Imagine a world where sustainable living is fashionable, friendly and fun. One where consumers are engaged and excited, and ‘green’ has become cool.
 
That’s where we need to get to and fast, argued our expert set of panelists at our recent ‘ahead of the agenda’ seminar on “Greening the post-crunch consumer” Andy Hobsbawm from award-winning public service Green Thing (Dothegreenthing.com); Jessica Sansom from Innocent Drinks; David North from Tesco; and Joel Levy from PSB, the marketing research and consulting firm.
 
The consensus was that we are undoubtedly seeing some more sustainable behaviours during the downturn, ranging from increases in ‘grow your own’ to a rise in holidaying in the UK, and from cutting down on food waste to attending swishing parties to exchange second-hand clothes.

But, how can we optimise the green bounce when we come out of the recession and avoid a rebound away from the more sustainable behaviours the downturn has encouraged?
 
Joel Levy presented recent PSB research findings to demonstrate that post-crunch consumers are likely to be greener as a result of the strong momentum which has built up and the growing recognition of the value of linking carbon savings with cost savings.

David North acknowledged the many challenges that lie ahead, but outlined practical steps retailers can take to help mainstream green consumption. Tesco provides incentives to customers through initiatives like Green Clubcard, as well as tackling its own direct impacts - it plans to open the world's first zero-carbon food store later this year.

Jessica Sansom from Innocent Drinks stressed the importance of getting the consumer engaged and excited on sustainability.

And finally Andy Hobsbawm argued that we need to take the same amount of resource that has been used to ‘cast spells’ on unsustainable behaviour (i.e. through marketing and advertising) to cast alternative spells - on more sustainable behaviours, products and services.

The take-home message from the seminar is that post-crunch consumers could behave more sustainably - if the right support mechanisms are in place. So, let's do it - a fashionable, friendly and fun world sounds cool to me.
 
 See our summary of the evening for further details.