Illuminating the Way

Bono Vox of U2 in concert singing "Ultraviolet - Light My Way" during 360 Tour

The vast amount – and seemingly endless increase – of sustainability-focused topics in the news, on blogs and websites, within brand advertising and “green” marketing strategies, and the surge in people’s interest (usually in the form of consumers) to choose “green” over the alternatives and to understand a company’s ecological impact indicate a real revolution in global thinking. Corporate communications that address sustainability are not an opt-out option any longer. In fact, it has become critical to staying afloat in business – the New Earth Economy if you will. Earth cried out, “Don’t Tread On Me” and the revolutionary forces have responded “Join or Die.”

Remarkable is that it has taken my entire lifetime for our race to raise such force. Nine days after my birth on Earth, Apollo 8 Astronaut Bill Anders snapped the famous December 24, 1968 Earth-rise photograph from space, a Christmas gift to the 1 billion viewers on television who watched that historic event unfold. This may have been the first time such a mass population realized the true precious nature of Earth, a unified heartbeat on the ecological drum to signal a call to arms. How long will it be until every major action undertaken respects and cherishes this aspect?

December 24, 1968: the image of Earth from Moon, a precious and enlightening moment

The onslaught of “green” communication, however positive a measure for the promise of a changin’ times, or positive it may be for keeping the bottom-line profit in the green (or is it the “black”?), raises other ethical concerns that are imperative to consider. Authenticity. Integrity. Transparency.

It is not always apparent such sustainability sizzle in an advertisement (for example) or corporate policy statement is actually a form of strategic smoke and mirror, unreflective of the true inner nature of that organization. Call it “green washing,” it’s truly a form of manipulation.  Keep a watchful eye and an open ear to these tunes. Listen carefully for the tones of true integration of sustainable communications to a company’s overall communication across all forms. Do the actions match the words? Does every action support the message? Listen also for a company to truly dialogue and support an active engagement with its customers, or foster a level of connection to them. Call it relationship, or relating, it is a true marker of commitment level. How many successful marriages do you know where communication was absent, relating non-existent, and the love exchanged a mere transaction?

No text message, Facebook “like”, Twitter Tweet, or whatever else hot these days can replace two eyes meeting, smiles exchanged, voices chattering, or a touch extended. No technology, however innovative and transforming it may be, can ever replace the feel of dirt, the texture of grass, the song of a bird, or the embrace of a tree. Nature is irreplaceable.

Admittedly, my views were a part of me prior to any formal study of Environmental Communications – perhaps evolved from jaded perceptions, skeptical critical thought from years of seeing through the smoky winds to unveil unscrupulous behavior. Perhaps it is from years of education and experience rooted in critical thought analysis where every stone is turned over to reveal what is underneath. I cannot watch television shows, see a movie, listen to music, or view art without this inquisitive inner nature of mine at work. It has become second nature to analyze, in part, because of what people pay thousands of dollars to me to do for them – for instance, designing a house for a family involves immense detail analysis, when considering that home not only must address its inhabitants, but also the site, neighborhood, available materials, codes, monetary influences, and so forth, let alone beauty and repose. Perhaps I seek an idyllic utopia for a seamless natural and built world, showing my age and wisdom is belied by my ever-youthful zeal and spirit in the pursuit of an Ideal, the imprint of stellar influence. Perhaps it is sage-like wisdom based on a realist approach that everything in existence has a balancing factor, a bad for every good. This was learned along the way through absorption and study of multiple cultures, philosophies, beliefs and convictions.

Perhaps it is all the above. They are all now a part of my blueprint.

I understand that it only takes one candle to light a dark room and what I am hoping is that we have many candleholders lighting the way, and many more to follow. My life experiences have been phenomenal in forty years, and unimaginable if I consider the next forty. What occurs in a matter of three or four months likely isn’t as important as the assemblage that is slowly constructed over time, each layer building upon the previous. Color this with a personal bent that “settling” is never the answer, that brutal honesty is more constructive than easy lies, and you begin to see why I push, prod, and poke. Simply, I seek something REAL.

This is the platform environmental communications and any support of sustainability requires for success; being REAL. Being authentic has more value than being 100% conformist, or achieving absolute perfection. Anyone who may have studied Ikebana, Japanese floral arrangement (if not, it’s worth a look), knows there is a certain imperfect element present. In Chinese gardening, the imperfect – the natural, the organic – is always present. Is there any human who has mastered all perfect behavior? It would not be humanity – and certainly less interesting – if all behaviors were tamed. This lesson of balance is a way to celebrate the intrinsic nature of our world. In communications, this may take the form of humor, or wit, added to the narrative. There are other forms; I encourage exploration of them with principle in mind.

Stay real.

Ikebana in practice