Georgia Elliott-Smith
on Unstoppable Activism and Disruptive Sustainability
“My love of the built environment is the driver that keeps me going. I have a deep belief that the climate crisis is just one enormous design challenge. We can fix it, but we must get serious!”
How can we follow Georgia Elliott-Smith’s footsteps and transform good intentions into meaningful action?
Suffering from eco-anxiety while working as one of the UK’s first Environment Managers in the construction industry, Georgia realized that she had somehow been “complicit” in the greenwashing that had enabled this field to get away with harmful activities while appearing to implement solutions. The moment that changed her whole trajectory was an Extinction Rebellion protest, after which she became not only an unstoppable activist but also an anti-incineration and air pollution campaigner.
“Weak government legislation and lack of effective carbon pricing financially penalizes businesses that try to do the right thing by acting sustainably and cutting emissions.” In 2021, Georgia challenged the UK government over carbon emissions, successfully changing the law. She didn’t stop there: the legal activist group she founded in 2023, Fighting Dirty, uses the judicial system to fight pollution.
Georgia is an environmental engineer, Chartered Environmentalist, former UNESCO Special Junior Envoy for Youth & the Environment, and active Speaker at international events like Climate Change Summit or TEDxUCL, teaching audiences how to move from anxiety and procrastination to positive action at scale and pace.
Her wit is a combination of best practice and activism that drives meaningful change, helping you make sense of it all. Cutting through the jargon, Georgia tells you how you, truly, need to act. As the co-creator of SHE Changes Climate, a global campaign for promoting women in climate negotiations and solutions, she pushes us to have a joined-up, honest approach to sustainability, challenging the status quo and dropping the greenwash.
Sustainability is not just a job, but her whole life. Georgia founded Element Four, a disruptive sustainability consultancy company, knowing that the sustainability professional has fundamentally failed to create systems change: “If we had succeeded, the climate and ecological emergency wouldn’t be here.” She doesn’t believe that “doing something is better than nothing”, as too many people focus on small things that exhaust their time and energy with zero real effect. Her blunt piece of advice? “Think about action at scale instead of worrying about your own minuscule impacts!”
Read Georgia Elliott-Smith’s answers for Inspirators and discover how you can create a new standard for your industry sector!
Thank you, Georgia, for being an Unstoppable Activist!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Georgia Elliott-Smith
Company / Institution: Element Four; Fighting Dirty
Title: Managing Director
Website: element4.co.uk
LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/georgiaelliott-smith
Country of origin: UK
Country you currently live in: UK
Your personal definition of Regeneration: Speaking truth to power, making a deep commitment to authenticity, honesty and meaningful impact.
Main business challenge you face:
The belief of so many organizations that think that sustainability isn’t a true expertise and that anyone can take a short course and call themselves a "sustainability expert"! I see so many companies adding sustainability to the job description of their Head of Marketing, and this shows me that they think it’s just about image, not technical operations and systems change.
Companies so often jump on the Net Zero bandwagon, creating ‘greenwash’, without truly examining their impact and what is required to implement meaningful change in their organization.
Main driver that keeps you going: My love of the built environment, and my deep belief that the climate and ecological crisis is just one enormous design challenge. We can fix it, but we must get serious! I am also constantly inspired and motivated by the other wonderful people in this sector who are driving positive change.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: My creative problem-solving skills.
The trait you most value in others: Commitment to a cause.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: I love watching movies with my kids and unpicking the plots together afterwards. When I have the opportunity, I love skiing or lying in the sun, reading as many books as I can get my hands on. Walking my dog, Ruby, in nature is a joy! She also comes to the Element Four office each day where everyone loves to play with her.
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the regeneration journey: Take the technical side of sustainability seriously! This is not about marketing and image; it’s about identifying and measurably reducing pollution and other harms. Always ask yourself “What does meaningful change look like?” and “Is my work creating meaningful change or is it a distraction?”
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you:
"Doing something is better than nothing."
I don’t agree! Too many people focus on small things that exhaust their time and energy with zero real effect. Shaming individuals for their behaviours is useless. Tree planting to offset your holiday flight is a great example. Save your money! Think about action at scale instead of worrying about your minuscule impacts.
If you care about carbon emissions from flights and you work for a large international company, lobby your employer to reduce flights by embracing fully digital ways of working. Then gather data and use it to create a new standard for your whole industry sector.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope:
Be careful of the company you keep. Find your tribe, the people who inspire you and understand your passions, and who are good to bounce ideas off.
Don’t expect your normal friends and family to understand your passion for change!
Books that had a great impact on you:
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman & Kaley Warner Klemp
Wilding by Isabella Tree
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Must-reads for any regenerative professional:
Regenesis & Out of the Wreckage by George Monbiot
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
Don’t Even Think About It by George Marshall
Movies or Documentaries you would watch all over again: Blue Planet, Our Planet and all the other incredible BBC documentaries, presented by Sir David Attenborough. They are so beautiful and inspire me with a deep desire to protect our wonderful world.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you:
A working visit to India recently blew me away! I was so inspired by the vibrancy, the scale and the pace of change. So many professionals were talking about sustainability and how this could be included in their work. This was never in the minds of British industrialists when we went through our historic times of enormous growth. It gave me huge hope and was a real contrast to the narrative we hear so often that the growth of China and India will come with environmental destruction.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow:
JoJo Mehta and Stop Ecocide International are just incredible. This is systems change at its finest. The Ecocide movement is one action that will have a ripple effect that changes the world!
George Monbiot (my colleague in Fighting Dirty) is a brilliant activist, author and journalist, so brave and outspoken. His books are very inspiring!
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on:
Circularity is an enormous trend and one that I love working on – using our cities as material banks. I also love the idea of industrial symbiosis, using the waste from one industry as feedstock for another. There is no such thing as waste in nature and it’s exciting to flex our design skills to see how we can apply this principle.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why:
Business Declares is awesome! It’s a group of activist business leaders working on campaigns for real change.
I’m also part of a WhatsApp group called Women of the Environment, a closed group of female entrepreneurs, activists, leaders and change-makers from around the world. It’s an unbelievably inspiring and supportive environment! We are cheerleaders for one another, sharing our successes and grief. She Changes Climate was born out of this group and our shared outrage that many governments were sending 100% male delegations to COP26.
The Inspirators you are endorsing for a future edition are:
Balinda Zahara
Dominique Palmer
Lira Valencia (Outside with Lira)
Tayshan Hayden Smith (Grow to Know)
The quote that inspires you:
A quote from Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson. It’s a long, beautiful passage that ends like this:
“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Your own quote that will inspire us:
