Embedding Sustainability in Every Day Life

If you look closely at the Google search word trend graph for the word “Sustainability” over time, a telltale pattern emerges which belays a lack of behavioral engagement to the level of everyday life similar to the word “Green,” especially in retail segments. So how do we Embed Sustainability in Every Day Life?

The hills and valleys repeat and you will note that non-work related periods show the significant dip in use correlates to perhaps people being away from work. While all search terms see certain volume constrained changes, this pattern repeats over and over. I believe this is indicative of a behavioral lapse of uptake yet to be realized in the market.

Are consumers struggling to assimilate “sustainability” concepts? “Green” concepts are much easier. we all know what green looks like, feels like, tastes, smells and so on. But sustainability is a different beast altogether. Its complex, with different meanings held by different people, across different regions ranging from drinking recycled grey water to recycling steel from a construction site. Social justice for the responsible harvest of coffee, to nuts, and mining of minerals.

“Sustainability” is almost certainly a business term that people identify with as part of their jobs but not their lives. Until consumers have the same level of engagement, in this consumer centric society, we will keep building products with one-use materials embedded in them, filling landfills, using coal derived electricity, and other such resource intensive measure solely for least cost to the Enterprise approach.