Under-Rated Over-Consumption - Immediate Action Required

"Over-consumption" is a real challenge. Soaring wastage levels across the board are leading to massive challenges for the ecological balance. This also includes "over-tourism", which has become a serious challenge for the very popular destinations. Places like Venice (a tourist-resident ratio of ~600:1 coupled and a declining permanent resident population), Thailand (80% of Maya Bay's corals are no more) and Nainital (4-6,000 vehicles enter daily) and Ladakh are seeing the downsides of over-tourism.

As business owners and influencers, here are 5 questions for you to ponder over -

1. How much paper do you consume every year? How many trees is that equivalent to? How much waste do you generate every year? How much of that is recycled? How much energy do you consumer per customer (or in the case of an OTA, guests) every year? What's the carbon footprint of your business?
2. Of your total spends on services provided by partners, do you know how much goes to the last (or first) mile service provider? Is that appropriate and by design or accident?
3. What is the "diversity" index of your employee base? Does your organization have a "diffability" focus?
4. Do you encourage "sustainable" practices amongst your employees, suppliers and customers?
5. Do you have a "Purpose" statement that is relevant to Sustainability (in part or whole)?

If you don't have clear responses to at least 3 of the 5 pointers, it's time to stop and take stock of what your business is doing to the future of the planet in general and in specific to the communities it operates in and with. It will also be useful to identify KPIs you should use to measure your performance against a "Sustainability Index".

Take a look at how things stand today. Plastic - according to CPCB, we generate 26,000 tons of everyday. 80% of seabirds eat it (compared to 5% 50 years ago). There is 15,000 crore tons of plastic in the oceans. Water - Women across the world spend 2.5 months fetching water. Yamuna receives 850 million gallons of sewage from Delhi alone, everyday. And the issue gets worse - while Chennai almost ran out of water this year, 21 cities including Delhi, Bengaluru & Hyderabad are expected to run out of groundwater in 2020. Access to drinking water is one of the biggest challenges ahead of us. Climate change - selective farming of traditional crops has been abandoned in some rural areas due to climate change, amongst other factors. Deforestation - according to the WRI, we lose 82,000 acres of forest everyday. Yes, everyday. These are the lungs of the planet! Btw, this roughly is equal to 60 Mumbai airports, everyday. Wildlife - the number of species in the vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered list in India has actually gone up to 683 in 2018. 150 species of fish are expected to be threatened in the Himalayan states. 1 leopard dies every day in India, driven by, amongst other reasons, poachers and the human-animal conflict. Electricity - the per capita consumption of electricity has gone up to 1,122 KWH in 2017-18 and one-fourth still don't have access (China is 4X of this). These are only illustrative and needless to say, there are many more issues at hand.

It is not going to be easy to find solutions to the above. But you can start with small steps for building the foundations for a better tomorrow -

1. "Be the change you want to see around you". This is an easy first step - make your office premises green - be it rain water harvesting, energy efficient lighting, restricted use of printers (is there a thought here for corporates with reams of paper consumed for submission of expense statements & invoices?) & photocopiers, waste (minimization, cafeteria!) & segregation/management. Make it a "Plastic-Free" office. Recycle tetrapaks. Encourage, if not incentivize, car pools (everyone has experienced the degrading air quality). Of course, it will be easier if you practice the 3Rs at home!
2. Make your Business operations sustainable. Share a percentage of your income with the populations that you make your living from. Disintermediate wherever possible and relevant to generate a higher "shared economic value pool". Make sure your holidays avoid using vehicles in high congestion areas. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable practices - but you need to create a compelling proposition. Authenticity will play a big role in this. Engage with organisations in the social entrepreneurship space. Be it SHGs or the dabbawallahs, they can play a role for your business.
3. Do not just have a Code of Business Conduct for employees but also for business partners. Let this Code be not just about Respect, Fairness & Integrity but also about Sustainability. And focus on "Purpose" & "Intent", not prescriptions. And use this "Intent" to evaluate decision-making, not just NPVs & DCFs. Use your business platforms to propagate this philosophy (websites, blogs, Facebook etc). You can't speak enough about this.
4. Maintain a Sustainability Scorecard in a visible space in your premises. Entrance & the Cafeteria are two good spots. And incentives (for lack of a better word, a sustainable approach by all). Nominate owners for this scorecard in each business. And review these during the weekly / monthly reviews, not in an obscure "sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't" method.
5. Jumping a bit, "Sustainable Tourism" is not just about "bringing back only memories & leaving behind no footprints". It's also not just about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It's about a holistic commitment to being a Responsible Corporate Citizen in the context of your business & your community. Check out Adventure Nation's initiative driven by Rency & team or the Adopt A Heritage initiative conceptualised by Nitika and team.

Let's find the middle path today between Profits and Purpose - lets not go down the path of either the modern day Robin Hood or the medieval Rebellion Bonds. In the long run (supporting and contradicting John Maynard Keynes view!), there will be a better tomorrow.

Start NOW. Become a "Business For Sustainable & Inclusive Growth". Innovate to Invest - in the future, your future. There are many examples around - of large global businesses and also micro-entrepreneurs. It will cost you a fraction of your expense side of the P&L but will have a payback far higher than other investment, in areas you didn't even envisage.

P.S. This is not for the CEOs & CFOs but for everyone who has a stake in our shared future. As MK Gandhi said (~), "Earth provides enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed".