Sustainability - Just another Fad?

Posted by Dan Sonnenberg
Monday, 23 August 2010  |  0 comments
Dan Sonnenberg
Read all of Dan Sonnenberg's Posts

As usual, we’re busy with another fad, but this one is the fad of fads.

It’s called SUSTAINABILITY and it gathers momentum at a time when the Gulf of Mexico is black not blue, raising more questions about our dependancy on oil, the nature of resource exploitation, about the moral integrity of business and about the nature of the economic system we have crafted over the centuries.

In South Africa we’re fortunately not dealing with a major oil spill, at least not directly. But we are dealing with widespread poverty (compounded over aeons) and its implications not only for society but also the impacts of development on the country’s resource base (that bringing people out of poverty requires). We’re facing the conundrum of needing to reduce overall consumption but simultaneously wanting to increase employment and create more consumers, thereby boosting economic growth. This is the crux of the dilemma.

This is where words and the meanings attached to them are important in a discussion on sustainability. We need to ask ourselves what do we mean by this term. For the sake of this article, here are three business-centric interpretations, from the most to least cynical:
1. Sustainability means we do nothing save for creating the perception that we are doing something to be more planet and people friendly.
2. Sustainability means we continue to do what we are doing but we look for ways and means of reducing the consumption of resources and limiting negative social impacts. As a business we have no clue whether what we are doing makes us more sustainable or not.
3. We as a business concede that sustainability is not the most suitable term to describe our efforts at impact mitigation / elimination but we are aware of the need to mitigate / eliminate / improve and hence proceed accordingly. We also understand that we need to think beyond that which we know and visualise a world where we do things completely differently, taking innovation to the extreme.

So what? First of all, claiming sustainability or that one is sustainable is all but impossible. Second, any business or group, save maybe for the Yanomami or Hadza tribes people, who do so should be viewed sceptically. Is this the end of the planet? Maybe, but we can go a long way towards changing direction and reorienting towards a different future.

How can this be done? Reduce consumption. Think about your current business model and tweak it to make it more people and planet friendly. Innovate. Create awareness. Read. Discuss. Don’t choose to be stuck. These may be the very things that ensure that your business endures.

When the CEO or CFO reads this (please pass it on) they may mutter, laugh or sigh with eyebrows raised, as might you. That’s ok. Recognising the interdependence of this existence is not seen by all; acknowledging responsibility for more than oneself is essential.

As Voltaire said, more or less, few people are able to rise above the prevailing ideas and practices of the day - it’s time we stretched our necks.

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