I read Tony Blair’s “The Crisis We Forgot” post on The Daily Beast with wry bemusement.
I suppose fundamentally, there’s something really quite outrageous about Tony Blair waxing lyrical about how Obama should make the right decisions. Ahem, yeah, ‘cos you made great decisions didn’t you Tony?
Cynicism aside, I must be honest and say I don’t know a bloody thing about the extent of Tony Blair’s tree-hugging inclinations. And in fairness his Breaking the Climate Deadlock initiative is probably sound (I’m a little over the whole carbon thing frankly – more of that some other time). For all I know, he could have always been a big sandal wearing, vegetable growing, freecycle freak. I have no idea.
My reaction to the article, I reckon, has more to do with a lethargy around people and brands using sustainability as their get out of jail free card.
Sustainability, it often feels is the adopt-a-cause of our generation. No matter who you are, or what mistakes you’ve made (as an enterprise, brand or person) sustainability can save you. So you could, for instance, tell your consumers to turn their washing machines to 30 degrees and the harmful chemicals in your products will pale into insignificance.
Part of me (the optimistic side) feels that we can’t have too many people talking about it and that it has to be a good thing. The other (louder, more prominent) side of me thinks it just screws things up for the people who are really making a difference. I guess my fear is that people will encounter so many bandwagonish messages and as a result, be more inclined to dismiss a piece written by Rob Hopkins.
And that would be a big, big shame.
What do you think? Are you feeling a little lethargic? Or do you think it’s great that everyone’s crawling out from under their rocks to save mankind? Talk to me, I like it.
