. It's
it's something that is importantfor me to pass on to my kids.
(03:09):
And even if it's small things, Ijust wanna make that difference.
Denise Venneri (03:14):
Yeah. Well, first, I should say
congratulations on your path tobeing named a cochair of a
global group. That's quite anaccomplishment. Thank you. Very
proud of you.
And, I, I need to sadly say, Idon't know a lot about this
topic. I wanna learn more, likeI'll take the recycling out and
(03:35):
I think, oh my God, that was anaccomplishment just to pull that
together from the week. So I amso open to learning more, and I
know you've got tons of tips forus. So tell me what you've
learned so far in the the greengroup.
Nicole Nutile (03:50):
Well, it it's really interesting because I
thought the same way. You know,you're thinking about you're
taking the recycling out andyou're separating your plastics,
your containers, your sharps,and, you think that's kind of
it. And, really, that's just,like, the very beginning of it.
There's so much more that goesinto it. We're really starting
(04:12):
now in my house to, you know,reuse, repurpose, and then
eventually when it's like, youcan't do anything anymore,
recycle.
Denise Venneri (04:20):
Yeah.
Nicole Nutile (04:21):
And there's a lot going on in the world that's
supporting this. And, you know,we follow at Wiley the United
Nations' 17 goals that theyhave. They're called the SDGs,
sustainable development goals.And, you know, I try to focus on
them the same way I, you know,at home, thinking about what we,
(04:46):
focus on at work and what UnitedNations is trying to do. There's
15 goals in total.
The top 5 are no poverty, 0hunger, good health, well-being,
quality education, and genderequality. And, I hope that I can
share with your listeners thePDF. And it's so great just to
(05:10):
read about what progress they'vemade over, you know, the years
and what we still have to do. Ifyou're looking to contribute,
that's a great place to start.
Denise Venneri (05:19):
So perhaps if you're interested in receiving
that from, Nicole, you can DMher in LinkedIn or DM myself,
and, we'll make sure to get thatto you. I appreciate that that
offer, Nicole, very much. Yeah.Tell
Nicole Nutile (05:37):
me about the queen.
So it's really, it's sort of ajourney when you're thinking
about getting green and how youcan apply it to different parts
of your life. It was reallydaunting at first.
I started thinking, like, I'mgonna solve all the world's
problems, and it was like I Icouldn't. I couldn't even figure
(05:59):
out how to not use shampoo and,in a single plastic use bottle.
So I started to, learn frompeople who had much more
expertise than I did. And thisamazing, CEO, she's the founder
of City by the Sea in, theUnited Kingdom. And she said to
(06:22):
me well, she said in aninterview kind of, pod not
podcast, like, a meeting that wedid.
She said she was the queen ofsmall achievables, and I thought
that was amazing. And I realizedwe can't solve all the problems
right now, you know, worldhunger, the climate crisis, but
we can make small changes toreally make a difference. And I
(06:45):
think that it's important.Right? We wanna stop plastic
pollution.
That's what her organization isdedicated to. That's one of,
like, the hardest things to getaway from in our world. Right?
That's kinda that's what we do.We use so much plastic.
But I think that's a good way tolook at it. If you can take
small bites out of it, you know,how to eat an elephant kind of
(07:07):
thing, It's really a great wayto start getting involved.
Denise Venneri (07:14):
I like that. Any stats you wanna share with us?
Nicole Nutile (07:18):
Yeah. Well, when you start really, like, learning
about it, it's kind of, it'smind blowing. Right? We think
about plastic and all thebottles, like, that we use every
day. And even, like, women.
Right? Like, our our menstrualproducts. You don't realize it,
but it's like there's so muchplastic in use and single use
(07:41):
plastics that bottle caps.Right? When you think of, like,
water bottles, they're found inanimals and, you know, they're
eating them.
So, you know, they're in theirdigestive tract. And, it's 80%
of plastic, right, that is Okay.On land is going into the ocean.
That's, like, 12,000,000 tons.And right now, it's estimated
(08:04):
that there could be a199,000,000 tons in the oceans
right now, because we don't evenreally know for, like, the
depths of the ocean.
But that's a lot of plastic, andit's really it's scary. It's in
our, you know, our sea life, andit's getting into our water. And
it's just you know, it's a scaryfact. So I think it's also a
(08:26):
motivator to make us want to dobetter and drink from our
Stanley Cups and drink from ourmetal water bottles or
refillable water bottles and usebar shampoo if you're not into,
you know, completely getting ridof a shampoo bottle using, you
know, a recyclable one, one thatyou can fill up. And Mhmm.
(08:48):
Another fact that I thought thiswas really interesting when I
first heard about only because Ididn't realize people still
smoke anymore. But people smokecigarettes. And, when you think
about it, right, globally,that's, you know but also here
in the United States, there's9,700,000,000 cigarette butts
that are littered in the USevery year. Every year,
(09:12):
9,700,000,000 cigarette butts.And they're chemical.
Like, they're not good for you.And they're saying about 4
they're estimating about4,000,000 of them are entering
the waterways. So that's makingup 20% of the litter, which is I
think it's just crazy becausethat's a lot of cigarette butts
and something so small, it'sreally making a a really
(09:33):
terrible impact, you know, onour environment.
Denise Venneri (09:38):
Yeah. And I think just sharing that
knowledge, and the expansivenessof it really kinda brings the
point home. Like, a lot ofpeople don't know these these
details. I appreciate yousharing sharing them. I know you
had said couple tips, but we'llget we'll get back we'll get
back to that.
Tell me about some of the eventsthough that maybe is come that
(09:58):
that are coming up that you'vebeen working on that you're able
to share with us.
Nicole Nutile (10:03):
Yeah. We had a World Ocean Day event yesterday,
which was really nice, and theglobal green group got together.
We have, one of the she's aregional chapter leader, in the
green group, and she is also, amarine biologist, which is
amazing. And so she joined usand shared all of what she
(10:25):
learned in her research whengetting her masters and how, you
know, different, techniques areused to make the water safer,
better, how they're, you know,taking care of it in the bigger
picture. We also had the LongIsland Aquarium join us.
They they came on virtually,which is really cool, and they
(10:46):
did a tour of how they havethese, you know, rehabilitation
of animals, how they're takingcare of animals, and we got to
see them. You know, the fish, wewere talking before, right,
about, the Nemo and andclownfish, the dory fish. And
they have a whole setup in how,like, the ecosystem works and
anemones, and it was just soreally nice to see. And then we
(11:08):
saw, the penguins, like seaotters, and they were giving us
the breakdown of what eachanimal is Yeah. Eating, what
they're fed, how they'retrained, how they're, you know,
brought back to feeling betterif they come in not feeling
good.
So it was a really great event.And, you know, World Ocean Day
is one day, but we cancelebrate, you know, the oceans
(11:32):
all throughout the month ofJune. Let's see. In July, July
is, free plastics, and that's athat's a really big one. Right?
Because you know how importantit is to start. We have to think
about, you know, the plastic,usage in the world, and you can
be part of the solution. There'sgreat examples and links that I
(11:54):
can share with you. And we tryto do besides our monthly goals,
we set, our monthly calls. Weset goals for ourselves, what we
can do to limit the use ofplastics.
Even if it's for the month, youfind that you start to
incorporate it into yourlifestyle throughout the year. I
stopped using regular shampoo,and I use bar shampoo now. I
(12:15):
never thought that I would belike because I had those
favorite brands, and I justthought that was the one. And, I
said, you know, I'll try it for,you know, a plastic free July,
and it just stuck. And and I waslike, well, my kids have to use
that, and they like it, and it'scool.
You know? It's easy travel. So,really great ways to get out
(12:36):
there and get involved. And evenif it's just reading about it
and trying to learn more, that'sstill a step in the right
direction. Yeah. And we'rehoping to do that with your PDF
and the links.
Denise Venneri (12:49):
Yeah. Yeah.
And the websites that I went tothat you shared with me, they're
all bright and sunny and reallyeasy to click on. It's not like
this very at least the the 2that I looked at, It's not this
real serious, tone and jargon.So alright. You gave us some
ideas for June, July.Something's happening in
(13:10):
September.
What's going on there? Or whathave you done in the past in
September?
Nicole Nutile (13:15):
Yes. September is a good one. We have, national
cleanup day, national cleanupmonth in September. And for us,
around the green groups in Wileyand the global Wiley green
group, we usually organize, youknow, teams that are near us,
hybrid. You know, some peoplehave moved during the pandemic
(13:35):
and, you know, or some of ourcolleagues are on the other side
of the globe, but we all find away to get together and, you
know, go and clean up something,whatever it is.
A lot of places, like, where,our community is great. They
list different ways that you canget involved in cleanup. I've
been going to 1 for a few years,and we get the family involved.
(13:58):
And we go, and we just make surethat we're cleaning up these
waterways because we wanna tryto keep it clean as it flows
through to the ocean. But thereare so many ways that you can do
that.
There's garbage in parks.There's pickers, and Wiley has
been amazing at supporting this.They will make sure we have all
of the things that we need.Family comes, you know, you have
(14:20):
your gloves, your pickers, andyou make a difference that day.
When you see, you know, 20 bagsof garbage, even if it's 5 bags
of garbage, you know, thatyou've collected, it's something
that's not getting into thewater.
It's not getting into, you know,what we're drinking, and I think
that's really a powerful thing.And most people can do that if
(14:40):
they have local, you know,volunteer options, they can
check that out, like, in theirrecreational boards. Usually,
they post stuff about it therein their communities. But,
another link I'll share is forthe National Cleanup website,
and it has you could put yourZIP code in and find out if
there's something going on nearyou.
Denise Venneri (15:00):
Amazing. Amazing. How about some more of
the ideas that that I could doright now? You mentioned the one
that was the bar soaps, whichI've heard about that a little
like, somewhere along the line,somebody had a you know, maybe
it was a face wash, but such ait seems like such a simple
(15:22):
idea. So give us more.
What else can we do, like, rightnow?
Nicole Nutile (15:27):
Well, for sure, we talked about the bar shampoo,
bar conditioners. Those are agreat way, using refillable
water bottles, which everyoneknows that. We're getting so
much better at that. You see,places to fill your water, you
know, in parks now. They're inthe airport.
It's it's great. We're trying tomake it more accessible so more
(15:48):
people do that. Refillablecontainers. Right? Those are
fantastic if you're not going todo the bar shampoo, and I get
it.
It's like a but, I use a brand.It's called Kitsch. But if
you're taking stuff on vacation,you don't wanna carry all of
these bottles, especially ifyou're thinking about the ounces
that you can travel with, youcan get these travel size ones.
(16:11):
They're usually, like, I think,the silicone, that soft material
because you can refill them,then you can take them home and
wash them out when you're doneso you can use them again. But I
put everything in there.
My kids' Aquaphor, their suntanlotion, anything, aloe, whatever
it is that I can squeeze out ofa bag and put it into a bottle,
it's better. Powering downelectronics when they're not
(16:33):
being used, really, a great wayto conserve energy. When you're
on the plane, putting it onairplane mode, right, or do not
disturb, obviously. They tell usthat when we take off to not
interfere with thecommunications to the cockpit,
but it's also great if you'rejust, you know, not using the
(16:54):
technology. Powering downcompletely, obviously, is the
best.
But, I think about you know, wehave little kids, and I'm
downloading movies for them towatch so they're not so if I
could sort of, you know, giveone and take away from mine, I
try to do that. And travelinggreener, that's another really
great one that people could getinvolved in sort of right away.
(17:16):
Right? We don't want anyone tostop traveling. The aviation
emissions are low in terms ofwhat they're putting out when we
think of, like, you know, planesflying and, but there are ways
to travel greener.
So and it's not just abroad.Right? It's domestic travel too.
If you have a travel agent thatyou work with, you most likely
can tell them, hey. I'm lookingfor some green options, and they
(17:38):
have all of that.
They'll help you with the sortof best practices in in green
travel. And then there's otherways thinking about economy, how
you're traveling. You know, it'sall sort of, starting they're
actually starting to lay it outmore on the different travel
websites. So if you see thoseoptions, you can go down that
path. But I think it's, youknow, even going to a hotel when
(18:02):
you're visiting.
We all like to have that momentof being pampered. But if you
don't wash your towels every daywhile you're in you know,
staying there and you hang themup and let them dry, less
bedding being changed. You know,it's less of the, you know,
machines running that, you know,constant cycle of, you know,
water churning andmicroplastics, you know, getting
(18:25):
into the water. It's just a it'sa great way to make a small
change.
Denise Venneri (18:31):
Yeah. Love that. There are some really excellent,
yes, physical changes you couldmake, literal physical changes.
How about, can you share somedigital type footprint tips for
us?
Nicole Nutile (18:48):
Yeah. A lot of the, obviously, the the bigger
names we know, they're theyfocus on on green. Right?
They're they all have goals. I'msure you watch commercials, and
it's like, you know, promise togo green or whatever by 20
something.
And Right. They're it's not justphysical. Like you said, there
(19:09):
are digital ways to our carbonfootprint. We think about old
electronic emails and storagethat the servers have to
support. Every day, the digitaltrash we create as individuals
sits somewhere in a cloud, thatsort of that cloud.
And this cloud uses aconsiderable amount of
electricity. So along with theweb, all the systems that we
(19:33):
need to host all of thesethings, we are producing about
900,000,000 tons of CO 2emissions, and that's 4% of the
global greenhouse emissions. Soit's kind of almost equal to the
aviation industry, which iscrazy because it's just an
email. It's these servers anddata center. It's all, and it's
equal to about, the aviationindustry emissions.
(19:57):
And, really, it's expected toincrease, right, with all
technology to more than 20% overthe next 6 years, and that's a
big impact. So we could doreally great things just to make
that less, and it's like digitalcleanups. Those are a great way.
They happen the 3rd Saturday inMarch, and doesn't mean you have
(20:19):
to wait till that day. You canbe conscious and and do it
throughout the year.
We are all, notorious, I think,for that reply all thank you,
email. We can start thinkingabout not doing that. Right?
And, old presentations orsettings in your computer where
you can say, if I haven'ttouched this file for a long
time, you know, trash it.Something probably from maybe 6
(20:43):
years ago.
I know we like to think we'regonna search it and find it, but
that that file that's sittingthere is is really making an
impact on the world. So I tellpeople just to think consciously
about what you're saving andwhat you can delete.
Denise Venneri (20:56):
Nicole,
that digital emissions thingthat you just shared, that was a
real to me. Like, you don't evenwanna look at my personal
emails. At work, they're they'reI'm totally compliant. But at
home, I you know, I've got anAOL account that I've tried to
shut down. I still have my g Idon't even wanna tell you what
(21:16):
else is going on, but that issuch an I had no idea that that
was con contributing.
You mentioned something, and itmade me think about the contact
center. Can you give us somemore ideas to share with, you
know, your contact center ormaybe just like an internal team
that you might be on?
Nicole Nutile (21:36):
Yeah. I started thinking about how to do this. I
know we're all familiar withcustomer service week in in
October. Yeah. And a great wayto incorporate something green
there, especially if you haveteams that are remote or
celebrating virtually, globally,is to give them an electronic
gift versus, you know, a lot oftimes people are sending gift
cards or they're buying bulkgift cards and they're shipping
(21:58):
them out or they're ordering,lunch in so many different
locations.
And, we encourage potlucks evenand saying cook something at
home, share that recipe. We'llcreate a sort of cookbook,
right, out of it, and we'll beable to share that. But trying
to do those things that Mhmm.Serving multiple locations
(22:19):
without having to, you know,impact the world so much. I
think that there's always gonnabe the times that we have to do
that, but I know people loveelectronic gift cards now.
I mean, my kid is 5, and he'sinto it. I'm like because that's
what they get for theirbirthday. They're like, it's
better than going to CVS andbuying a gift card. You know,
(22:40):
they're getting it. It's like alink right on, you know, your
phone, and you can get themsomething.
You can get yourself something.And I I think it works, like,
globally, right, when you haveto transition, dollars or
pounds, whatever it is. It workswonderful that way. We like the
idea of repurpose, reuse,recycle, maybe even doing
(23:03):
upcycling events if you'reactually in the contact center.
Some people have a hybrid, youknow, world right now.
Some people are in office. Somepeople do both. Some people just
are remote. But there's stillways to contribute. If you know
your team is doing something andthey're recycling or upcycling
or whatever, crocheting, maybegoing to the food food shelter,
(23:25):
trying to think of those thingsand doing them together even if
you're in your own area.
I think that's special. We alsodo incentives for, like, digital
cleanups by measuring the beforeand after space used, and that
becomes then a regular practice.And I think that's just a nice
(23:46):
way to get something that is aneed done, but also making it
fun and exciting. Right? BecauseI'm sure you go back and you
could be like, what's the oldestdate email you found?
And then you add a fun elementof it to the, you know, customer
service week kinda thing. Right.I think you can also share more
that way. We were used to andand that's an amazing thing to
(24:10):
do in office, these types of,you know, competitions or
potluck parties. And I thinkthat everyone should still
continue to do that because itbrings people together.
It's community and culture. ButI think when you're trying to
think outside the box to do itvirtually, those are great ways
to do it. You can do awardceremonies virtually and create
(24:30):
a fun presentation.
Denise Venneri (24:32):
Mhmm. Great ideas. Great ideas. You have
given us ideas now. Well, Iadded March because is March
Earth Month?
Is that I think it's EarthMonth. April. Oh, April is? Oh
my gosh. So you've given usideas for April, June, July,
September, October with customerservice week.
(24:53):
So that's, like, you know, 5months. I don't even know what I
just said exactly, But that'ssuch a great a great start, and
I I appreciate that. I knowyou're very passionate about
this topic, and I'm wonderinghow else could people help,
perhaps not necessarily in theform of, donation, something
outside of that? Any ideasthere?
Nicole Nutile (25:15):
Yeah. I think, a lot of times, organizations have
giving platforms, and you canlook into that. I'm sure. But I
think the most impact we get isfrom volunteering locally,
getting involved on a globalscale if you have that capacity,
you know, what you're doing inyour life right now. But also
(25:36):
making changes, big thing.
The resources that I have toshare with you today, all of
this is outlined, and Iencourage anyone who's in New
Jersey, and wants to getinvolved. And if you're
interested in learning more tojust ping me on LinkedIn, and
I'm happy to do a cleanup withyou, or you can join my
cleanups, And we could justconnect, and there's so much
(25:58):
that you can learn in thisspace. We are all on a mission.
And for the larger brands outthere, I I challenge everyone to
think about this. We all haveour goals that we set and our
organization sets.
And I think we have to make surewe're mirroring that in what
we're doing every day, but alsothink about our vendor partners.
(26:23):
I know a lot of times, we wehave, valued partners in the
contact center space, in thetechnology space, and making
sure that their sustainabilitygoals are aligned with your
organization's goals so that wayyou can work in tandem to
achieve them is really going tomake even you know, it's gonna
double the effect that we haveon on making this impact. So I
(26:44):
think those are a few thingsthat people might not realize,
and it's it's a great way to getstarted.
Denise Venneri (26:52):
Perfect. Sadly, we're wrapping up. But thank you
so much for spending yourafternoon with me, Nicole. I
really, really appreciate it.
Nicole Nutile (27:04):
Yeah. I'm so glad that you had me, and this was
wonderful. And thank you forgiving me the opportunity to
talk about it and also just tochat with you.
Denise Venneri (27:12):
Absolutely.
If you've learned even a kernelof an idea or was inspired by
this episode, please considerrating and reviewing the podcast
on Apple Podcasts. Be sure toshare out the hashtag CPGCX
because CPGCX really and trulyrocks.
(27:32):
You have been listening to theMy Curious Colleague podcast
with Denise Venneri. Thank youfor your time.
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