REAL Planner: A Tool to Promote Sustainable Action

The REAL Planner is designed by Safia Minney and the REAL Sustainability team. 

The REAL Planner helps you organise your life, by planning and setting goals, encouraging you to stay focused whilst promoting habits that will support your well-being. You will also have the support of the REAL Sustainability community with access to the website and webinars to support your journey and learning.

The last 18 months has seen a huge shift in attitudes towards the issues of climate change and the social and ecological crises that are linked to it. But we have just ten years to save the planet and, unfortunately, we need everyone to do more and make even bigger changes - both in their organisations and at home. 

We know it's a huge task. We know it can feel overwhelming. We know many people just don't know where to start.

Well, the REAL Planner is a great place to start.  In Safia’s words “don’t agonise, organise”.

The REAL Planner

Having been frustrated for years using unsustainably-produced, uninspiring, conventional planners, Safia decided to combine her skills as an executive coach, her experience as a business leader and her deep understanding of sustainability to design one herself. The result is the quarterly REAL Planner in yellow or black.

The REAL Planner is a companion to support you in your journey to be more sustainable. It will help you regularly reflect, focus, organise and act. It is undated allowing ultimate flexibility for the user and also reducing waste. It is a stylish, 240 page, A5, two page per day (one at weekends) planner. It's produced using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper and the most sustainable accessories including a bookmark and ribbon. It will be printed in the UK by an ISO 14001-accredited company. 

As an executive coach, Safia knew the most important elements when achieving change are to encourage people to reflect, focus and plan ahead. The planner helps you set goals for the year then break them down into quarterly, weekly and daily targets. It helps you to define your key priorities, actions and tasks whilst providing space for weekly reviews and planning the week ahead. These daily and weekly habits promote personal growth and regenerative leadership.  To provide inspiration when the going gets tough there are quotations from a broad range of influential change-makers. The planner includes sections at the end for both notes and sketches.

As you continue to use the REAL Planner, you'll be able to clarify your thinking and the actions that are needed. REAL Sustainability will be there to help you all the way with helpful tips on using the planner as well as the latest thinking, best practice, case studies and inspiration on sustainability from around the world. 

As founder and former CEO of People Tree, which led the way in ethical, sustainable supply chain innovation and Fair Trade, Safia knows that putting people and nature central to what we do is possible. She is calling for all those who care about sustainability and personal well-being to use the REAL Planner and join REAL.

Become part of a community of bold leaders, change-makers and individuals dedicated to promoting sustainability and climate action. Be the change you want to see. 

Key features

The REAL Planner:

• A5, 240 pages, bookmark and ribbon with Yellow or Black cover.
• Helps you break down and manage your annual, quarterly, monthly and daily goals and tasks.
• Weekly reflection on what to be grateful for giving balance between professional life and personal well-being.
• Book-based tool produced to the highest standards of sustainability.
• Inspiring quotes from women and men (predominantly female voices for a change) that have helped shape the world.
• Offers self-coaching resource, climate and ecological facts and useful website index.

If you have any questions about the REAL Planner or REAL Sustainability please email [email protected].

When will I get my REAL Planner?

We're aiming for delivery by 21 December 2020 in time for Christmas. 

Please make sure that you enter the correct email address and delivery address. If you think they may be wrong, email [email protected] with your donation details and we'll sort it out.

Fundraising target

We are fundraising to produce the first print run of the REAL Planner. Our target is £7500 which covers graphics, print and marketing etc on an initial print run of 500 copies.  

We have a number of Early-bird Rewards available. If you want to buy 1 copy or 4, 10 or 20 copies of the REAL Planner, please make sure you select the relevant Reward on the right rather than clicking the "donate" button. You will have the option of yellow cover, black cover or half of each.

As an alternative Reward, there are Fair Trade, hand-crafted earrings made in Kenya and designed by Safia Minney. By popular request, we have added a new Reward of a REAL Planner and a pair of earrings.

We'd also be delighted if you'd like to make a donation to REAL Sustainability CIC.

REAL's vision

Our vision is to create a REAL Planner community which will provide support to change-makers both in their organisations, homes or communities.  The focus will be sustainable living, personal well-being and climate action. Please join #REALChangeMakers and share this with your friends and colleagues. In the words of Greta Thunberg "Our house is on fire".  We must all start taking action to put it out. To quote Safia Minney "don't agonise, organise!".

Safia Minney MBE

Safia is an award-winning social entrepreneur. Since founding People Tree over 30 years ago, she continues to challenge the status quo. Safia has been a relentless campaigner on sustainability and social justice issues including modern slavery.  People Tree led the way in the now growing movement in ethical and sustainable fashion.  It became the first brand to achieve an organic certification label for cotton produced in the global South. It was also the first to have its supply chain certified as Fair Trade.

Safia has authored many books including Slow Fashion and Slave to Fashion and was involved in the ground-breaking documentary The True Cost. She was awarded an MBE for her services to fashion and fair trade industries.  She is also certified in executive coaching and mentoring. In 2019, inspired by Extinction Rebellion and the Fridays for Future climate youth movement, she joined the core team of Business Declares, a network of businesses declaring a climate, ecological and social emergency and taking bold action to transition to net-zero by 2030.

REAL Sustainability

REAL Sustainability was founded as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2019 by Safia with friends passionate about sustainability and social justice. REAL’s mission is to provide Regeneration through Education, Action and Leadership. REAL Sustainability provides a platform through its website, webinars and workshops to inspire, motivate and share best practice. REAL is for everybody interested in sustainability and making a change but there is also specialised content and training for senior leaders in businesses. Having worked at that level herself, Safia Minney wanted to provide high quality information and context for leaders to help them when making difficult decisions. REAL's website curates articles on leadership and ten sustainable living topics: activism, beauty, energy, fashion, food and drink, home, money, technology, travel and well-being.

Income from the REAL Planner will help REAL undertake more investigative research on the issues that really matter to people, create high quality decision making tools for leading and living sustainably, provide the most relevant and informative online training and webinars and discover the best practice, the most inspiring actions and leadership on sustainability around the world. Since COVID-19, this funding has become vital as our previous source of funding (REAL’s workshop revenue) has ceased completely.