Inspiration and debate from the Green Chamber Collective

‘Green’ is a word much used and abused in the business world today:

“Is your business green enough?”

“How much electricity does your shop use and where do you get it from?”

“What does sustainability actually mean?”

Recently, the green members of the Chamber decided to expand on these questions with the first of their Green Chamber Collective events. As an ethical business, attendance was a no-brainer for me and what an enjoyable and debate filled evening it was.

Held at Café Koba in central Brighton, ten speakers had one minute each to share their story of sustainability and what inspires them to do the work they do. As always with such short speeches, the more inventive speakers got the most applause but all of the speeches were unique. Daren Howarth’s speech about his work in the rainforests was particularly heartfelt as it took us outside of our ‘first world’ problems.

After the speeches, the floor was open for questions and what turned into some hot debates on: sustainability and transport; whether recycled packing materials make your business look unprofessional; and the question that got me and Frances Duncan from the Whitehawk Inn chatting long after the debate – is sustainability and being green a middle class issue?

Some fantastic tips for all of our businesses came from these questions so here are the answers:

Sustainability and transport

The perennial hot topic in Brighton & Hove, Mark Strong from Transport Initiatives was on hand to heat up the debate of businesses using cars or public transport.  We caught up with Mark after the event and he commented:

“the best way for a business to reduce travel costs while being sustainable is to develop a Travel Plan. This needn't be a long document, but it needs some thought about what the travel needs of the business are and how they can be met cost-effectively. Once mileage and parking costs are factored in, short car journeys are often revealed as costing a business more than using public transport - let alone walking or cycling.”

Mark also directed us to the Council’s Travel Plan Partnership who can advise on how to put together a travel plan that works for your business.

How to look professional and stay green

On the question of whether using recycled packing materials would make your business look, well, a bit naff, the answers streamed in from the audience. The main answer was communication and brand image – if you incorporate a sustainability message in your business’s brand, you will be seen as more forward thinking and professional than many other businesses. Incorporate a message on your website and delivery details that states that you’re using recycled packing materials and why – we all want to know that a business has a heart but you have to actually state this – customers aren’t mind readers. Business Link has a heap of answers about packaging and the environment. There are also some great design opportunities out there if you want to actively communicate your recycling policy through your packaging and packing materials.

Is sustainability and being green a middle class issue?

This question provoked a fair amount of rumblings but no definitive answer. From my own point of view, this is because there were some key people missing from the room – you can’t turn the debate into a class issue without having representation from different classes in the room. How do you know what people from areas with high deprivation in the city think about this question without actually asking them?

And finally: A wider audience for the Green Chamber Collective events?

These types of ‘green’ events can sometimes be seen as preaching to the converted so it was great to see a really good mix of businesses from completely ‘eco’ businesses such as the Brighton Energy Co-op to Brighton businesses that were just starting to seek out ideas about sustainability and how to make their businesses greener.  I do think the low cost of the event for members and non-members alike helped with this variety of attendees so I hope this pricing format continues for future events. On that note, is there more the Green Chamber can do to reach out to more businesses? The conclusion to the evening was that all of us are ambassadors for how to run a sustainable business and we can influence our suppliers and our customers without being dogmatic, it just takes some common sense and a lot of heart.

By Susan B. Bentley, Comms with a Conscience