Generation green
Why green consumerism and the brands that facilitate it, are so important for the health of both the economy and our environment.
For years, our capitalist society has seen economic growth and development as being insoluble with the ideas of conservation and environmental protection. Indeed, the established consensus amongst businesses for generations, has been that if you want to increase productivity and make more money, you must use more natural resources and energy. This outmoded paradigm so often means increasing the negative impact businesses have on the environment in order for them to expand.
The issue with this traditional model, is that eventually, businesses will run out of the natural resources they require to make their products, and they will inevitably collapse. If all businesses continue to work like this, you not only end up with an economy in pieces but a heavily compromised natural environment. This both cripples people financially and leaves them at greater risk of environmental catastrophes.
This is where the solution of green growth comes in. Green growth is the idea that you can foster economic growth and development, while simultaneously ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which businesses and our well-being relies. This means working to create a symbiosis between environment and economy, which results in both being protected for the future.
An example of an investment in green growth, would be a company adapting their packaging so that it is made from sustainable materials. This not only helps the environment by preventing further ravaging effects on finite resources but ensures that the business has a packaging strategy which is economically and environmentally viable for years to come.
MainstreamCorporation Practice
Sadly, the majority of large corporations don’t see green growth as a viable option, electing instead to employ a more short-sighted ‘cross that bridge when we come to it’ mentality. The problem with this is that these corporations have an unbelievably significant role in how the global environment is treated. This includes how waterways are used, how emissions are controlled and what materials are stripped from the natural world. Their power extends also to the actual percentage of our world which is given over to manufacturing and industrialisation.
To give you some perspective on the influence of global corporations on our environment, a study from 2017 found that just 100 energy companies have been responsible for 71% of all industrial emissions since human-driven climate change was officially recognized. Another example to indicate the scale of their impact, comes from a study from the NRDC, which revealed that Procter andGamble, an American paper company, produce 17.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year, converting forests into paper products.
Perhaps even more insidious, is that corporations know that appearing environmental damaging is bad for business. But instead of rethinking the way they produce their products, they spend millions on PR campaigns which try and persuade people that they are friendly to the environment, even though they have either done nothing to change their behaviour, or achieved the bare minimum to back up their claims. This is a phenomenon known as ‘Green Washing’, where companies try and spin their practices as eco-friendly so that customers will continue to buy their products despite negative press.
The consumer
Although some enlightened companies might employ green growth tactics out of genuine concern for the environment, most businesses need more motivation to change the way they operate for the benefit of the environment. Thankfully, at the end of the day, businesses must bow to the power of the consumer, as they cannot make money without customers buying their products or services.
Customers therefore have an immense power when acting together to change the market. All they need todo is use their purchasing preferences to show exactly what they want and how they would prefer the businesses that service them to behave.
If consumers show with their purchasing patterns that they are more interested in products and businesses that can genuinely prove they use ecologically conscious practices, then businesses are forced to take note and adapt their own practices if they are to stay lucrative. This in a nutshell, is the ideal effect of green consumerism.
Although they might not at first realise it, businesses who adapt to these greener production processes will benefit in the long-term from having a production model that is more sustainable for the future. This has the effect of prolonging the life of the company by not exhausting the resources they rely on so quickly. If companies start to adopt these practices en masse, they not only contribute to the protection of the environment (on which we all rely) but contribute to global economic stability for their future.
Green Companies
The consumer may have the power and desire to change the way businesses behave towards the environment. However, if they have no way of exercising that power, that potential is wasted. This is why companies who are driven by green ideals and green growth are so important in these pivotal times to get the ball rolling. This is because they give the consumer the opportunity to vote for their preferences for ecological products and exercise that power which makes other companies pay attention.
With every purchase of an ecologically sound product, consumers demonstrate to other businesses where they are happy to spend their money. Like voting for your local MP, every purchase for these types of products is a vote for green consumerism, helping to turn the tide of business practice.
If customers do not consider environmental impacts when they shop, then that is their prerogative. However, the more green companies that achieve mainstream appeal, the more opportunities customers have of making greener choices. The greater the popularity of green companies, the more intense the pressure becomes for other companies to change to adapt to popular demand.
Companies such as Loopeco for example, are exactly the type of ecologically conscious organisation that allows consumers to voice their desire for green products. In addition, they show other companies and consumers you can have the growth and quality products that your company and customers demand, as well as practices that protect the environment in the process. Loopeco achieve this by creating desirable, effective and environmentally friendly products, that often surpass their less environmentally sound rivals. In fact, every one of Loopeco’s products are vegan certified, 100% organic and plastic free where feasible, without compromising on quality for the consumer.
Our actions as consumers not only affect how businesses view our preferences now, but they shape the industries and highstreets that future generations will inherit. Our society now also has the power to act as a group of role models, by making the right consumer decisions and showing our children how we can consume with the environment in mind. This also extends to championing environmental consciousness in general. For example, seeing how young Greta Thunberg has been inspired by environmental campaigning and is now one of the world’s leading exponents of climate change action. This effect viewed over generations, has a potentially exponential ability to change how businesses conduct themselves for the better.
Conclusion
We have already seen this consumer-driven change, from our supermarkets, which now offer many more vegan-friendly products, to the massive technology companies which now use renewable energy to run their plants.
However, if the green companies that empower consumers aren’t there, the potential for change decreases. That’s why environmentally considerate companies and those that support them, are so crucial to opening the door for bigger change, for an economically and environmentally sound future.
Written by Tim Price
Photography by Maxim Tolchinskiy / Annie Spratt