Occasionally a little comment catches your attention and suddenly brings an entire discussion into focus. This one got mine!

"...some of our media folks say sustainability is not a hot topic right now. your thoughts?"

"Sustainability" as a the word of the day may be losing its caché just as "green" did last year. But the idea that one should look at ways to reduce waste, protect resources, and improve business processes is spot on as we continue to struggle to get out of the "trough of disillusionment" that we are in right now. Nearly 25 years ago, the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainability as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." If you read the headlines on the printed or online news source of your choice you will see that the concept, if not the term, is indeed a hot topic. Take it from a small printer, Thomas Ackerman, Jr., owner of Spirit Graphics & Printing, Inc., who is passionate about being a sustainable printing company and helping his clients do the same. Thomas says:

Sustainability is a hot topic! In fact, applying sustainable practices is just the way people should do business. I have seen the difference in my own business and in my immediate community. When I rolled out my green program, my clients told me that it added a much larger sense of value to what we offer. I have held onto clients I might have lost and gotten new ones because of my business practices. I get phone calls saying, "I love what you do; I'm not going anywhere else." That's because we're doing business right. We have made poor decisions in the past about taking care of the planet: I don't want to leave a mess for my children to clean up. It's not just important to me, but recycling and managing natural resources are important for everyone.

Or hear what Mark Dubuc, CFO, Homewood Press, says about it.

This is not an issue that will go away, it’s up front and center now and will continue to be.  Sustainability is now a way of doing business, it's no longer a competitive advantage. Our customers are looking for printers who are making the processes as green as possible.

If we focus on the use of a term, we risk having that word or phrase go out of favor, but the underlying concepts - reducing waste, managing our  natural resources more carefully, and reducing our carbon footprint - will not go out of favor. They will be top of mind for the forseeable future.