Saving the world? Kent Richards on starting with your own community

Working across many countries, Kent Richards writes, has taught him to see the world as one place, and to notice how differently communities treat it. Some countries plan their sustainability strategies with universities and specialists; others act day to day with few policies or none ¹.

Frameworks without force

Almost every country has signed up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, Richards notes. His concern is not the frameworks but the weak commitment behind them and their lack of legal force ¹. Many people, he adds, still treat sustainability as the business of governments and large corporations. He disagrees: millions of small improvements by individuals add up, and the place to begin is one's own community ¹.

The "stop and look" test

His practical proposal is a two-step habit. Pause wherever you are and ask what is harming the environment and how to prevent it: that, in his framing, is sustainability. Then ask what could be improved to serve people and place better: that is regeneration. Start, record the numbers, and do not overthink it ¹.

What hotels have already shown

Richards draws on hospitality examples reported in mainstream media: Lefay Resorts in Europe, for sourcing and hiring within a radius of each property; Desa Potato Head in Bali, for upcycled building materials and preserved heritage; and Six Senses Kanuhura in the Maldives, for natural coral reef regeneration ¹. From more than 11 years at Six Senses, where the early goals were plastic-free operations and zero waste, he recalls guests who were willing to pay around US$1,000 a night to support those efforts, and notes that many hospitality brands now pursue regeneration too ¹.

He contrasts these with places where inaction carries a human cost, citing high-waste habits in the United States and the landfill communities of the Philippines, illustrated in the Magazine by Manila's Smokey Mountain ¹. His conclusion: everyone should look at home, work and holiday with the same two questions, and stay accountable. "We all have this responsibility and can make a positive difference," he writes ¹.

Our context

Richards' test is close to the distinction we draw between doing less harm and leaving a place better off, set out in our guide to what regenerative travel is and in regenerative vs sustainable tourism. The hotel examples he gives are the kind we look at in regenerative hotels, where we also ask what each one publishes to show its claims: "record your numbers" is the step that turns good intentions into evidence.