I’ll show you mine if you show me yours

How many of you noticed that our last issue had a sustainability theme?
We didn’t shout about it – in fact we intentionally didn’t mention the “S” word on the cover. When discussing this subject, many otherwise balanced journalists turn into lobbyists, lobbyists turn into eco-fascists, and contributing columnists miraculously transform into evangelical preachers. And most media organisations are just as eager to see the (green-tinged) light. Hard to avoid the raft of eco TV programmes, special sections in national newspapers, (even the Dom Post “Greenzone” gives the woolly jumpers a weekly nod), National Radio’s Chris Laidlaw talks about little else and most magazines have published sustainability issues.  In fact a new magazine was launched a few months ago focused solely on sustainability, with the dangerously righteous title of ‘Good’.  Let’s hope they can live up to their name.

It’s time we stopped considering firms with sustainable principles as odd, cool or even commendable. Time we stopped running themed stories in the ‘green section’ or on the 60 Minutes ‘environment special’. Time to question well-intentioned but equally separatist forums such as the sustainabaility.govt.nz website, the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development and, dare I say it, the hard working and fast-growing Sustainable Business Network (SBN) profiled in our last edition.
If sustainability is good for business – because it helps differentiate your firm, reduce costs and attract new customers – then you would be crazy not to embrace it. The fact that it’s the ‘right thing to do’ is a wonderful side effect.
Consumers and businesses are increasingly making choices based on sustainability values; expect this to increase. As a region and a nation our sustainable aspirations have the potential to be a marketable point of difference and to help propel us from isolated economic doldrums into niche market utopia.
We will continue to seek out stories that offer a range of perspectives on this area. We will showcase businesses taking risks and pursuing opportunities the way entrepreneurs always have.
I predict that the most successful of these will excel at leveraging environmental and community credentials.

Here are some of ours:
•    We are still New Zealand’s only regularly published magazine printed on recycled paper – compared to using virgin paper for this magazine alone we calculate savings of 330 trees, 44 barrels of oil, more than 400 kg of air pollutants and a 75 per cent reduction in the use of chlorine bleach.

•    IN-Business is printed with vegetable (soya) based inks – our print partners Format pioneered this development more than a decade ago and others in the industry are now following their lead.

We are proud of our Wellington focus. We employ and outsource locally. Our publishing team and contributing writers are Wellingtonians.

It’s been great to get some much positive feedback from readers, we know you are busy people and we won’t waste your time with self-serving advertorial. We are committed to publishing the only world-class, locally-focused magazine for decision makers hungry for expert business knowledge.

TIM COLLINS