Poisoning the pond

I FINALLY finished writing my white paper (which will be available on my website soon). In the paper I took my thoughts and experiences doing social and environmental responsibility and distilled them down into some talking points that will hopefully help people and companies see sustainability in a different way.  The reality is we have the ability and the resources to make a difference, but the way current business is structured we get stuck.

So what is up with the title of this blog post?

One of my main concerns that I address in my white paper is the backwards way many companies approach sustainability and that is to cause harm and then invest in cleaning it up after the fact.  Companies poison the pond and then fund clean ups of that pond thus looking like heroes.

Annie Leonard alludes to the same idea in her video The Story of Stuff - when you look at all the energy, water, toxins, and waste created in the production process, let alone the product in the end, you have to ask yourself how can this system sustain itself.

I began to notice the dichotomies with various companies who would donate vast amounts of money, employee time and resources to save the world for after-the-fact problems rather than invest in not causing the problem in the first place.

Some examples for you to think about:
The company Dawn who manufactures petroleum based soaps and has a philanthropy campaign "How Dawn Save Wildlife" donating Dawn soap to remove oil from birds and animals from oil spills. (Maybe they should stop relying on oil to make their product in the first place?)

Or Tide, whoʼs parent company P&G donates to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the product contains chemicals like Ethyl Alcohol which is suspected of causing cancer. (Maybe P&G should invest in preventing carcinogens from getting into daily use?)

There are so many examples of business practices that just don't make sense when you look a layer deeper.  But it is SO much easier to write a check, than to change your business operations. Fortunately I am seeing a new generation of businesses coming into the market using their opportunity to start from a place of authenticity.  The cost and effort to change the poor business practices of many companies today will put these companies not willing to look under the rug of their operations at a disadvantage.