In the past few years, there has been a notable shift in attitude towards becoming more environmentally friendly. The wake of Hurricane Katrina sparked a lot of debate on why natural disasters were becoming so prevalent and The Nobel Prize and Academy Award-winning Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, gave scientific facts of a troubling condition. Global climate change became recognized as a real phenomena and actions towards preventing such disasters intensified. The widespread media attention that followed the disaster opened people’s eyes to the realization that human actions are affecting the planet. This public outcry gave wave for community organizations and activism to flourish in hopes of making the earth become sustainable. The ImagePower Green Brands survey released May 1, 2007 by WPP, one of the world’s largest communications services groups, revealed that Americans across all socioeconomic and ethnic groups display increasing degrees of green attitudes and behaviors.[1] According to the study, 34% of Americans are “active green,” meaning they identified with the idea that taking care of the environment is society’s responsibility. This group is doing everything they can to make a long-term positive impact on the environment. The awakening of sustainable practices seemed to rank high on the agenda.
Today, environmental issues are taking the backseat to economic concerns. The 2009 ImagePower Green Brands Survey found that in the US, 77 percent of consumers communicated deeper concern for the economy than the environment.[2] Despite the fact economic concerns are a main priority of Americans, the study also finds a global agreement when asking consumers how important it is that companies be “green”. At least 77 percent of consumers in all countries say it’s somewhat or very important. 2 “While reducing toxics heads the list of consumer priorities the data also show that the public holds companies accountable for good environmental behavior across the board,” said Dan Esty, chairman of Esty Environmental Partners. “Consumers expect companies to recycle, use energy efficiently, reduce packaging, and pursue green innovation. The data shows that even though a vast number of other issues are prevalent in the U.S, consumers desire for sustainable practices is putting pressure on companies to act “green”. The 2009 greenest U.S brands are IKEA, Burt’s Bees, Wal-Mart, Disney, Dove, Toyota and Green Works. There are still a lot of advances to make towards the end goal of sustainability, but it can only be accomplished by keeping the idea of change on the global radar.
[1] Terry Gips, “Sustainability and the Natural Step Framework:
Creating a Win-Win-Win for Business, Communities and the Earth,” (2008), December 09, 2009 <http://www.sustainabilityassociates.com>.
[2] Cohn and Wolfe, “Despite Global Economic Meltdown, Consumers Have Increased Appetite for Green “ (2009), December 09, 2009 theCSRfeed/Despite-Global-Economic-Meltdown-Consumers-Have-Increased-Appetite-Green>.
