Eco Business

As an expert in sustainable advertising, wellness promotion, eco business and wellness marketing, I am often surprised that the meaning of sustainability is still so misunderstood. It is not uncommon for instance for corporate executives to balk at the term—since they believe it means their business is about to do something really good but lose a lot of money doing it.

But the reverse is true. Sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I believe true sustainability is the measure of how well you do by doing good. It doesn't matter whether you work for a publicly owned company or non-profit, goals and objectives must be met. Money must be raised. Revenue increased. And quantifiable progress measured. (Even if that "progress" means the number of activists who have signed a petition.)

The practice of sustainable marketing brings us full circle. It sustains us. Sustainability is about giving and receiving.  It's like breathing. We breathe in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. In return, trees breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. It's reciprocity at its finest. And it's a practice that keeps people and the planet as healthy as our bottom line.

I've just arrived back to the office after spending a few days last week at the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) forum conference in Boulder, CO.

This conference is one of the few where wellness companies, non-profits, Fortune 100 companies, green marketing companies, environmental public relations firms, the organic industry and other progressive organizations gather to meet, learn about new market trends, share with others and recharge.

When I dove head-first into eco friendly marketing nearly 20 years ago, it felt like I was creating and speaking another language. My friends and colleagues all urged me to give it up. They were convinced I couldn't earn a living, that I was too narrowly defining myself and that even though Forbes magazine had boldly declared the '90s, "The decade of the environment," many were convinced the movement was a blip on the radar that would soon pass.

Sometimes I thought they might be right. But as difficult as it was to blaze new trails in those early days, I simply couldn't give up. There was too much to be gained by unleashing the power of consumer choice to create change in the world. Marketing, I believed, was the key. 

Last week, I joined 550 business and NGO visionaries from as far away as South Africa, Columbia and Japan. The language I helped to create nearly two decades ago is now widely known as LOHAS. It has become so widely spoken and has become such a powerful mainstream market that Newsweek coined the term, "LOHASIAN" when referring to the category. There are thousands of languages spoken on our planet. But when it comes to business, I believe that LOHAS has the most potential to speak to positive change—and a positive bottom line.