Kristen's Sustainable Marketing Blog

Bob Willard of the sustainable advantage claims there is a business case for sustainability. Willard states that there are five stages of a sustainable journey for businesses. These journeys begin with an unsustainable business model in the first three stages and moves to a sustainable business framework in the last two stages. The stages are as follows: Pre-compliance – These companies are cutting corners and are not engaged in any means of sustainability. Compliance – These companies are mandated by regulation but their actions are still unsustainable. Beyond compliance –…read more

Did you know that brewing companies have an average of 7-1 water to beer ratio? With the effects of climate change, breweries are facing issues in the production of hops and clean water resources. The rising demand for beer and the lower yields due to warmer temperatures have caused the price of hops to rise by more than 250% in the past decade. Breweries are starting to see the impacts of climate change directly on their businesses and have taken matters into their own hands in signing a Brewery Climate…read more

To the average consumer, certifications can help them make a decision about whether or not a product is environmentally friendly or not. But with so many certifications these days, skeptical consumers worry about which certifications actually mean something and which ones companies are just slapping on their products to appear green. This brings up the topic of greenwashing. A study done by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing showed that 98% of products surveyed had committed at least one sin of greenwashing; thus a new sin was created, the Sin of Worshipping False…read more

The new trend among home-made coffee is single-cup coffee machines, whether that be in the homes of kitchens or offices. It’s easy, customizable and perfect for making that one cup of coffee. But what people don’t realize is how much waste it creates. One major company which uses this system is Keurig’s k-cups. These k-cups are made of plastic integrated with a coffee filter, coffee grounds, and plastic foil top so there is no simple way to separate the components for recycling. Sure, boiling water every time to make a…read more

Did you know it takes 30 litres of water to dye one t-shirt? Multiply that by the thousands of t-shirts that Nike creates each day. That’s a lot of water. But with the increasing concerns of climate change, companies in every industry are making changes to be more sustainable. In order to do this, companies have started to engage in partnerships to find ways to help reduce their impact. Many of these partnerships are coalitions within industries to collaborate ideas of how their industry can be more sustainable. These coalitions,…read more

As students who are passionate about sustainability, we try our best to be as environmentally friendly as possible. We do the small things and are constantly looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Even if we try to purchase only sustainable products, we waste a lot. Moving to a system of cradle-to-cradle from cradle-to-grave is something that seems borderline impossible. Fortunately society has progressed and now a lot of products can now be recycled, but how can we move from upcycling to down cycling and ultimately reduce our waste?…read more

You’re tired so you go to a coffee shop and you grab a coffee. You have a fifteen minute break at work and you run down to the nearest Starbucks to grab a coffee. You’re on the way to work and you grab a Tim’s coffee to start your day. These are habits that we all pick up and become part of our daily lives. It is in our nature as humans to waste. I consider myself environmentally friendly, and I recycle my cup after using it, but it’s hard…read more

70-80% of emissions from crude oil come from tank to wheel, or actually driving a vehicle. It makes sense that cities keep putting in bike lanes to try and be more sustainable. Vancouver has a mild climate which would be perfect for commuting via bike except for one major issue, the rain. The guardian article we read suggests that companies should focus on the product or service to tie sustainability to the company’s core business to satisfy customer’s needs (Sherwin, 2011). VeloMetro Mobility is a company which has produced a…read more

As an environmentalist, or someone who cares about the environment; I understand that eating red meat is unsustainable. But as an athlete who grew up needing protein, I really enjoy eating red meat. So there’s this internal debate in my head with enjoying a steak and being environmentally friendly. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows the full lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from different types of proteins. As shown in the graph; lamb, beef, cheese, and pork emit the most greenhouse gases.   We learned in class that McDonald’s aims to…read more