Sustainability: business, life, environment

In an exponentially growing multi-trillion dollar business, there is a lot of green ($) to be had in the green industry.  Every day, Americans are exposed to advertising messages about environmentally friendly goods and services.  As a sustainability consultant, I am frequently asked, "How can you distinguish a truly green product from a non green product? 
 
Greenwashing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice.  Lacking a uniform set of green standards for businesses to subscribe to, consumers are left to decide for themselves which products embrace eco awareness and which ones do not.  
 
In our professional consulting, we advise clients to evaluate the products as well as the manufacturers of the products.  An eco friendly product should perform as well as or better than the standard product.  The product being evaluated should have less of an environmental impact, and that product should be cost competitive.  In addition, we encourage clients to evaluate the manufacturer of the products.  Characteristics of a sustainable business include credibility, transparency, accountability, reporting, communication, and a sustainability plan incorporating sustainability concepts into core business processes. 
 
Being a sustainable business or a green business is not a cookie cutter label that can be uniformly applied across all sectors of the economy.  However, with growing eco awareness, educated consumers and small and large businesses proactively embracing business sustainability are raising the bar for us all to distinguish the green from the not so green.