SXSW Part 5: Greater Good, Sustainability and Unconsumerism

Posted on: Mar. 25, 2010  |  By: Lisa Holmes  |  Category: Sustainability
Tags: Sustainability, SXSW

Sessions attended: “Keynote: Valerie Casey”, “Digital’s Emerging Role in Unconsumerism”
Twitter hashtags: #valeriecasey #emergingroleunconsumption

Sustainability is a hot topic that is just now starting to reach the interactive community, hence the focus on sustainability at the 2010 SXSW conference in one of the keynote addresses and in the “Greater Good” session track.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: VALERIE CASEY

Valerie Casey is the founder and Executive Director of the Designers Accord, a global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact.

In her keynote address, she stated “despite the fact the interactive community has been absent in conversation about sustainability… the interactive community will take the greatest leadership role moving forward”.

“By bringing the creative community together we can begin to look at sustainability,  and environmental issues, social issues and cultural issues with an entirely different perspective. One that brought creativity and optimism to bear instead of doom and gloom. The kind of doom and gloom that  paralyzes you. There’s no one of us in this room that can make a real change by ourselves. Instead we have to really depend on the collective and collective wisdom.”

“I believe that it’s the interactive community that’s gonna lead this movement next. It will require systems thinking and the interactive community are the ones that has that innate in their DNA way to look at systems problems. Sometimes we arbitrarily paint what we’re reponsible for in a narrow way to give us an excuse to not be responsible for what falls outside of that.”

“What would happen if our purpose was oriented towards cultural sustainability instead of commerce?” What if we used games to engage people in complex issues instead of dumbing things down? What if community strategy drove divergent thinking instead of group think? What if social media was actually about social impact? I think that the interactive community is the connective tissue between all of these universes. And we have this potential to be the bridge across all of these.”

After the keynote address at SXSW, Valerie posted this article on Fast Company to address the questions about what actions the interactive community can take now: Designing a Movement: Seven Principles for Sustainable Action

• Edited video recap: SXSW Valerie Casey keynote address

DIGITAL’S EMERGING ROLE IN UNCONSUMPTION

This session, led by Dr. Nita Rollins, Futurist at Resource Interactive, focused on the concept of unconsumption: actions and forces that reduce a consumer footprint.

PRESENTATION ON SLIDESHARE

Here are some of my notes from the session:

• During what is now called the “great recession”, non-traditional organizations like Goodwill, eBay and Craigslist experienced growth while traditional consumer outlets were struggling.
• There was an increase in buying used goods, swapping goods and bartering.
• For the job market, green jobs are growing at a rate of 2.5 times the rate of traditional jobs.
• Extremely conspicuous consumption is being replaced with a new frugality: the lazy environmentalist.
• The age of the super consumer is gone. Long live the unconsumer.
• One third of consumers are willing to pay more for the “green premium”.
• People are eager and curious about supporting their ideals, but they need information.
• Digital is the force that can bring people together, so why not use branding to promote unconsumption.
• The commercial imperative and the environmental imperative need to be merged.

Seven ways to reach the unconsumer:

1. offer no-holds barred sustainable marketing
2. create a rental system for one-time use items like bridesmaid dresses
3. sell vintage goods: selling old is the new new
4. prepare for consumer relations scrutiny. do your homework and don’t greenwash. back up your product information.
5. clarify sustainability for consumers: they want to know what they can do to make a difference
6. think about packaging in its deconstructed form (i.e., packaging that can be made into a useful products)
7. plan for recycling and upcycling: support swapping on-site

More info:

• Unconsumption
• The Journal of Murketing
• Rob Walker’s Unconsumption Project

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