02/09/2024 08:03:00 AM 
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Problems! Life is full of them. And my ruminating, designer-mind loves nothing better than thinking about different approaches to them. And of course, seeing great solutions by others. Problems get me hyped.
What is the biggest but most ignored trend you see?
Product service systems crappy name but incredible concept that can help out the environment, consumers and businesses due to the way it shifts the incentives. A product becomes a service. Save money, make your life more convenient and reduce environmental impact...not bad. What can you not own?
Overall, is the adoption of eco-conscious branding genuinely beneficial to the environment, or is it just a pleasant veneer that makes consumption more palatable to a favorable demographic? (For example, a shoe that incorporates recycled rubber soles could be marketed as eco-friendly even if the extra energy required to transport the special rubber cancelled out any net environmental benefit.?
As long as there are watchdogs and companies are being continuously pushed to improve their Treehuggerness, I think that eco-conscious branding is fine. What I like is that the environment is enough of an issue that it's worth marketing green aspects of a product! Hopefully this will remain important to consumers and companies will compete with each other, not only on marketing these aspects but on making their products greener and greener.
We will certainly see tons of greenwashing coming up, some of it conscious but much of it unconscious (lack of knowledge). How green something is is a very complicated question and to answer it properly generally takes experts significant effort. It is for this reason that TreeHugger and its sister sites are an important tool in helping keep companies honest and pushing them to further and further greenness.
As a follow-up, under what conditions will these "eco-products" products be marketed honestly? Should companies be required to admit, when applicable, that "this kills more trees" (like the regulatory requirements for organic labeling), or will consumers become sophisticated enough not to take green marketing at face value?
I think they'll be marketed honestly by honest companies and not by dishonest companies. The beautiful thing about where the Internet is heading is that it is helping to bring the truth out about people and companies. The days are gone when companies could control their press and hide bad practices. So I'd predict that companies that greenwash will have a harder and harder time of it due to consumer backlash on the net. The net will help the good guys win!
The key problem is convenience. And this is understandable..who wants to spend hours researching every product they buy? TreeHugger attempts to help this process but eco-labelling done by groups without conflicts of interest could be a big help in this issue. I'd love to see more government regulations regarding labeling, as long as they aren't prohibitive for small companies and actually mean something. Consumers can't be expected to be green experts but the net should be able to help them quickly make buying decisions based on eco-labels, sites like Treehugger and internet comments. A quick scan should be able to help them make the right decision most of the time.
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