In sustainability circles, there's been a lot of murmuring about trusting the process. The idea is that even though everything is changing, we continue along with what we've been doing because long-established processes are in place for getting to where we need to be.

I find this logic to be a little bit baffling. It feels like we've planned our route for a cross-country journey, and now we're patiently waiting for someone to come repair the massive sinkhole that's opened up in front of us, blocking our path.

Spoiler: the highway department isn't coming to fix the sinkhole. We're never going to get from California to New York if we can't get out of the driveway. We need to find another way around. For me, that means setting some ground rules for what matters.

For example, three years ago when I first got my contract from A Book Apart, there was a clear plan for my book.

1. Publish book in Fall 2023.
2. Do the webinar/conference/event/academic circuit to promote the book, because event organizers love author experts, and this is a great way to drive bulk book sales.
3. Use that momentum to increase the foothold in the corporate workshop space, teaching more people how to incorporate sustainable content into their organization's specific best practices.
4. Expand my reach through a train-the-trainer program, getting the word out to more organizations than I could ever reach singlehandedly.
5. Profit. (Ok, more like "break even," but you get the idea.)

The ABA bankruptcy, delays finding a new publisher, and ultimately publishing in late 2024 — the literal worst time imaginable for releasing a book of this kind — effectively put a stop to that at step 1. Sustainability-themed topics aren't just a low priority now, they're rapidly becoming a liability.

So rather than trusting the established process — that becoming an "expert" will automatically lead to the outcomes that I want — I've had to figure out what really matters here. Is the work important? Is the challenge worth it? Am I willing to work with companies that are antithetical to my personal moral compass? And that looks more like this:

1. Publish book in November 2024.
2. Ask myself if getting the word out really matters in this new world order. (Answer: yes.)
3. Rely on my personal and professional networks to slowly share the insights of the book, one person at a time. (Please do.)
4. Work with clients that aren't aggressively evil. (This is surprisingly hard as organizations show their true colors.)
5. Come at it from alternate angles: demonstrate how plain language and other best practices benefit our audiences, knowing that these also have the added benefit of being sustainable content practices.
6. Profit. (Haha, that's not happening.)

This is just one example, but I think it's something we're all going to have to grapple with in the coming months. What are our personal ground rules? Are we doing important work? Are we working with good people? Because these answers, more than anything, will shape the world ahead.

​The energy demand for air conditioning places a significant strain on the electrical grid on the hottest days. And of course, those days are coming more frequently on a warming planet.

Given the U.S. refocus away from sustainability, the market for sustainable opportunities is now... well, everywhere else.​

​There's been some agreement on emissions from maritime shipping, which has fallen short of net-zero goals. But the irony is that 40% of global shipping is the transportation of coal, oil, and gas. So if we were to stop using fossil fuels tomorrow, the maritime shipping industry would reduce its consumption and related emissions by 40%.

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Consulting

​Reduce your Scope 3 emissions​

Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author