Peter Seligmann, CEO-chairman of Conservation International, delivered a keynote address at Advertising Age’s Green Conference in New York yesterday, telling brand managers it’s okay to be not perfect.
In the current environment, accusations of “greenwashing” have become the norm, but that’s no excuse to sit on the sidelines.
None of us are pure. None of your brands are pure,” he said. “We need an aspiration to be pure. We’re not going to achieve that if we wait until we’re pure to say something. We’re going to be silent. And we can’t afford to be silent.”
I agree that we all need to move in a better direction, but I also believe striving is not enough. We actually need to reach our environmental goals.
Later in the piece, there’s a mention of a program at Fairmont Hotels where guests go shopping for organic produce with chefs from the hotel restaurants. I like that.
Of course we actually need to reach our environmental goals. The point you’ve quoted seems to me to open up the way there. If everyone waits until they or what they represent are perfect, no pregress will ever be made. A step forward usually rests upon a previous step in that direction.
Carol
tks for the effort you put in here I appreciate it!