This is the last post of the blog.

I can’t believe how fast the time has passed! I arrived here on New Year’s day, a few days away from my 22nd birthday, with a feeling that this term would be very special for me. Of course, it was! And I can’t help feeling a little blue today, my last day of classes. Even when I still got a couple of weeks to enjoy at Vancouver, with exams around the corner, the truth is time will be played fast forward from now on. For that reason, I would like to share some takeaways from Sustainability class.

• Whether developing a product or through our life purpose, aim to create shared value. This means, by adding value not only to the customer (Or to yourself) but rather in the whole supply chain, from production to disposal. Or in your life purpose, for those who surround you.
• Consume wiseley, choose long term over fast solutions. Give that resource the most valuable and profitable use as possible.
• The design is critical for extending the life-cycle of a product. A great design will make a product ageless and relevant through time. A good design in the use or implementation of the product may also reduce waste and gain efficiency.
• Businesses are huge tools for social change. For years, businesses have had the “evil” label when it comes to sustainability, but we can’t deny the power of influence corporations have in our society. Businesses have the power to make us or break us, and in sustainable initiatives, they have the tools to lead social change.
• Our actions have more impact than we might think. Through normative influence, as a business team player or in our consumption patterns, even when our efforts may look like “not enough” they do make an impact towards a healthier environment.

The above were a couple of takeaways from the course. I am very grateful to Professor Dharini and my classmates from who I got the chance to learn different and worldwide perspectives. I’ll miss you lots and I will try not to get too nostalgic, haha I wish you all the best and hope we’ll cross paths ever again. 🙂

Credits to Professor’s Dharini Thiruchittampalam Sustainability Marketing course.

Much has been told about the ecological impact of consumerism. It is impressive how the richest 10% of the population is accountable for 49% of the world’s global carbon emissions.

As the richest percentage of the population tend to consume more, disposable products, unused items, and huge amounts of shiny packages float around the world. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It was the mantra of my middle school sustainability teacher, but the execution of this wise mantra was much more intuitive in the older days. Who didn’t got caught in the deception of finding needles in grandma’s cookie box? Or even worse! Sneaking out to the refrigerator at night to take a scope of the delicious vanilla ice cream in the fridge, to open it to an ice cream container filled with beans. Those were hard impressions in life!

Image from Google images

Even when they formed part of my childhood trauma, looking back, there was no packaging element that could not have at least a second use.
As marketers, we are concerned about price, product, packaging and frequency of purchase. Our goal is to satisfy a need for a specific market while helping the company thrive through hearty revenues.

How can we align profitability with the wise use of resources?

The solution might be going back to the roots. As a child, we used to buy candies and seeds in bulk, taking our own bags to buy groceries that could last forever, the fruit wasn’t wrapped around plastic, nor tainted in wax to make it look shinier. A supermarket in Thailand began using banana leaves as packaging for their products. As mentioned in the article, banana leaves had also been used for the cooking of some Mexican traditional dishes and make an excellent option to reduce plastic packaging.

Tamal oaxaqueño, from Google images

Going back to natural options, getting creative with the packaging strategies, and looking towards a better design for the whole lifecycle of the product can extend the life of the products and prevent the waste of resources.

AFP. (2015). World’s richest 10% produce half of global carbon emissions, says Oxfam. April 3, 2019, de The Guardian Sitio web: (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/worlds-richest-10-produce-half-of-global-carbon-emissions-says-oxfam)

Trevor, N. (2019). Thailand Supermarket Ditches Plastic Packaging For Banana Leaves. April 3, 2019, de Forbes Sitio web: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/03/25/thailand-supermarket-uses-banana-leaves-instead-of-plastic-packaging/#17e834557102

As a response to the World’s Happiness Day, a very interesting class discussion, and several comments on the posts below, I decided to craft this space surrounding happiness. It certainly is a strange measurement. What makes you happy? Ok, there are some easy stuff, mint and chocolate chip ice-cream, flowers, hugs, dogs, heart emojis in the cell phone’s screen, the list could go on and on. Finding the glimpses of daily happiness is quite easy. What I find more challenging is looking for the long-term motivation of the impact you want to have with your life. (A question I’m trying to figure out).

The World Happiness Report of 2019 has just been released, and it has some key findings towards happiness –and the lack of it-.

Happiness and Community
The first chapter of 2019 report gives a consistent follow up from one of 2018’s key finding: Satisfying relationships make you happy. And, who knows more about close, warm relationships than Latinos? The overall level of Happiness from Latin American countries didn’t seem proportional to some really bad scores achieved in 2018 in variables such as income, income distribution, income poverty rates, transparency, crime, violence, education, and health. The answer was that Latin American happiness was heavily based on social connections. It was one of the most relevant findings from 2018’s report.

This year, the happiness score has evolved as a potential predictor of political acceptance. The highest value that drives the regional score is “Satisfaction with personal relationships”, while “Citizen security” stands remarkably as the lowest value.

From the World Happiness Report 2019

Happiness and Security
As mentioned in the post “First World Problems”, there are some vital elements of security needed to start thinking about personal achievement and development. Never the Less, it looks like a safe environment is not the only measure of life’s satisfaction. Since 2012, life satisfaction for American adolescents and adults had gradually marked lower rates even when crime and unemployment have decreased. This phenomenon is known as “The Easterlin Paradox”, which “Suggests that there is no link between a society’s economic development and its average level of happiness.” (Stevenson and Wolfers, 2008). The 2019 World Happiness Report suggests there might be a relation between the increasing use of digital platforms and the decreasing amount of face to face interactions that trigger the lack of happiness. Even so, this theory can’t be concluded as causation at this stage of the research.

Personal Happiness
While the Easterlin Paradox and lifestyle goes through thorough research, and Latin Americans continue their quest for joy in an uncertain environment, we can conclude that rewarding social interactions can help us maintain a happier life through the ups and downs of life itself. Deliberately give yourself time to build rewarding social bonds, and Why not? Go for some ice cream in the way!

Mientras no me falte
Tu beso en las mañanas y un café
Todo estará bien.

Y si se cae la bolsa
O el smog nos pone a todos a toser
Todo estará bien. […]

Mi universo esta aquí adentro
Donde vives tu y por suerte
Vivo yo

-Todo estará bien, Ricardo Arjona
Guatemalan singer and songwriter

References:
Rojas, M. (2018). Happiness in Latin America Has Social Foundations. March 26, 2019, de The World Happiness Report Sitio web: https://s3.amazonaws.com/happiness-report/2018/CH6-WHR-lr.pdf

Twenge, J. (2019). The Sad State of Happiness in the United States and the Role of Digital Media. March 26, 2019, from The World Happiness Report https://s3.amazonaws.com/happiness-report/2019/WHR19_Ch5.pdf

Stevenson, B. and Wolfers J. (August 2008). Economic Growth and Subjective Well-being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 14282. March 26, 2019, The National Bureau of Economic Research.https://www.nber.org/papers/w14282.pdf

(My best attempt of) Traduction of the song:

“Everything will be alright”
As long as I have your morning kiss and a coffee,
Everything will be alright.

Even if the stock falls, and the smog makes us all cough,
Everything will be alright. […]

(Because) My universe is here inside, where you live, and fortunately enough, so do I.

Hello! Everyone!! I did this infographic so we could put in numbers some of the amazing events in the world.

Created by Ana Funes with statistics from Worldometers

This place isn’t real!, I tell my brother on the phone. And the most amazing part is that it is. It is as real as my life back home, but I still can’t believe it.

I started to think what amazed me the most, either the clean air, the clean streets, the bus, the mountains, the cars that did stop in the stop signals, the recycling bins or the snow. I couldn’t choose a winner; Why do I have a feeling back home we are living on the Stone Age?

I wondered why everything looked better, even when I know my beloved Mexico doesn’t have to prove the world how magical it is. Mexico owns such a unique, mysterious and joyful beauty painted in lavender jacaranda colours, seasoned with salt and lemon (real lemons), spreading effortless beauty. Kept thinking about it for a while. It’s not that we are cavemen, it’s that we really live in a different world, a developing one.

Acknowledging the importance of taking care of the planet, for a person who is used to take extra precautions in their daily life to survive, recycling may not be their concern number one. May sound a bit strange but we have adapted to live in constant danger. The relevance of the problems here and in Mexico looked so different, but they aren’t. They are both vital for human survival, the difference is the emergency level of each of them.

The main difference relies on the time frame we are focused on. While Mexicans live on a day to day basis, First world efforts are dedicated to future generations. It’s understandable, they haved surpassed survival mode and can focus on cultivating themselves, art and technology. We need people to stay focus on long term goals.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure crimes are committed all around the world, but I bet most people in developed countries don’t have an extra wallet and a fake phone on their cars to give in in case of an assault. They don’t change their parents’ name on their cellphone so if it gets robbed the thief wouldn’t identify their numbers. They have higher odds to arrive back home safe after a party.

The beauty of the Mexican is that even in those harsh conditions, we look for joy. We have so many emotions inside us that we end up craving art, culture and fulfilment, against or even because of the way we have lived so far.

Just as Maslow’s pyramid show, with guaranteed safety, you end up having lots of spare time to focus a bit further on the steps. There is time for science and art, for exercise and friends, for culture and knowledge, for purpose and future goals. There is enough time to care about long term goals.

As different as both realities may seem to each other, they both exist. And I’m sure there are as many realities as people on the planet. Our task now is understanding each individual’s perspective to work towards a common goal.

Psychologists and Marketers couldn’t agree more. Driving change in behaviour is hard work, even more, when a belief is highly embedded in our minds. Either jealousy, product preference, or recycling, our choices are a result of our thoughts and emotions, which not always represent our most logical thoughts. Let’s slow down a little.

According to the principle of Cognitive Consistency our actions and feelings, tend to be a consequence of our beliefs and thoughts. Here are some examples:

Example 1: If you look at the window and see a cloudy sky, (situation) you may think it might rain (thought/belief) and therefore carry an umbrella (action).
Example 2: If you will have an important exam (situation), you might think you are not prepared enough (thought/belief), therefore feel anxious (emotion) and you might either study, ask for tutoring, or leave it for later to get rid of your anxiety (action).

This is the way we make decisions (either conscious or unconscious), including what we purchase and what we consume. If we’d like to change our actions for good, we should work on changing our thoughts first, to deliver a different outcome. When we think or held a belief and don’t act accordingly, we have an annoying, uncomfortable, itchy feeling that is called Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance is the gap between what you think is right and how you act. If your action is congruent with your thought/belief/value you feel morally satisfied to take that decision. (Ex. Being concerned about the environment and buying the recycled product, wanting to lose weight and starting a diet, caring about your health and going to the doctor). But, if your belief or value does not correspond to your action, you may feel guilty, or somewhere unpleasant. (Wanting to be punctual and getting late to work, cheating on your diet, skipping leg day, wanting to save money and going window-shopping). If the Cognitive Dissonance is high enough, it will force us to take an action to ease our discomfort.

Here is where brands, as “solution suppliers” take action. Basically, they should provide a confused consumer with a solution to relieve the tension of the lack of congruence between their decisions and their beliefs. This is also an excellent opportunity to drive change in consumer behaviour. In the Medium article by Jasmine Bina (https://medium.com/startup-grind/the-cognitive-dissonance-hiding-behind-strong-brands-fa99341175eb) she explains how the brands can reduce our Cognitive Dissonance by having three strategies for it: Change Belief, Change Action, or Changing Action Perception.

Just like physical pain, Cognitive Dissonance is useful. It shows us a lack of commitment to our value system and urges us to take action. It also helps us to get back to the “right path”, and more importantly, it might be the principal factor that drives the change out of toxic behaviour.

References:

Solomon, M., White K., Dahl, D. (2017). Attitude Change and Decision Making. En Consumer Behaviour(189-192). Canada: Pearson.

Bina J. (2017). The Cognitive Dissonance Hiding Behind Strong Brands. February 9, 2019, de Medium Website: https://medium.com/startup-grind/the-cognitive-dissonance-hiding-behind-strong-brands-fa99341175eb

How about a delightful roasted coffee, the sunlight warming up your feet and the beautiful smell of a new morning arising? Sounds like a revitalizing kick off for the day, doesn’t it? It may sound completely opposite of what you might expect from having lunch inside a recycled shipping container, but that’s exactly what Starbucks tried to accomplish with their new sustainable store in Taiwan, designed by the architect Kengo Kuma (Insider, 2018). By using recycled material, companies sum efforts with environmentalists to provide services that extend the life-cycle of such products.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, the physicist Sam Stranks and his team at Swift Solar are developing a substance that increases the efficiency of solar panels, which is nowadays limited by the capacity of Silicon to convert sunlight into energy. With the help of the “Perovskite“, the efficiency of solar panels may increase and therefore reduce their costs. (Ted Ideas, 2018).

Integrating sustainability into business is the next step towards an inclusive approach. As declared by the management guru Michael Porter, creating Shared Value benefits the operations of the company as well as delivering value to the customer, creating an “economic and social progress” that must be addressed by the core values of the company. (Porter, Kramer, 2011). Several companies are noticing their need for the new value-centred approach, by also noticing that final consumers reward such efforts. Infrastructure, as shown in the Starbucks and Swift Solar example, is just one of the elements of the value chain that can trigger innovation for the delivery of social value.

Sources:

Frances E. (December 2018). Meet perovskite, the mystery mineral that could transform our solar energy future. February 1, 2019, de Ideas.Ted.Com Website: https://ideas.ted.com/meet-perovskite-the-mystery-mineral-that-could-transform-our-solar-energy-future/

Diskin E. (October 2018). Starbucks opened a sustainable store in Taiwan that’s built from recycled shipping containers and it looks super modern. February 1, 2019, de Insider Website: https://www.thisisinsider.com/starbucks-sustainable-store-taiwan-recycled-shipping-containers-2018-10?utm_content=buffer3ae48&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-travel&fbclid=IwAR1Gm4W9uj_4XiIdg_XqS9cFcBSkHYjc9-IBw6-nMWWRDAjG-smwA79Oao8

Porter M. and Kramer. (2011). Creating Shared Value. (62-77). Harvard Business Review.