On the good and bad side of sustainability

Today it is elementary to be sustainable. More and more companies announce their commitment to equality, justice and the environment. But only those who are capable of proving and showing the world what makes them sustainable will truly be awarded that badge. Sustainability communication has gone from level to level.

A word on everyone’s lips, sustainability. From the smallest to the largest, from the grayest to the yellowest, from the local that sells clothes on the corner to the company with the largest store in the world, there is no one who does not indulge in it. And of course, suspicion is born when many cover in case there are few who press. Is the word sustainability losing strength?

The debate remains open. If we are on the good side of things, what can be translated from the proliferation of the term is that today it is essential to be sustainable.e. It is the minimum required of anyone and anyone who is not to be considered deceased.. Either it is sustainable or it is not. Good news that businesses and people are committed to equality, justice and the environment, that when we fix a hair straightener it is not because we cannot afford the latest model but because we want to save on the waste of throwing away the old one.

Yes, we trust that the companies that hang the sustainable sign in their shop windows are really sustainable, they fix their irons and, of course, they separate the rubbish before throwing it away and they pay the same to women and men. But all of them keep in mind that the movement is demonstrated by walking and more than transmitting with words they must show with real facts. Sustainability communication has gone from level to level, since it is already something intrinsic to everyone, now it is only those who are capable of testing and teaching the world what makes them sustainable who will truly be awarded that distinction.

It is not enough to say that we are, we must prove it. Otherwise, you run the risk of your definition being considered greenwashing, or, what amounts to the same thing, that you want the world to believe that you are more ecological than you really are. It seems, if we get on the bad side of things, that from so much spreading the word sustainable on everyone’s lips we have spent it. So it’s time to rearm it with facts to restore its value.

There is Amazon showing its renewable energy projects or its logistics stations only for women in India, Renault suggesting that after buying the vehicle we use the bicycle or Levis that encourages us to buy better (do you mean less?) to use it more. Of course, the ads can support almost anything until someone decides to check how much green energy the distribution giant uses, if the president of Renault has a bicycle or if the president of Levis uses the same jeans as five years ago.

A separate post deserves the term future, which runs the same risk of saturating us along the way it is going. Let’s live in the present, please. Enjoy this post today and now, we’ll talk about the future later.