Ryan Lewis had to start EarthHero. He didn’t have a choice.
Ryan’s deep relationship with the planet is set on a foundation that was developed in his youth. Ryan moved to Boulder, Colorado when he was sixteen. He began to spend all of his free time in the Rocky Mountains and a real connection to nature began to take root. After college, he traveled the world on a solo backpacking trip for almost a year. It was on this trip that his connection to the natural world began to deepen. On this trip he also developed a vast appreciation for the interconnectedness of people, the planet, and things.
After Ryan sold his last company, he moved to Costa Rica with his family for a few years, they lived on the beach and picked up surfing. It was during this time that the impacts of ocean pollution and poor waste management became very clear to him. He began to read up on the issues. The more Ryan learned about how much our every day consumption hurts our planet, the more he felt personally responsible for taking action.
Consumption
In most US, European, and developed cities, the waste infrastructure is so efficient that we don’t see the immense amount of trash that we produce every day, but consider these statistics: every year 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean, approximately 45% of all fruits and vegetables, 35% of fish and seafood, 30% of cereals, and 20% of meat and dairy products are wasted by suppliers, retailers, and consumers and more than 15 million tons of used textile waste are thrown out.
When Ryan was living in Costa Rica the locals were relatively new to a lifestyle that included the kind consumption we are used to in the US and they hadn’t set up the systems for taking the trash out of sight before people are able to contemplate it. The impact of our daily use became very clear to Ryan when it appeared as trash along the otherwise beautiful beaches and plastics floating in the ocean.
After this experience, Ryan decided that he couldn’t do nothing and he set out to change the way people consume. Because the earth, our home, depends on it.
Vulnerability and Mindfulness
Today, EarthHero is a one-stop shop for people who love the earth. Like all stories of entrepreneurship, its growth has not come without challenges. One of the biggest obstacles that Ryan has come across is the separation of his own emotions from his business. Because EarthHero’s mission is so important to him and because it is so deeply ingrained in his person, Ryan sometimes finds himself taking business challenges to heart. When he is putting himself out there for the business, he often feels that he is also putting his own hopes and dreams on the line. “EarthHero is a part of who I am at this point,” he says.
To address this issue, he regularly engages in mindfulness and self-care. He meditates daily so he can start his day with a clear, aligned head; he trail runs 4-5 days a week (it was actually on a trail run where the idea for EarthHero was conceived); he spends quality time as a husband and a father; he gets sleep. He finds all of these practices to not only help keep his emotions in their lane, they also help him maintain the vitality necessary to be a present and driven as an effective business leader.
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Just One Thing
Caring for the world and wanting to do what’s right can sometimes feel overwhelming, so we asked Ryan if we could all do just one thing to do our part, what could we do? “Get rid of disposable items,” he says. “Think about anything you use just one time and throw away and find the reusable solution.” Instead of plastic straws, use bamboo straws; instead of saran wrap, use beeswax wrap; instead of plastic water bottles, use a stainless steel water bottle.
He also encourages people to engage in silent activism. Instead of telling people how they should be acting to save the earth, think about taking radical actions yourself. People will see what you are doing and become intrigued. If you pull a wallet made from used sailboat sails out of your pocket instead of a traditional leather wallet, it creates the opportunity to tell a story about sustainability.
Shifting the Paradigm
That being said, instead of making the conversation around sustainability about daily decisions, Ryan believes that what we really need to do is to shift our collective paradigm.
Again looking back on his time in Costa Rica, it was notable to him that the locals didn’t have the consumption mindset that we do in the US, they don’t tie their happiness to material things and to success. It seems to him that what they really want is a connection to their families and to the ocean. People really just love to hang out with their families, they have humble homes, they don’t need much in terms of clothing and when they need food they go fishing or know someone who does. In the rural part of the country he was living, you can’t really shop there unless you want to buy a souvenir. Yet, Costa Rica is continually ranked one of the happiest places on the planet.
#bettertogether
What’s certain is it will take more than the actions of an individual person to make serious headway on complex issues like climate change. EarthHero is creating a community, a marketplace of brands that are taking the steps to create a more sustainable future for us all.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”– Margaret Mead