14 DAY TRIAL // After the Consumer Futures 2020 report was released last week, Forum for the Future and Guardian Sustainable Business organized an event to find out if major brand on the market are nowadays able to make profit while also manifesting their concern regarding future strategies of making consumption more sustainable.
Dr. Sally Uren. One of the organization's representatives took into consideration four possible scenarios that imply smart decisions, usage, and leading to a smart growth on the market of sustainable products.
She strongly believes that sustainable consumption can become "sexy and desirable" for most of the American buyers.
She manifested her optimism while stating that progress will be achieved regardless of the economical situation and the customers' demand for sustainable merchandise.
The main challenge in her opinion is to manage to convince a larger segment of American consumers that sustainable goods are not exclusively designed as a response to the needs of rich people.
Further more, Uren thinks this target can be achieved easily, after leading brands will develop and expand their marketing strategies.
On the other hand, Ian Yolles of Recyclebank stated that the future depends on our present choice and the options are limited. We are either capable of dealing with major changes as consumers, or we face a “collective suicide”.
Jeffrey Hollender had a more radical way of presenting his opinion. He declared himself in favor of a significant change of system, since the actual one promotes the companies' bad conduct.
While bad items are cheap and good ones cost us a lot, there must be supported a plan which should cure what Hollender called “our addiction to wealth”
All in all, all the officials gathered for this event treated the matter of developing effective changes in our behavior as consumers with a high dosage of optimism.
Until 2020, they expect radical changes. The only speaker who doesn't rely on a visible progress is Hollender.
He stated that the deadline was too close, and by then we would probably know only the unpleasant yet common effects of a period of transition.
A brighter future is correlated with our improved, more responsible attitude as consumers of sustainable goods.