Crimped lifestyle serves as the tipping point to re-boot America’s consciousness, communties and sense of purpose

Here’s an inspiring snippet from a recent post on WorldChanging (whose tagline is “change your thinking”) about the mainstreaming realization that America is broken, that something is seriously wrong:

“Common folks… are starting to understand that our ever-diminishing free time, the loss of sense of community, rising gas prices, the sub-prime mortgage implosion, and a whole range of other current societal problems are all pieces of a bigger puzzle. We’re starting to understand that all of this points toward a fundamental problem with the way America has designed and developed our communities over the past 60+ years. This shift in thinking among the American mainstream is beginning to bring about the popular and political will to rectify our past errors.”

While this may sound like a gloomy quote, I think it’s a hopeful one in that once enough people feel the negative impact on their lifestyle, they will realize that we have to make some bold changes in the interest of our collective well-being, leading to a flourishing of public/private partnerships designed to restore much-needed community (real community, not Starbucks-baked community) as the foundation for improving our quality of life.

Fashion brands with a conscience walk a delicate line…

Uniqlo, originally uploaded by Oliver Sweatman.

So I hit the street this weekend for a few hours to find some Responsible? Brands in action for our embryonic flickr pool. There’s not much out there, yet (at least on the street), but I found a few ads for the pool (OK, one was from a magazine but I’m trying to get the ball rolling…).

One of the street posters I encountered (above) is interesting because it hints at the predicament faced by fashion brands that are in fact interested in promoting a more conscious consumption (I’m not suggesting Uniqlo is/isn’t one of them; I don’t know enough about the brand to say)…

Sustainable brands ‘07 conference, at a glance

The Sustainable Brands ‘07 Conference kicked off this past week with fanfare at the Ritz in New Orleans.

I was hoping to attend, but had to stay in town to kick off a new client project.

Anyway, here’s the fanfare:

“Consumers say they expect to double their spending on green products and services in the next year, totaling a staggering $500 billion annually, or $43 billion per month.”

And here’s a recap of the conference’s three major takeaways, courtesy of the organizers blog [my italics]:

1. “If green is the new black, transparency is the new green”, Todd Woody, Fortune Magazine

> meaning, be earnest and open in your greening efforts

2. “It’s a journey and a conversation”, Steve Bishop, Sustainability Domain Lead, IDEO

> just get started

3. “We are all assemblers of products and services”, Paul Murray, Director, Environmental Affairs, Herman Miller

> we’re all accountable and therefore must dig in

Here’s the whole enchilada.

US females consider trimming back the excess

Here are some juicy stats to ponder… (and colorful too - I just discovered a new format bar). They show the relative sensitivity of spending by the voracious American female on various consumer categories “as a result of current economic conditions” (which seem tenuous, stock market rallies aside, although you wouldn’t know it walking the streets of NYC):

Where Women Are Cutting Back
As a result of current economic conditions, I am cutting back on … (%)
Fashion accessories (watches, jewelry, bags) - 73
Home decor - 69
Magazines - 63
Clothing - 62
Cosmetics - 55
Perfume/cologne/fragranced lotions/creams - 54
Salon services (hair care, manicure, etc.) - 54
Greeting cards - 35
Skin care products - 35
Hair care products - 32
Premium cable TV service - 32
Cell phone service - 32
OTC medication - 21
Prescription medication - 11

What insights, if any, can we glean from this?

I guess it’s no secret that American closets are busting at the seams with heaps of fashion accessories after a five-year buying binge fueled by savvy marketers, lenient credit companies and very keen consumers.

Consciousness: our greatest untapped resource (paraphrasing Peter Russell)

As promised in a recent post summarizing key takeaways from Lohas 11, I’m going to try to paraphrase a talk by author, philosopher and futurist Peter Russell called “Consciousness: The Next Frontier”. The talk was a good primer for consciousness Neanderthals like me.

Mr. Russell defines consciousness as “the essence of the mind” and calls it “our greatest untapped resource”, as important as “space, robotics, nano and biotech” for “everything we do springs from the mind.”

His central point is that humans ultimately care most about how we actually feel, and he uses a quote from the Dalai Lama to illustrate: “In the final analysis, the hope of every person is peace of mind”.

13 take-aways from Lohas 11

For those of you who like lists, here are 13 takeaways from Lohas 11.

I compiled this list from notes I took attending talks by the following individuals:

Paul Ray - Founder, Cultural Creatives Research and Co-Founder, Integral Partnerships
Dixon de Lena – Co-Founder, Integral Partnerships
Peter Russell – Futurist, Author, Philosopher
Chris Van Dyke – CEO, Nau
Gary Hirshberg – CEO, Stonyfield Farm
Joel Makower – Founder, Author, Greenbiz.com

It was a mad scribble, so I may have misquoted folks here and there. Please let me know if this is the case and I’ll do some clean-up.

1. “Green”, “sustainability”, “corporate social responsibility” and “values-based purchasing” are part of much larger, multi-faceted cultural shift towards more conscious living (being not having, belonging not longing…)

Enlightened US cities taking the green lead

80% of the US population lives in urban areas. Not surprisingly, 75%-80% of our resources are consumed in urban areas as well.

So it follows that the fight for climate change will be won or lost in our cities.

This means that city officials will play a pivotal role, hopefully using smart public policy to help educate consumers and promote sustainable business practices and innovation.

Based on my recent visit to Lohas 11, enlightened US cities like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver and New York are making excellent progress in this area.

Finding your place in the conscious economy

This is a second post in a series on Lohas, because it’s fresh in my mind after Lohas 11, which took place last week in California.

As noted in yesterday’s post, Lohas agenda and values have moved from fringe to mainstream over the past decade. Much of this progress has been driven by a rise in the number and relative influence of America’s Cultural Creatives (now about 30% of working US adults, or 55 million).

However, there’s been a dramatic surge of public interest in recent years around “green”, “sustainable” and “corporate social responsibility”, giving birth to a legitimate conscious economy. As Ted Ning states in the Lohas Journal, “we have seen 2006 and 2007 become banner years for Lohas awareness and practice”.

Why this sudden embrace of Lohas agenda and values by the mainstream?

Life-enhancing content management systems

More content, more content, more content. How the hell do we process all of this stuff coming over the transom?

Big media companies, little media companies, new media companies, retailers, bloggers, marketers, friends-of-friends - they’re all throwing more content our way.

And much of it is worth reading, viewing, listening or responding to. Of course, 99% is not, but that 1% adds up fast…

Off-kilter skivvies

A friend recently returned from a business trip to Sweden. He’s a design junkie so he had a bag of tricks with him (product samples, postcards, local magazines, etc).

One of the freebie postcards he picked up is the one you see above, advertising put out by JBS, Denmark’s largest underwear producer.

I’m always intrigued to see how marketers invoke sex to grab people’s attention. Brands like D&G, Moschino, Gaultier, Gucci, Calvin, Diesel, etc. know this game well and - for the most part - they’re pretty good at it.

Helping the guys

I came across this photograph on the Guardian’s site in the UK. The photographer is Denis Darzacq and he’s creating a stir in Paris, tapping into the zeitgeist of young, alienated French men.

I love the photo, but it also serves as a reminder of the stress and depression many young men suffer while trying to forge an urban life and identity for themselves in the post-college years.

Debilitating health issues like stress and depression often go unnoticed in men because they have been taught to keep quiet and internalize. This of course only makes matters worse. (The suicide rate for young men is four times higher than it is for women).

While companies have made moves in recent years to bring new product and service offerings to younger men and the media has expanded it’s coverage of men’s health issues, the reality is that guys still have significant health and well-being needs that are not being met.

Who is going to step up and engage younger men with a vibrant, effective well-being solution?

Photo credit

(Your) business as the key agent of change

What’s the role of (small) business in the 21st century? If you believe that business can and should take a leadership role to tackle some of the most pressing issues we face (energy, environment, values-driven leadership), then you might want to check out The New Voice of Business (NVB).

I attended a small gathering last night in SOHO here in the city and was impressed with their grassroots, apolitical approach. The folks behind NVB are all experienced entrepreneurs with passion and clear sense of purpose. I have a feeling that they a) are averse to red tape and b) have no loyalty to entrenched interests.