Hi Visitor,
This is a 5-mins read, but please don't skip it - read it, and come along on Monday or Wednesday. Everybody receiving this email has already done a lot for EcoCounts: data, research, writing, social media, content creation, comms, strategy, admin, graphics, volunteer facilitation — the list goes on. For that, I am massively grateful. But you didn't do it for me, it was because you want things to change.
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Seeing what is going on these days, I am convinced that what EcoCounts advocates for is going to make a huge and urgently needed difference. What follows is the plan for EcoCounts to make that happen in 2026.
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Using everybody's input, I have refined the EcoCounts program so it supports the Carbon Accounts concept as the decisive and radical change we need the government and business to embrace. It is practical, easily understood, and clearly promotes a just transition for all of us at our level. Yes, it has challenges, but we have to do it — you can read more on the new “How It Works” page on the website.
We've been working on our websites, and they are now really starting to reflect exactly what we are doing, what we want to do, why it's necessary, and why it can be a success.
At the start, EcoCounts had a massive learning curve to climb, and it was steep — make no doubt about it. Things will still need to change, course corrections and refinements will still be needed, but we’ve now got a clear trajectory. 2026 will be the result of all the hard work and challenges we’ve faced from conception up to this point.
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We have put together some great strategies and processes. They are all documented on the file cloud, and they’re starting to win attention and funding.
We just won a wonderful grant from the People's Postcode Lottery, which secures the running of the tech platforms and support for EcoCounts Mondays (and yes, food too!)
The strategy and plans have now put us on a trajectory for 2026 where we can end the year with the structure and activity in those plans made real and making a tangible difference.
We’ve been talking with Islington Council, Camden Council, with UCL, Imperial College, with the Responsible 100 and other business groups, and with NGOs like Fresk, Camden Think and Do, and the climate centres. Everyone wants this to work, and no other organisation is currently positioned to do this the way we are.
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But it's obvious that we can't go on with just me running the core engine room. A lot of what doesn’t get done ends up frustrating volunteers, and that slows everything down. What we need is a group built on democratic, member-based leadership, where responsibilities are shared, decisions are collective, and everyone can contribute to keeping the engine running — I’ll still be doing my part, but I’m taking a part-time job writing on climate and nature, which makes shared leadership even more essential.Â
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I should say that EcoCounts is more to me than a community group or a potential job. I'm disappointed that I haven't brought any of my friends or family with me on my journey — I’m now the one who won't fly, who doesn’t like plastic, who isn’t on WhatsApp, doesn’t have a car, and whose kids they feel sorry for. So I’ve alienated myself from a lot of people. This will make you laugh, but I always feel like a lemming who won’t run off the cliff, and all my friends are asking, “What’s wrong with you, mate?”
Really, it’s other volunteers who believe in a better future that I want to hang out with, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m not the only one.
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A start-up specialist told me we’d need a volunteer army to achieve everything in our strategic plan for 2026, and I think they’re right. It’s an apt metaphor, because society today feels like a war. We all need to hold onto that feeling of being in it together — fighting for something not just profoundly worthwhile, but arguably existential.
OK, we all have to work for a living, and the everyday tyranny of life will drag us out of the action, but let’s make EcoCounts a focal point we can return to — a place where we can find action, purpose, and a bit of human support.
Our volunteering facilitation team has a really well-thought-out approach to making sure this works and that nobody burns out or falls out of love with EcoCounts. We’ll have to execute this approach with skill, but we’ve now got carbon footprint data from 2023 and 2024, we’re putting 2025 together, and we’re working out different ways to get 2026 collection going in real time. We’ve got the followers, the audience, the stories, and the feedback, and we’re building our reputation all the time.Â
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The key difference now, so there is no doubt that we are all in this together: EcoCounts will become a local, member-based group, heavily dependent on volunteers. Of course we will need some paid staff - and soon - but there are two types of members: founder members, who have influence over the charity, and high-burner members, who pay to use its services (e.g. the app when ready). Volunteers and paid staff can also choose to be members, but that’s entirely up to them.
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We want to set up a Friday or Saturday in February for a 2026 kick-off and proper celebration.
But before that, come this Monday, Jan 26th, at St Luke’s Church from 5:30 pm. There’s no workshop scheduled in the EcoCounts Mondays calendar, so we’ll use the evening to make food, go over plans for 2026, the membership setup, and volunteering strategy, and Feb 2nd’s Veganuary and Food workshop. If you can’t make it on Monday or you are remote, join the call on Wednesday evening on Zoom, or if you can't make that either, make sure to stay in touch via Signal. We need everyone engaged so we can contribute effectively and stay connected as a team.
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That's it. World, here we come. See you on Monday or Wednesday,
Adam
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