Sustainable thinking has hit the mainstream. From e-readers that bypass the resource thirsty book industry, to smart meters that help householders save energy, many of the technology products that are launched these days have some kind of sustainability angle.
This is having a profound effect on the language we use and the way we think about sustainability. New technology is transforming our views about consumption and introducing new words into our lexicon that have sustainable thinking at their heart.
For instance, we are becoming familiar with concepts such as the “sharing economy” through the likes of car sharing brand ZipCar, ride sharing service Uber and property rental site Airbnb. All of these have been created with a view to making our lives easier by lowering prices, using up spare capacity and saving resources.
Then there is the circular economy which has promoted the use of terms such as recycling, repairing and reusing. Ebay has been instrumental in the profusion of “shabby chic” fashions recycled from earlier times, and has boosted “vintage” clothing, giving second-hand gear a glamour that it previously lacked.
A whole new range of terms have entered the language which imply that we are minimising consumption. When we “Google” a term - type it into the search engine and press search - we recognise that this is an energy saving process that means we don’t have to ring anyone up, keep a stack of lengthy dictionaries on the shelf or go to a library to get the information.
When we Skype or go to a Google Hangout, we are communicating face to face without having to travel to meet someone, increasing our carbon footprint in the process. Teleconferencing has grown massively in the age of globalisation and is implicitly sustainable, allowing us to save on transport costs and energy use.
Or take the use of the word “smart”, which is increasingly used to indicate sustainability. This has entered common parlance with “smart meters” such as Hive or Nest that allow us to control the heating and lighting in our homes from our mobile phones. Now the term is used for whole cities such as the MK:SMART project led by the Open University with IT partner, BT, which gathers real-time information from a range of sources across the city to provide innovative analysis to enable more efficient use of transport, water and energy.
According to Giles Gibbons, founder of sustainability agency Good Business, the language of corporate social responsibility has evolved as businesses embed environmental and ethical practices into their activities. From there, this new language is entering into wider public usage.
No longer are environmental and ethical practices simply hived off into the corporate social responsibility department, they are spreading through businesses. He says an example of this is Nike, which has merged its corporate social responsibility with its marketing and product development function so the concept of sustainability is the starting point for creating new products.
“As people’s understanding of corporate responsibility has grown, so has the need for it to become integral to the organisation,” he says.
As the principles of sustainability become more embedded in society, it is now accepted that business must play a key role in solving some of the big problems of the planet such as climate change, resource scarcity and population growth. These considerations are driving corporate innovation - for instance, motor manufacturers are launching electric models such as the Nissan Leaf. Meanwhile other corporations are giving their products a makeover to boost their sustainable credentials, and McDonald’s recently announcing a promotion where it would accept recycled cans as payment for its burgers in Sweden.
Many of the most exciting advances in sustainable innovation are coming from entrepreneurs who have grown up accepting that saving the planet is part of their mission in life. As Gibbons says: “There is a fundamental shift going where people feel that success and good business don’t mean ripping someone else off for you to profit. There is a way to create successful organisations that help the community. This is becoming more embedded in young people’s thinking, they don’t believe there has to be a trade off between profit and being good.”
The new generations of business people are imbued with sustainability thinking - business schools now include modules on sustainability in their courses. Innovation naturally involves thinking about how the new product will make the world a better place, rather than whether it will simply solve a consumer need and make the creator rich. Technology is increasingly key to delivering innovation so it’s understandable that the worlds of technology, innovation and sustainability merge as they enter mainstream language.
As Gibbons says: “There is a fundamental shift going where people feel that success and good business don’t mean ripping someone else off for you to profit. There is a way to create successful organisations that help the community. This is becoming more embedded in young people’s thinking, they don’t believe there has to be a trade off between profit and being good.”
Language has always changed to reflect the prevailing influences and scientific advances of the times. The growth of technology allied with sustainability is a driving force that is transforming the language we use today.
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