Same, same but different

Challenging the status quo in an effort to make new friends

I’s already started writing my second substack for 2026 before I’d even finished my first.

This year is going to be a breeze - so thought I - if ideas are just popping off in my head! Clearly, I will have no problem when it comes to content creation. “I’m on a roll” was what I proudly declared to myself (there was no-one else to declare this to).

BUT.

The roll was too easy and I should have known that something was wrong.

That something turned out to be that what I was writing about was, in fact, the same topic - the EXACT same topic - that loads of others that week, and continuing into this week, have also been writing about.

The topic was/is the toxicity of our athletic wear.

It made me think of that cerulean speech by Miranda in the Devil Wears Prada. Just like how she chastises Andy for thinking she chooses the colour of her sweater, Miranda could equally be chastising me for thinking that I am choosing what I am writing about.

How did I decide to write about it?

I thought it was because I have just started doing (trying to do would be a more accurate description) pilates and am slightly taken aback by all of the matching pilates outfits peeps are wearing to exercise in (I did sort of know this was a thing but I am still rockin’ a tshirt and leggings from 10 years ago). Because I know there is an issue with chemicals in our clothing I figured I had, all by myself, put two and two together.

But, while that might be sort of true, it’s not entirely accurate. My subconscious (and a lot of my conscious) has recently read and watched and heard all about what is in our athletic wear.

So what do I do with my story?

It’s still fine - and perfectly acceptable - to add to the collection of tales (and I’m intending on printing the piece next week) but it’s made me think that I’m, clearly, sitting in an echo chamber.

An echo chamber - just like an echo - is the idea that I can yell out something and it gets repeated back to me or vice versa (I repeat something back to someone that they have already said).

The effect of the echo is that by having your views repeated by others you become confident that your views are correct andm, even, perhaps are the only views that matter.

Echo chamber: an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.

Is this bad?

Clearly I am in a world where I read a lot about why we need to focus on fixing the fashion system. I - obviously - absolutely agree with this sentiment and I quite like reading other people’s takes that come from that same underlying assumption.

So what is so wrong with usually (always) reading beliefs and opinions that align with my own?

I think it’s not quite wrong but it’s also not quite right either.

The glaring problem is that existing in an echo chamber fills you with confidence that everyone agrees with your underlying assumptions and that belief makes it just that little bit easier to write your piece because it frees you from having to start at the beginning and do the harder work that is convincing. This is not to say that the communication is lazy or bad - it’s just, perhaps, a little less forensic.

When you’re not required to work on proving the why and there is no need to argue for the counterfactual maybe (and not all the time) your story misses some nuances or some of the deeper complexities and that could result in delivering a more narrow perspective that serves only a percentage of the people.

The other conundrum

I am thinking about this at the same time that my email is full of newsletters telling me (in a lot of cases it is more about selling than telling) how to grow my newsletter. To achieve this, I’m told/sold two things:

1. I must be clear on who my audience is;and

2. I must be clear on what my audience needs from me (and then provide them what they want).

Here is the conundrum: I feel that this advice almost forces you (or at least encourages you) to focus on growing your own echo chamber.

Mmmmm.

I do kind of feel that sustainability - the environment/nature movement in general - could do with making new friends (or at least having a new audience to communicate with). And to do that, I think communicators have to be bolder and braver: perhaps starting by being not so clear about who their audience is and not delivering a set of messages that meet a pre-determined set of needs.

Interestingly, advice columns on how to make new friends (or get out of a rut) when you are older and slightly set in your ways is to try new things, expose yourself to new ideas, get out of your house and actively go places.

The same advice could be applied to escaping from an echo chamber. ,

That means that - this year - I am going to try to diversify where I get my information from, I will look to understand alternate points of view and, most importantly, I will try to be a little more forensic when reading, by constantly asking myself “why”- why am I thinking this way and why does it matter.

Perhaps the consequence of that approach means that I won’t grow this newsletter but that’s not a bad thing. Many of you probably already agree with me here (echo chamber friends - I do love you) in that growth is not necessarily a measure of success that one should be fixated on. Impact however, well that is a whole other ballgame (and story) and what we should be on the court to play.

jb

soundtrack

Old school today and going back to David Guetta and Titanium ft. Sia.

I used to think that is what we wanted to be, that sustainability pros have to be tough - bullets will only ricochet off us.

Maybe it is but, also, maybe it is not.

Great to be tough - and certainly we have to be - but also we have to think about the alternatives a little more deeply. Maybe that means we let the armour down (sometimes) to try to connect with those who have a different view, opening up a conversation about what it will really take, who it will really need and how we can really get there. And if we do this while banging out to Titanium, well that is a great thing! There is NOTHING like a karaoke/dance-off session to bring people together.