Team CU2 creative agency
When the question “What does sustainability mean?” Comes up in everyday life, the answer is usually “organic farming”. This is not over the target, but the synonymous use of "sustainable" and "organic" is a bit too short and reduces the range of meaning and essential connotations of this very important term.
The drastic reduction in the breadth of meaning and the resulting restricted understanding of the word "sustainability" is the result of an unreflected, inflationary, blurred, superficial and over-commercialized use of this term in public communication. This is not only irresponsible, but also harmful and even risky! It leads to the fact that people - lacking the broader, historical understanding of the meaning of the term and its many connoted contents - get tired of the meaningless "permanent advertising sound" with this word. Thus, the imperative, rapid development of a sustainable ethics of action in a wide variety of economic areas and various levels of society is discredited and no longer recognized as THE most fundamental criterion for the preservation of society, economy, culture ... AND the environment! Without much exaggeration, this trivialization process can be viewed as a growing catastrophe that can and will have global, highly negative consequences.
In addition, the constantly careless and meaningless (market / advertising) communication of this word inevitably creates the false, almost negligent impression “Everything is sustainable anyway!” With which the term “sustainability” is dangerous runs, gradually slipping further into insignificance and degenerating into a pale empty phrase.
Mission (see above) not completed
It is not too difficult to research who bears a large part of the responsibility for this extremely problematic and alarming development and what objectives and dubious motivation are behind it. Obviously here (at least) the central role and thus the joint responsibility of the advertising communication industry, which does not exhaust its possibilities and also its potential Pouvoir.
It is true that it is not easy to adequately convey the content of the term "sustainability" in its partly historically based complexity in advertising and PR communication. After all, the same term - read and be amazed - was first mentioned in 1713 by Hans Carl von Carlowitz!
So what? This in no way does away with the important task of our industry to work out a professional solution and to present it to their customers and partners in a convincing way in the interests of the matter!
At this point at the latest, the question arises, what is sustainability for nowadays really stands. Here is our attempt to put this “catchphrase” in a clearer and more holistic context (without getting too epic!).
Wikipedia defines the term sustainability as follows:
- Sustainability is a principle of action for the use of resources, in which a permanent satisfaction of needs is to be guaranteed by preserving the natural regenerative capacity of the systems involved (especially of living beings and ecosystems). -
Sustainability therefore means that socio-cultural, ecological and economic resources are only consumed and used to the extent that they can also be available to future generations in the same quality and quantity.
Exactly. And that means ... continue? Only through these significant-sounding definitions, which are not exactly descriptive, there is still no clear "picture in the head" that could even begin to do justice to the variety of meanings in terms of content.
And that is actually understandable and extremely logical if we are sober, fearless and focused graphic below consider:
On the other hand, the current goal and the given communication mandate are not to explain all these subject areas in all contexts and their correlations for the population or consumers everywhere (and this in language suitable for advertising if possible!), BUT ...
The responsibility of the communications industry is to create awareness of the complexity and depth of meaning behind this word, and at the same time to communicate transparently and credibly the enormous relevance of a globally sustainable ethics of action. The main thing is to generate a real interest and to establish an understanding that all consumers can and should make an independent and essential contribution to the preservation of our planet.
Keyword: "Preserve & Preserve"
Let's summarize again: Especially in the current context of the SDGs, "Sustainability"(Eng. Sustainability) thus has a higher, broad context of meaning. The meaning of this word therefore exceeds the general understanding of" long-term environmental protection ", although the long-term protection and preservation of the environment and nature is an integral part and an important goal of the 17 SDGs. Due to its far-reaching meaning, this word "spans the broad spectrum" of all global, sometimes acute challenges that need to be solved together as a global collective if we want to preserve and protect our planet and all of its "inhabitants" over the long term.
The global, sustainable development goals (SDGs) thematically and in terms of content range from climate protection and resource-saving forms of production to the right to basic medical care and true equal opportunities for all population groups to an ethically founded corporate philosophy at the international level.
PRESENTATION OF THE 17 SDGs:
Source: www.sdgwatch.at/de/ueber-sdgs
The 17 globally applicable “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 at the UN General Assembly in New York. Since then, they have been defining global goals for business and industry, common, ethical attitudes and modes of action in the sense of a change in values in all social and political areas or structures as well as for the protection of people, animals and the environment.
