Can we just be green already?
July 27th, 2010 | Posted by Sona Pai
Photo credit: Yogma on Flickr
In his discussion of the verbal challenges in communicating sustainability and describing people who practice it (are they sustainers? sustainabilitists?) Joel Makower addresses something we’ve discussed before here on Shiny Green Button: You can only use the word sustainability so many times before it starts to feel hollow.
Anyone who writes about corporate sustainability can feel the pain here. There just aren’t a lot of solid synonyms for the word. Sure, you can sprinkle in a few references to corporate responsibility, but that gets tired pretty quickly too, especially when you have to broaden it to corporate social responsibility. If only there were another single word that communicates the broader-than-the-environment spirit of sustainability.
Makower suggests we take another look at green. We’ve all heard warnings to steer clear of the term, for fear it will be met with green fatigue or, even worse, carry the stink of greenwashing.
But, isn’t that the term everyone is using anyway? Makower argues that green is commonplace in the business world and that it’s not much of a stretch to broaden its meaning to include more than environmentalism. That’s already happening in the political arena—the most obvious example being the U.S. Green Party, whose platform includes democracy, social justice and economic sustainability along with ecological sustainability.
So, what say you? Can we embrace green and broaden its scope? Or, are there still valid reasons to resist a meme that seems so firmly established?
July 28th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
The problem is that sustainability, as most involved businesses define it, is a lot bigger than “green” if you take the social, economic and environmental approach (triple bottom line). Green is but one part of the triad. Just talking about “green” risks the possibility that the other two aspects get trivialized. Or, worse, that sustainability is just seen as a tree-hugging activity that does not tie into the business.
In the real world of business, activities/concepts that aren’t integral to the business are likely to fail.
So, to me, green is out except for talking about environmental aspects. CSR is a better alternate term if you really need one.
I will say, though, that typing “sustainability” all the time gets old. Those i-l-t’s at the end always get mixed up when I type too quickly. I write it so much that I set up Autocorrect in MS Word to automatically complete it when I type “sust”!
July 29th, 2010 at 9:06 am
For awhile there was a movement afoot to get people to start talking about “blue” not “green.” (I guess calling up the idea of a blue planet–the way Earth looks from space.) The idea of blue didn’t move to incorporate the social aspect of sustainability though. It was meant to make a connection for a business audience between environmental responsibility and business opportunity.
I wonder if the pain comes more from that fact that sustainability is still an new concept for many business and individuals. The language is emerging and changing just as fast as ideas about how to be sustainable. Maybe once we’ve figured out how to live on this planet without compromising the needs of others and future generations, we’ll figure out how to talk about it too.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:15 am
Brian: Thanks for your comment! You’re not the only one with that concern. I’m interested by Makower’s suggestion that we try to broaden the definition of green in the business world. How would we do that? And, is it even possible, given the strong environmental associations with the word? Or, as Makower points out, does the fact that the definition is already broadening in the political arena mean it’s a natural next step for business?
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:23 am
Pamela: Makower noted that attempt at changing the conversation from green to blue, described as “a ‘post-green, consumer-led movement that aggregates the power of both marketers and consumers as catalysts for social change.’ But, the term didn’t stick. Seems like we’re actually in a kind of middle zone when it comes to communicating sustainability: It is still an emerging area, so the language hasn’t been completely hammered out yet. But, it’s been around long enough that some terms have become entrenched.