An elementary school teacher of mine once said, “Add an E to fad and you get fade. Which is, of course, what fads do.” This was likely a throw away line for her (she had many excellent quotes), but it stuck with me. Though she referred to Webkinz and Silly Bands, I most often think of it now in my sustainability work, where every few months brings a new hot topic, product, or idea.
As a consultant, I work hard to stay engaged with the sustainability community and know what the conversation consists of. What is everyone talking about? What are the controversies? What is popular? What is coming up next? To keep myself relevant, I feel I must know the sustainability top 40.
On the other hand, trends have led us astray too many times. Particularly online, nuance and science can get lost in the excitement. Even seasoned sustainability professionals can be swept up in the passion and possibility. When it inevitably goes wrong or overboard or becomes detached from reality, people begin to sigh and give up on larger sustainability initiatives, a dangerous thing considering how urgent our work is.
We must be able to utilize the excitement and new ideas that emerge while also remaining grounded. The key to this is staying close to science and data, even when focusing on narratives and communications. For example, bioplastics offer an interesting path forward where we can have the benefits of plastic with fewer emissions and landfill use. However, the actual impact of bioplastics is going to highly dependent on the use case. It is single use? Is it replacing single use? Is it being composted, recycled, or trashed? How was it made? The materials used to make it – where did they come from and how were they produced? Are there other alternatives, such as wood, metal, glass, or clay, that should be considered? Will bioplastic be able to fulfill each function of plastic or only some?
Things get complicated very quickly. These kinds of details are unlikely to travel with the buzz. As a consultant, it is then my responsibility to help my clients filter through the chatter and understand what is relevant to them. Part of the complication is that climate science and similar fields can be difficult for a busy layperson to understand. Luckily, there have been years of work put into science communications to solve just that problem. Sustainability professionals can bridge the gap, bringing all of the knowledge – scientific, cultural, historical, etc. – into one space for us to build a more sustainable science. This is provided, of course, that we do not get up in the trends ourselves.