In case you’re not familiar yet with marketing strategies that can be used for sustainability topics in companies, there is actually a very useful matrix called The Green Marketing Strategy Matrix that helps understand how companies need to first consider the likely size of the green market in their industry as well as their ability to differentiate their products on “greenness” from competitors, before choosing an action plan, or marketing strategy.

The matrix shows 4 different paths to take but this post is focused on the Defensive Green strategy.

It is well known that green is becoming more and more trending and that, as consumers become more aware of it, companies are trying more and more to be recognized as green and environmental friendly. Why? Because they know green is becoming a must in order to be accepted and supported, not only by customers, but also by investors, supporting companies and even the government.

Sure everyone is trying to make an effort in becoming green and sustainable, but not everyone has the knowledge, time and capital to become 100% sustainable from one day to another.  This is why I believe that most of the companies can be categorized under the “Defensive Green” strategy of the matrix, because, even though they are trying to add to the cause, they don’t publicize their green activities much beyond their Web sites, or, instead of claiming themselves as green companies, they decide to occasionally sponsor environmentally friendly events and programs that match their essence. They know they’re not able to maintain a 100% green reputation, so they don’t shout out about their green efforts so loudly.

I looked at Cult’s list of top-50 brands deemed authentically and resolutely “green” by their own customers and found that most of the companies listed there are in fact taking a Defensive Green Strategy.

One example is Kohl’s. It is pulling efforts in trying to reduce plastic bag usage and to encourage customers to recycle them and it’s also working with its supply chain partners to leave a green mark. They don’t advertise themselves as a green retail shop, or as the most sustainable company in clothing. They simply make an effort and put it on their website in order to inform those who are interested in making a change and eventually push customers, with occasional campaigns, to contribute to this cause.

I’m happy that companies are eventually joining the green train but I would love them to be more active about it and not just do something when it’s convenient for them or when they feel like it’s profitable to contribute. I know it takes time, people, money and technology to develop bigger and better sustainable practices but I would love it if companies started to be able to use the Extreme Green or Shaded Green strategies. Of course it takes a two-way collaboration (customers-companies) to achieve this but I think it will soon be possible when more CEO’s start realizing the importance of this and decide to invest more efforts on it.

Sustainability is a well sounded word now a days and it’s important to understand what it means and question what this concept covers and until where it reaches. In this entry, I’d like to give a general introduction to what the whole concept means.

Let’s start by going with the simplest definition of the word, which basically describes itself: Sustain + Ability, meaning that something is able, or has the capability, to be sustained, upheld, or confirmed. To me, this means that something is capable of existing by itself without the help of any other external factors that support its existence over time; it means that something is independent and it only needs to keep its own system working in order to stay alive. Based on this definition, we can think any fountain as of being a sustainable thing, right?

You build the structure, design the pumping system, put some water on it, and voilà! It is independent because it doesn’t require someone refilling the water because it’s not being used again, or it doesn’t require someone to pump up the water to the upper part of the fountain again because it doesn’t have a system that does it. This fountain, as long as all the parts of its system keep working, will never stop running, meaning it is sustainable, it is able to uphold itself.

WRONG! Truth is, that there are much more aspects that need to be considered in order to claim that a fountain is sustainable.

For example, let’s think about about the water source, the materials used to create the fountain, and the energy that supplies, holds, and puts water in motion. All of these things have an environmental impact. Let’s say that the fountain’s pump requires tons of energy to keep working. This translates in CO2 emissions that damage the environment. Or let’s say that the material used to build the fountain was sourced from a factory that uses toxic procedures, or maybe they were sourced from destructing a natural area.

When talking about sustainability we need to consider other factors such as people, resources, ecosystems and the relationship between them or their components, processes, economy, nature and technology, among others.

Taking that into account, how can a fountain be sustainable then? Here’s an example:

Read more about it

Now that we know that the basic definition is not enough, I would like to share one of the most complete definitions I found about sustainability and that I think covers all aspects of the word:

Sustainability is defined as: “the physical development and institutional operating practices that meet the needs of present users without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, particularly with regard to use and waste of natural resources. Sustainable practices support ecological, human, and economic health and vitality. Sustainability presumes that resources are finite, and should be used conservatively and wisely with a view to long-term priorities and consequences of the ways in which resources are used.- UCLA Sustainability Committee

Now we know sustainability is not only about being able to “survive” or to be able to have a system that works by itself; it’s also about everything that surrounds it and that makes it work; it’s about the people that were involved in it’s creation before, during and after the production process; it’s about satisfying needs in a harmless way and it’s about taking care of our planet and everything that conforms it because we only have one and we need to conserve it.

Sources:

EPA. Overview of Greenhouse Gases. http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html

Land Learn. What is Sustainability? http://www.landlearnnsw.org.au/sustainability/what-is-sustainability

Dictionary. Sustainability http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sustainability

UCLA. What is Sustainability? http://www.sustain.ucla.edu/about-us/what-is-sustainability/

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!