Going Beyond Doom: Exploring Sustainability's Bright Future

Sustainable living is choosing well and thoughtfully-made products and services that reflect clearly defined environmental and social values. There has never been a challenge more fitted to the strengths of the communications industry. If?communications professionals respond ?to people's genuine interest in making environmentally responsible changes, news and marketing organizations can lead the sustainability transition.

I'm all-in to accelerate the sustainability transition for the remainder of my career. Just as we moved from digitally naive to native between 1990 and 2010, sustainable thinking needs to become common knowledge by 2033 to produce transformative results. This time, we have 10 years to change -- and the information infrastructure (built during the last transition) to do it.

Beyond doom to decisive positive action

The Climate Crisis is a grim reality that cannot be ignored, though a minority still stubbornly refuse to look. Yet,?others see the potential for positive change . The climate is the backdrop of every choice humans make because every human action carries environmental consequences -- it's time to acknowledge we are?of, not separate from, nature . When we embrace that complex relationship in full, humans will see solutions everywhere -- nature has evolved through trillions of experiments. We need the perspective of that long view to remain patient as we find our way, even the will to share our mistakes so we all learn faster.

As Google's Chief Sustainability Officer,?Kate Brandt ,?wrote this week : "We've seen how working together, remaining focused, and leveraging innovation can help to create a more sustainable future." Real, sustainable choices combined with expert storytelling can shape a prosperous green future.

But we can only expect a few people to embrace changes when confronted with relentlessly dismal and foreboding messages. Telling stories of?positive change , articulating the?new choices ?transparently to customers in clear language, and engaging them in the?benefits of circular processes ?that lower costs and relieve the planet from supporting endless take, make, and waste consumption are just a few of the emerging opportunities for journalists, brands, and marketers.

Move from intention to action

Successful sustainability marketing provides more options to customers eager to make a positive difference. The upside of customer engagement is clear: it will deliver new partnerships with customers and suppliers that deepen long-term engagement and build loyalty. For example,?Wunderman Thompson reports ?that 81% of consumers say that if brands make it easier to reuse or recycle their products and packaging, they are more likely to purchase.

Making circular choices easily accessible is a strategy that?Earth911 ?works to make universal by documenting and simplifying complicated local recycling, composting, reuse, and other emerging circular options for consumers. We help brands and municipal recycling programs keep their commitments. For example, we recently launched a free and secure mail-in waste recycling partnership that?plants 20 trees for each device sent and accepted ?for refurbishment and reuse.

A widespread understanding of how sustainable products, packaging, and services are made, distributed, used, and recollected for reuse is essential because the entire lifecycle relationship between maker, user, and supply chain will be restructured over the next decade. Your customers are eager to get started.

Allen Adamson of?Metaforce just launched his new book,?Seeing the How: Transforming what people do, not buy, to gain market advantage , which opens the door to rethinking customer relationships in the sustainability era. We can chnage our relationships with the market by offering new, circular options that turn the burden of sustainability into a concierge-like experience. We may pay a green premium at the outset , but as renewable energy has shown, those early costs turn to long-term green savings quickly. You can see the early evidence today:

• Mill ?customers send food waste to be composted (imagine what we could do with ubiquitous municipal composting services).
• Pela's ?Lomi composting appliance owners like me are?processing some bioplastics into safe compost at home (we need more testing to identify safely compostable packaging).
• College students rely on?reUser ?to return cafeteria take-out containers on campus (these new habits will be "native" for Gen Z and Gen Alpha).
• Companies?buy and sell used furniture ?through?Rheaply ?as remote work reshapes offices (circularity is taking hold in companies turning away from buying new).
• Consumers are installing EV charging, power?monitoring , and?management technologies ?in the home (people are adapting their homes and offices for sustainable outcomes).

These are just a?few of the changes covered on the Earth911 podcast , and it is only the bottom of the first inning in the energy transition.

Stories can shape our future

We can make the sustainable transition within a decade and head off the worst impacts of Climate Change by providing inspiring language, definitions, and actionable steps consumers and companies can take.

Sustainability is a mission living generations must begin and hand on to our children's children. We can restore the environment to pre-Industrial CO2 levels in time. Whether it turns out to be a 30- or 100-year campaign remains to be seen, but now is the time for action.

We must make regeneration, restoration, and carbon drawdown a just and global reality. That mission starts with stories about the personal satisfaction, environmental and economic rewards, and prospects for equitable outcomes that emerge when we make informed decisions. Start with stories about progress.

Let's talk .

Friends and Earth911 podcast guests, how are your organizations making changes to engage the rising tide of sustainable shoppers? What circular economy ideas do you need to collaborate with others to bring to market? What stories do we need to tell?

Allen Adamson Trace Cohen David Camp Gil Friend Mike Osborne Don C. Justin Bean Sandi Lewis Richard Okumoto, Ph.D. Harry Hollines Meg Gumbiner Tom Cooke Nikki Batchelor Alayna Chuney, Esq. Jodie Morgan Ezra Goldman Renee Morin Bill Klehm Allan Traicoff Patience Marime-Ball, Esq. Ruth Shaber, MD Michael Arens Esha Chhabra David Katz Robert Lilienfeld Frank Zambrelli John Englander Tommy Linstroth Chris O'Brien Sarah Pinner Jason M. Grant Garry Cooper Douglas Heske Anne Popkin Christian Schiller Mike Werner Brad Pedersen Jürgen Pretsch Mike Phillips Caroline Vanderlip John Shegerian Alex Garden Anna Yona Urvashi Bhatnagar, DPT, MBA Erin Levine Erica Moreti Susan Hunt Stevens Pamela Gill Alabaster and so many others.