If you want a sustainable economy, you'll need a sustainable society

So how do we create a sustainable society?

For this article, sustainability and circular economy are interchangeable, as is doughnut economics although I didn’t use the term.

This is a subject close to my heart and one from which I have an unusual perspective, at least I assume not one often associated with a “professional” on LinkedIn.

In our quest to create a sustainable society, I truly believe from my experience that many businesses are overlooking a potentially influential part of society.

It doesn’t matter how sustainable your product or service is, or how circular your policy is, or how innovative your idea is, if the public don’t get it, they will continue with the business-as-usual, linear economy mindset. And your product/service, policy, or idea will go the same way.

Society is a human system, and therefore, so is everything contained within it – economy, business, policy, products, and services. How they are used is ultimately decided by the mindset of the user.

So then, all we must do is change the mindset of the user and we can change the mindset of society.

Businesses spend millions of dollars, Euros, or pounds on marketing trying to convince their customers just how green and eco-friendly their products and services are. Governments do the same with policy.

The problem of course is that we still seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Every year, the Circle Economy Foundation in collaboration with Deloitte publishes the Circularity Gap Report. And each year it shows the world is becoming less sustainable.

We may have reached peak oil in both productivity and demand, but we are using more fossil fuels than ever before. And we may be receiving a greater percentage of our energy from renewable sources but currently it’s not matching the increase in demand for energy.

And now, there appears to be a climate backlash headed by populist politicians often backed by the fossil fuel industry against the progress we have already made.

More than ever, we must convince society of the need for sustainability and actions on tackling the Polycrisis.

Which is why I find it strange and disappointing that in trying to convince society of the need for change, we often overlook one of our potentially most influential groups.

In recent years, I’ve worked at two different companies, not in a professional role but rather in unskilled ones. It does help me keep my feet on the ground and understand your most skeptical audience.

One company is a leader in sustainability, focusing on recycling and ending waste. The other is I suppose you would regard it as a normal company. Yes, they do have people responsible for sustainability and they do use a fleet of EVs for delivering goods to customers. But the priority is to get customers to buy more.

I thought it would be interesting to compare the different attitudes towards sustainability between the two from the perspective of the factory floor instead of from a professional one.

And the results are very interesting.

Interesting because from the perspective of the factory floor there is no difference between the two. Despite the circular economy and sustainability apparently being very important to the recycling company you wouldn’t know it. It is indeed possible for someone to work there for ten, fifteen, even twenty years and learn nothing about the circular economy.

Again, with the “normal company” it is possible for people to work there for many years and to not have a clue regarding the company’s approach to sustainability, or to know that they even have one. It is not mentioned in their training programs.

Which is a shame, because on average, for a third of their waking hours, each week an employee is at their place of work. A captive audience. An audience, that if they truly understood your company’s sustainability vision would willingly spread that message to their families and communities, because people genuinely do want to belong to something bigger than themselves.

To paraphrase Ray Anderson, the founder, and former CEO of Interface, if you give people a vision that takes their breath away, they will adopt it for themselves and make it their own. And once it’s their own there is no telling what they would be willing to do for that vision.

Crucially, the actions of your employees will convince your customers, your community, and society of the merits of your sustainable vision.

That is how I believe we can create a sustainable society. Through the people we work with every day of our working lives.

Give them the vision that takes their breath away. Let them make it their own and I believe they will help create the sustainable society we need.

#polycrisis  #circulareconomy  #doughnuteconomics  #anthropocene  #wellbeingeconomy

Would you like to know more about me and my work? Then please send me a DM or a connection request.

I'm a writer, historian, and thinker who likes to question assumptions about sustainability, and to inspire and help others to spread the word.