Editor's Note: While sustainability leaders spend a lot of time talking and thinking about internal changes, from greening their supply chains to making their buildings and processes more energy efficient, they need to remember that the products at the end of those supply chains must be both defensible and attractive to consumers. Here's one consumer's take.
Three “green” products that recently arrived at my house got me thinking about the idea of sustainable consumption.
Which of these three do you think moves us closer to sustainable consumption?
Which takes us farther away?
This is a bottle of dish and hand soap from Method. The package is made from recycled ocean plastic.
This is an LED bulb from IKEA.
And these are SUNNAM solar-powered lamps, also from IKEA.
Two of these products -- the dish soap and the bulb -- move us in the right direction. The solar lamp? No. And I say that as an admirer of Method and IKEA.
Photo of sustainable light bulb provided by somchaij via Shutterstock
Next page: Appealing and affordable, too
Marc, In all due respect, I
Marc,
In all due respect, I think you are confusing sustainable consumption with sustainable (or green) design and production.
According to the 1994 Oslo Symposium on Sustainable Consumption, sustainable consumption means: "the USE (my caps inserted) of services and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations." Source:
Although you personally may not be able to recharge IKEA's lamp outdoors, it doesn't mean that others will not be able to — especially in the land of the midnite sun and the many people in the undeveloped world who live off the grid (or don't have grids at all).
This illustrates an important point: we've got to acknowledge that products and their use, should follow the saying "Act global, think local".
Although I'm the first one to suggest that greener products need to satisfy consumers' primary needs, we've got to start somewhere. Sometimes it takes many iterations for a product technology to evolve to its ideal state. For now, the product, as is can meet the needs of some consumers (and the lamp's marketing should target those people.)
I look forward to the day when lamps such as the one IKEA is now marketing can absorb enough ambient light during the day to meet its owners lighting needs long past sundown. I suspect a life cycle assessment for such a product would show that the environmental impacts that it took to produce the lamp in the first place (including shipping to its end consumer) were more than offset by the renewable energy it used over its lifetime. A sustainable proposal if there ever was one!
I invite readers interested in learning more about sustainable consumption to join me in attending the Sustainable Innovation 12 Conference in Bonn Germany later this month, http://cfsd.org.uk/events/sustainable-innovation-2012/ which will focus on the role of lifestyles and usage considerations of green design.
MARC, Isn't the answer that
MARC,
Isn't the answer that everything can't be sustainable and that to compensate for what is not efforts need to be put in place to do other things that counter balance the global situation? Not relating to products it is somewhat like tracking Al Gore. Certainly his travel around the world promoting a green message consumes tons of energy that one person can not offset yet the message he delivers gets others to do so. Life's a Balance and the more people we get living in balance the better off we will all be.
the comment; "I live in
the comment;
"I live in shaded neighborhood, with almost no direct sunlight"
says it all.
easiest way to light anything is by the big thing in the sky.
until that habit is changed, nothing changes
Of course the first
Of course the first sustainable choice is to not consume at all and I am sure that is an implicit assumption in your article that when we get to this state of carbon neutral energy and zero waste, we are also putting more thought into not consuming!
A few ideas to improve those
A few ideas to improve those products.
Interesting list, here are a few ideas that could make any of those products a good deal more sustainable...
1. Make that Method container reusable, and part of a system of products that includes large-volume refill bladders. Then, even as Method's package designers opted for distinctiveness, redesign the container to make more efficient use of limited household space.
2. The LED bulb from IKEA is certainly an important force in shifting the market. It'd be great if IKEA took it a step further and offered a bulb take-back program, with responsible recycling services. It closes that e-waste loop and builds future business with a loyal customer.
3. The IKEA solar lamp signifies just how inexpensive photovoltaics have become. The lamp would be a lot better if in addition to incorporating recycled and renewable materials in its manufacture, it also had a plug and an inverter so that the humble desk lamp could trickle-charge the grid when not in use, and draw from the grid late into the night...and avoid the impact of numerous small rechargable batteries.
Hi Marc, Been thinking about
Hi Marc,
Been thinking about this from the design/product, rather than the consumption side:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/gallery/sustainable-produ...
One thing I would ask is, when does sustainable consumption take us full circle just back to sustainable products and design as above i.e. concepts which have been around for ages?
Chris