Dear Friends,
I recently attended the Sustainable Brands conference. I liked it. There were lots of great people with great minds. But I realized the one thing that has always been my greatest fear about the "green" movement when it comes to consumer packaged goods...is that when the big guys start to figure it out, will all the consumers rush to buy what seems like a great, green product for less?
I think most people will, but are you "most people"? I know I'm not. Here's my point. I applaud big companies for making great strides in assuring that we start to think about the way we create, distribute and sell products, especially the ones that do it right. But here's a few reasons why you should be supporting the smaller brands.
The only reason the movement exists is because someone at some point decided that life was not "just" about profits. They decided that life is about creating a better future through commerce. Small caring brands tend to be the fringe that predicts the future. If we want to continue to create a positive future, we must support the fringe, otherwise we, as a culture, will become complacent.
Though brands are creating green products, remember it is usually less than 1% of their portfolio, meaning if we want to keep pushing them to continue to green their act, we have to show them we mean business. Trust me, there will always be enough consumers to buy what they have created. It's our job as conscious-creative consumers to be the ones that support the leading edge, not the following masses.
Creating and selling a green product is just part of the process. It's our jobs as to ask the hard questions. Ask the brands you support, are you paying a living wage? Are you paying full healthcare? How are you affecting your supply chain in a positive way? How are you supporting the workers in developing countries that produce the goods that allow you to prosper? Don't buy into the "we donate money to the blah-blah-blah" model. Ploys like this are just that ploys to make the consumer believe that the company is doing their part in the world. Ploys like this do not assure that the brand is doing all that they can to support the earth. In other words, the brand itself needs to be doing its due diligence in addition to supporting non-profits, not in lieu of.
Best,
Joshua Scott Onysko Founder & CEO Pangea Organics