Sustainability leaders: do your best by holding back the darkness

The following is adapted from my opening talk delivered today at GreenBiz 25.

Eight years ago, at GreenBiz 17, three weeks after a U.S. presidential inauguration, I declared that “Donald Trump is sustainability’s stress test.” His election was a black swan event — low probability, high impact — that we didn’t see coming and weren’t prepared for. 

It was a moment of truth for us all.

We muddled through. Yes, we lost precious time, there were regulatory setbacks and we exited the Paris Agreement. But companies generally moved forward. Some proclaimed We Are Still In and many others pursued net-zero and other goals.

Well, here we are again, three weeks after a U.S. presidential inauguration, and that stress test is being dialed up to 11 — or maybe it’s 47. I don’t think even those who expected this electoral outcome are prepared for this moment.

This moment reflects a confluence of political, economic, social, technological and environmental forces that are all shifting at the same time, leading to disruptions that we’re just beginning to see, let alone understand. We’re beyond the point where “past is prologue” — where we can expect that tomorrow will vaguely resemble today.

It’s a fascinating, volatile and absolutely terrifying time.

As for all of us: It wasn’t that long ago that sustainability professionals were the cool kids working for a better world, making good progress, creating positive PR, but still working largely under the radar. I’m not sure those things are true any more. We’re under an ever-brighter spotlight, getting pushback from across the political spectrum, and tapping the brakes on some bold commitments our companies made not that long ago. And even those who haven’t walked back their commitments have stopped talking about them. 

The word “climate” is being weaponized by political extremists, just as ESG and DEI have been — very successfully so. “Environmental justice” is headed for the trash heap. The word “sustainability” could be next.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that our profession is increasingly under attack.

It’s affecting many of us personally and professionally. When I conducted a LinkedIn survey of sustainability professionals back in December, fully a third of the more than 650 respondents said they were stressed out or burned out, even considering changing careers or retiring earlier than expected.

Meanwhile, our to-do lists keep getting longer, from nature and biodiversity to plastic pollution and wildfire risk — and reporting on just about anything and everything.

Let’s be honest

To be clear, there’s plenty of progress. Many companies have announced products, commitments and achievements that are exemplary. For example, some companies and sectors have demonstrated that it’s possible to reduce emissions even while growing revenue. Impressive stuff. 

But if we’re being honest — with one another and with ourselves — we have to acknowledge that today’s progress is generally not meeting the moment. The best and brightest among us have been working for years to make the world a cleaner, fairer place. And yet for most people, it is not getting cleaner, and it’s not getting fairer. 

I’ll be blunt: Even the leaders in Phoenix for this event I’d categorize as being “aggressively incremental.” Doing less bad, as the saying goes. It’s mostly about tweaks — small but meaningful changes that are necessary but highly insufficient for the challenges we face. They aren’t likely to change business as usual. And business as usual is what got us here.

A clear-eyed look

So, how do we meet the moment? Where do we go from here?

I’m not going to tell you to work harder. Y’all are working pretty damned hard. And I’m not going to tell you to work smarter. You are some of the smartest people I know.

It’s important to acknowledge that this isn’t anyone’s fault. It’s everyone’s fault — all of us, our families, neighbors and communities, the companies we work for, the customers we serve, our investors, our elected officials and, most of all, the economic systems within which we operate. Changing those economic systems is a heavy lift — and, I’m pretty sure, is in none of our job descriptions.

Still, we owe it to our companies and our collective future to take a clear-eyed look at our sustainability practices, and to question those that are simply not meeting the moment.

• We need the agency and courage to rethink everything — our goals, commitments, business models and our internal and external voice. This activity isn’t exactly new for this community, but it’s never been more critical.
• We need to think bigger, even though it may not be in our job descriptions. For example, what role can your company play in transforming unsustainable production and consumption patterns?
• We need to focus on business value, not business virtue, and on outcomes that benefit everyday citizens.
• We need to push ourselves but, equally important, we need to push one another — by sharing knowledge and bucking us all up for the challenges ahead.
• We may even need to make management feel a bit uncomfortable by helping them understand the gravity of the moment and the risks they face.

The paradox we hold is this: We must act with urgency, but also with the humility to know that this is intergenerational work. Like the cathedral builders of old, we’re laying foundations for a future we may not live to see.

So, are you feeling a bit anxious or scared or apprehensive? That’s OK. We don’t give up just because it’s hard. We have always faced resistance to our work. This work has always been hard.

The wisdom in nature

So, where do we look for solutions? We might start with nature.

I recently asked my friends Janine Benyus and Beth Rattner, two leading lights in the biomimicry world, “How does nature respond when it meets resistance?”

As always, I was blown away when they shared nature’s wisdom.

For example, there’s something called phenotypic plasticity, the ability of an organism to change its physical characteristics in response to environmental conditions without changing its DNA. A critter may change colors to adapt to its surroundings to fool predators; a plant may grow longer, thinner leaves in the shade in order to optimize photosynthesis.

What abilities and characteristics can you turn on, develop or adapt to make them stronger or more resilient in the face of pushback?

There’s the stress-free hypothesis, a concept in ecology that predicts how plant interactions change when they face environmental stress. You’d think they’d compete with one another for scarce resources. Instead, they cooperate and collaborate. They use their underground mycelium networks to form symbiotic relationships to share nutrients with neighboring plants and trees, or send warning signals about impending threats.

What symbiotic relationships will accelerate your work in an era of political and economic stress?

And then there’s the larger concept that nature tends to survive by pulling rather than pushing — by seducing both friends and foes to act in certain ways. Some plants develop vibrant colors or produce aromatic scents that repel predators while simultaneously attracting beneficial insects for pollination.

How can we make sustainability irresistible, even to our fiercest critics, or trick our political predators to look elsewhere for nourishment?

A light in the darkness

This all may seem overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be.

The writer Annie Lamott recently shared a story about a sparrow and a horse.

A great warhorse comes upon a tiny sparrow lying on its back with its feet in the air, eyes squinched tightly shut. The horse asks what it’s doing.

“I’m trying to help hold back the darkness,” replied the sparrow.

The horse roars with laughter. “That’s pathetic. What do you weigh, about an ounce?”

And the sparrow replies, “Well, one does what one can.”

We are all pushing against vast forces of darkness, some natural, some decidedly not. And while we may feel like tiny sparrows at times, there’s no higher calling than doing what one can. That doesn’t mean symbolic or futile or performative gestures are sufficient. Of course, they’re not.

So, the question is, “What can one do? And given all the possibilities, am I doing enough of the right things?”

That’s a question each of us will need to answer in the days and weeks ahead. 

A higher calling

Perhaps most of all, we need to remember why we got into sustainability in the first place. 

One reason, I’m guessing, is that sustainability professionals are, as a species, problem solvers. We’re good at it and generally love doing it.

That was a finding from a survey conducted last year by my friend Solitaire Townsend. It turns out that sustainability professionals find solving the climate crisis intellectually stimulating. Indeed, it may be the most fascinating and thorny problem humanity has ever faced. 

But that’s not all. I’m pretty sure most of you gravitated to sustainability to pursue a higher calling, not just to make a living, but to make a difference — a big difference — in people’s lives, especially those at the economic fringes of society.

That is, to hold back the darkness. 

And not just hold it back, but to shine a light on all that’s possible. To step up and show up in some new ways. To bring our most innovative and creative selves to this moment and this amazing community.

So: purpose, passion, problem-solving. That’s what got us here. We’ll need to hold those close during these challenging times.

But really, how lucky are we that we get to do this work? That at the end of a day, a week, a year, a career, we get to look back and say, I was part of the solution. I was on the right side of history. I made a difference.

So, are you with me? Can we meet the moment, be courageous — and maybe make management a bit uncomfortable?

Of course, we can. Because that’s how we roll.