“We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.”
Greta Thunberg

We have known about the reality, the risks and the real time issue of our climate catastrophe for over a decade now and yet only over these recent years have businesses began to stick up their green thumb and hitchhike their way into a hopeful future. Eco trends may be the offspring of our shifting consciousness, yet they are also a minefield of misplaced intentions. How do we identify the wolves in sheep’s clothing and do the wolves do any good?

One of the biggest issues of our times is that we are built on a history and a hierarchy of lies. We sell them, exchange them, live and breathe them. They are the norm of our time. We have been fed them for so long, they have worn us down and convinced us we are dependent upon their rules to earn money, and any means to provide for ourselves, our businesses and our families. They have convinced us we are powerless to the dictatorship of our democracy. Yes, those lines have been blurred by the corruption of our social ecology. We live on the lies of our governments, our society and our cultures that have been created by the social norms of our time. We have lost the art of integrity because our trust has been traded for money. Without trust, we have no connection and without connection we are only a sea of individuals. With connection, we are a tribe, a culture, an army.

 

It is true that we need every inch of environmental and social change we can get, but how loudly can shallow actions speak?

 

Sustainability has a scale and can be measured, the bigger the business the bigger the scale. The fact is bigger businesses have more money, and money is power. More power is a greater responsibility that asks for greater action to be taken. It is not enough to paint our nails green and pat ourselves on the back for our heroism. We are facing the 6th mass extinction event on our planet.

 

In the words of the young mockingjay Greta Thunberg “We are failing but we have not yet failed”. Experts tell us we have a 12 gap window. Without a planet, every other issue, turns to dust. Why then aren’t we moving faster? Doing more? And, what can we do?

 

Change the system.

 

The system is corrupt. Our ‘leaders’, the governments of our time and those that brought us here, fail to act on behalf of our most basic human needs. They live like puppets from big corporations and move where the money goes. It is important to be a part of the politics and use the power of our voice, but we must also go beyond them… to the source.

 

When the system is too rigid, too immovable and narcissistic to instigate the immediate action we need to survive as a species; we turn to the money.

Money is power.

 

Where we put our money has never been more important. Every purchase is a vote for our future. Every dollar spent, is an exchange of values. Yet the labyrinth of marketing lies has made it difficult to understand what brands are doing it right. Self-education is our most essential tool. We, the people, have all the power if we stop the supply of our support that feeds the wrong leaders.

 

We cannot hope to change the system whilst letting big corporations raise their thrones even higher by donating the good, with the spare change in their pockets. Why? Because the issue goes deeper than surface actions. This dis-ease is in our blood. Little acts of greenwashing are not enough.

 

Yes we need people all over the globe taking responsibility, yet those businesses and corporations that have contributed most to the problem, also have a debt to pay. The responsibility lies not only in the actions we take now that will carve our future, but also those of our past. We need to remedy the ruin of the industrial revolution. There is a depth to the accountability and the conversation we need to have if we are to hope for a living planet.

 

How then do we navigate pure intentions, a passion for change and a path of integrity? And why is integrity important?

 

“You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”

 

Actions speak louder than words. But the right words can inspire the world, into action. Whether acting from the unconscious, apathetic or naive; our world leaders are hypocrites. Children are being born with the burden of what we have left them, no parent would wish for the world that they could be given. So why then, aren’t they doing more? Because sustainability is a matter of consciousness, and those beyond the veil must pull the world up.

Less conversation, more innovation.

 

Integrity and sustainability are twin sisters. We need true leaders whom we can trust, who walk the talk no matter what field they are in, no matter what time of the day. To be a ‘sustainable’ business there must be a tribe of shared values to hold the integrity that title needs because the global crises doesn’t clock off when the workers do.

Sustainability and the fashion industry are a contradiction. Businesses have their highest hopes in achieving a small footprint with very thorough and well financed actions. Opposed to the industrialist bigfoot stampedes that have mapped out our current reality, sustainability is a difficult landscape to navigate. The greater the business the greater the Cost, the more accountable they should be for the depth, integrity and transparency of their initiatives for change. True sustainability should be an equal measure of sustainable practice in production and the same value of which they ‘give back’.

Why do we consume, support fast fashion and perpetuate the issue even in the face of the loss of our entire species, planet and precious life?

 

The core is at the core.

 

Humans are suffering from a severe disconnect. We are displaced from our connection to our home; this earth, our bodies, each other. Our sense of who we are. The key motive of unconscious consuming is that of feeling empty, needing a fix, a high, to belong, to be noticed, beautiful, seen and loved. For the majority of our population, this sense of displacement is unconscious and unrealised, yet the effects are much the same. We find avenues through which to numb ourselves from our feelings: alcohol, food, drugs, television, technology, phones, codependent relationships… shopping.

Most fashion brands are perpetuating this ideal image that is feeding the unhealthy beliefs and toxic consumerism that stems from that place. On the surface they are talking sustainability, whilst also mitigating the core issue over and over. This is because the entire company is made up of people are also representative of that unhealthy circular micro economy. We have to take inventory of the deeper levels of where our responsibility lies in positions of power. It is not only in our actions but in who we are. Integrity, authenticity and truth are the only solid foundations we can walk forward into a future.
The danger of traditional marketing is that it feeds on the wounded.

Why then do people with the right intentions make the choice to contribute to the problem and call ourselves sustainable?
Because the industry needs a new voice. 

We must bring light to the shadows of this conversations about sustainability where there are no facts and no immediate gains, no people to see our self work or our personal stories. Yet the work is important and leadership is more essential than ever. We must demand this of the positions of leadership in our world – self work, self awareness, authenticity, truth and integrity.

We need tribes, we need leaders… we need you.