The Golden Rule of Sustainability

Here is a very simple post. It is my answer to the question,

“What is the most important thing I can do to help the environment?”

It is simply this:

“Make it easy for others to treat the environment with respect.”

In my career, I have worked with many different types of companies.

• The Novices care about compliance, and just want that fixed.
• The Greenwashers are the ones who do something more than compliance in ways that make themselves look better… and then ask others to reward them with a pat on the back.
• The Muddlers are the ones who treat those who care about the environment as a cult market… and then dedicate a small portion of their skills and resources to satisfying that market.
• The True Greens are the ones who through their own examples and through all their product and service offerings, make it easier for all their customers to:
  • save money
  • save energy
  • reduce their exposure to questionable chemicals
  • reduce their own wastefulness (as both an eco-innie and eco-outie)
  • and ensure that at the end of the product’s useful life, it can find rebirth someplace else or as something else

In other words the key to environmental success is the age-old Golden Rule, i.e. the basis behind every major religion of humanity. Applying the golden rule to the environmental issues of the day, it is not just how much I reduce my electric bills that counts, it is how easy I make it for others to reduce theirs. True Greens can only do this if they strengthen ties with all stakeholders in their Ecosystem. It may require investment and a new business model to do this well, but it is the only way to develop a truly sustainable business platform for the future.