Life Cycle Thinking Blog

Nice article in Minneapolis StarTribune: Is sustainability sustainable? by Greg Breining, June 12, 2011.
I just can’t get comfortable with the term “sustainable.” I’ve blogged about it many times, starting in 2007 with The Meaning of “Sustainable.” Proponents of sustainability seem to be be fantasizing about some utopia that could exist if we just quit consuming so much stuff, having so many babies and begin (return to?) living a subsistence life in blissful contemplation of the wonders of nature. Get real!

Great article on sustainability “Embracers” vs “Cautious Adopters” by MIT Sloan Management and Boston Group

I have to agree, “sustainability” is a frustrating term now being used by anyone for anything (nearly 30 million hits on Google search!). Always an issue when marketing jumps on a term. See Triple Pundit’s article: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/01/ad-age-names-sustainability-one-jargoniest-jargon-words-2010/

I also commented to the FTC that it shouldn’t be accepted as an environmental marketing claim.

See my article in GreenBiz.com: http://bit.ly/agKUDI

Check out my upcoming and recent activities on the topic of sustainability:

Upcoming: Oral presentation on “Doing Your Thing More Sustainably” American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, March 23, 2010. The SF meeting is themed on “Chemistry for a Sustainable World” and will have numerous technical presentations and events for the chemical enterprise and local community.