41. Sustainability: get ahead of the eco-conscious curve with Shannon Kenny, Mama Eco
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SUMMARY
In support of Pause On The Play The Community’s February theme - Sustainability! - India chats with Sustainable Business Consultant and founder of Mama Eco, Shannon Kenny, about eco-conscious values from a brand perspective.
What does sustainability mean, anyway? How can a service-based business integrate eco-conscious decisions into standard operating procedures? What do companies get out of adopting eco-friendly values? It’s a broad topic - one that can, understandably, lead to feelings of overwhelm and confusion. Shannon helps us sort fact from fiction, and provides simple steps we can take right now, right where we are.
In this discussion::
Demystifying sustainability
How to offset information overwhelm
Best practices for sharing eco-conscious values
What is greenwashing?
Doing a sustainability self-audit
The value of engaging, honest transparency
Resources for businesses and service providers
QUOTED
SHANNON KENNY
“I realized that I had to start looking at my actions and changing my habits.”
“Greenwashing is, essentially, when a business portrays themselves as eco-friendly or sustainable - or “green” would be the more common term - when they’re really not.”
“I always say that the more information that a company shares with you, the more authentic and legitimate they are.”
“What I always tell consumers, too, is you know, look for the how and the why instead of the what.”
“At the end of the day, if a business can connect with its customers on a values-based level, you will have that customer for life.”
“If we continue to just focus on short-term convenience, short-term profitability, we are going to have a very big long-term problem.”
“It’s becoming expected that you have to have a stance on sustainability, you have to be doing more than just making a profit.”
“As a business and as a consumer...have your eyes wide open and try to make the best decisions that you can with what you have.”
INDIA JACKSON
“We believe that values should be anchored in decisions of wills and won’ts and actions, and not just fluffy words.”
“When you’re looking at environmental sustainability and just changing some of the things that we’re seeing happening, you can feel so small, you can feel like there’s so much to be done.”
“It goes back to that value of being transparent and sharing as well within your business.”
“It allows [customers] to feel like they’re investing in the future. They want to see when, they want to know exactly what you’re doing and how it’s eco-friendly, how it’s sustainable instead of just this label.”
“If you’re not providing that upfront, without them even having to ask, then you’ve already given them another barrier to entry, to hand over their money [when] they don’t know what they’re investing in.”
“We all have areas to grow, to learn, to improve, and I really do truly believe one of the best ways we can do that is publicly sharing where we’re growing, where we’re learning, and where we’re improving.”
ARTICLE
Integrating Eco-Conscious Values
How do you integrate personal values into your brand? The question is multilayered, requiring more from business owners than a one-off answer - a reality that often feels overwhelming at the beginning. When it comes to sustainability, the task seems even more daunting. After all, we’re talking about the entire planet and everyone who lives on it. Where to begin? Who knows how to sort fact from fiction? How are we ever going to turn a profit with this added layer of responsibility - and cost?
Analysis-paralysis is real!
Listen, you know Flaunt Your Fire wouldn’t put you on a path if we hadn’t walked it ourselves. We’ve made a concerted effort to incorporate our beliefs into this brand. “We believe that values should be anchored in decisions, wills and wont’s, and actions - and not just fluffy words,” India says. From the products we purchase to the work we’re willing to engage in, FYF is continually discovering new ways to embody our values and sustainability happens to be one of India’s personal values.
Applying an eco-conscious approach to your business is a long-term win for the environment (obviously) and your wallet (really!). India’s conversation with business sustainable business consultant Shannon Kenny sheds light on shady sustainability practices and confusing terminology. She also offers simple actions that brands, businesses, and individuals can take right now.
Meet Shannon Kenny
When Shannon moved from Trinidad, her birthplace, to Brooklyn, she brought with her a deep sense of environmental awareness. The city made recycling easy - a luxury not readily available back home at the time. Still, Shannon admits that she and her roommates produced a lot of trash - even after carefully sorting recyclable items from the waste. “I had to start looking at my actions and changing my habits,” she says.
Small measures added up. Shannon began educating herself on personal sustainability, then adjusted her routines and buying habits accordingly. Her transformation from earnest recycler to sustainability consultant continued to take shape and, eventually, an unfulfilling job drove her to turn that passion into a profession. In 2017, Mama Eco, her hip, un-granola approach to eco-consciousness was born. Today, brands and event organizers value her expertise. She appears regularly at sustainability conferences and has contributed to multiple publications including USA Today, MarketWatch, MindBodyGreen, and Grateful.
Much like Shannon herself, the business didn’t arrive on the eco-conscious stage fully formed; it’s gone through several iterations since its founding. “Initially, when I launched MammaEco, it was focused mostly on individuals and helping them make better decisions in their day-to-day,” Shannon explains. “The environmental issues that we're facing seemed so big, you know, climate change, plastic pollution in the ocean... and I realized that people felt almost paralyzed when it came to that.” She saw businesses, especially smaller ones, struggle with similar feelings of powerlessness.
Buried under a deluge of information and options, she says it’s easy to understand why so many people opt to do nothing. Mama Eco works with businesses to demystify sustainability. With her guidance, brands establish supportive practices - without sacrificing profit.
Lifting Up Rather Than Lashing Out
Whether you’re an individual or a brand, acting more environmentally responsible at the micro-level can feel inconsequential when there’s so much to do at the macro! Shannon reminds us that individual actions have as much impact as changes made by large corporations. The key, she says, is to start slowly and keep things simple. “I try to break it down into daily, actionable steps for people.”
Even minor shifts in personal habits make a difference. Shannon says that the people around her began adopting similar practices after seeing the benefits an eco-conscious mindset brought to her life. But provoking change isn’t always so effortless - especially at the beginning of the sustainability journey. Take the fury Shannon fired at a friend over the much-debated “recyclable” single-use Keurig coffee pods. She responded on social media with frustration that this wasn’t the solution because even if the pods get recycled, they are unlikely to be recycled more than once and ultimately end up in the landfill. She learned, however, “No one wants to be told what to do.” Her passion for her position had fueled her heated response. “All I got back from that other person was anger, defensiveness.” She realized then that, much like in a political argument, she couldn’t influence someone’s opinion or actions from an entrenched perspective.
Shannon has since landed on an approach that favors holistic engagement to keep both sides from shutting down. “I just kind of put things out there in non-judgemental ways,” she says. “Then, at least, you’re having a conversation.”
Greenwashing And Other Terms Of Note
Education informs change. But where to begin?! Queue the overwhelm. At the start of her journey, India found herself consuming massive amounts of eco-data from influencers and brands that she assumed shared her passion for the zero-waste concept. The deeper down the rabbit hole she went, the murkier the information. She found that terms, symbols, and general efforts varied widely between brands. In her quest to adopt a greener lifestyle, India educated herself on the products and services she wanted to use. She followed trusted bloggers and researched marketing claims. As she figuratively peeled back more and more labels, India discovered the lengths some companies go to position themselves as eco-conscious.
Greenwashing is a common and troubling practice that clouds efforts to act more sustainably. Shannon says greenwashing is when a business portrays themselves as eco-friendly, sustainable, or green when they're not. “And, often, what they do is they end up making claims that they can't back up,” she says. Businesses engaging in the practice purposefully misuse colors, symbols, or language associated with sustainability, manipulating people into feeling good about buying their product.
Greenwashing comes in many guises. Grass-fed labels on food, for example, hint at pastoral farm scenes and happy cattle. Current regulations, however, allow feedlot ranchers to supplement their grain meal with the bare minimum of grass and still call their products grass-fed.
Shannon says that’s only one egregious example. She clears up a few others:
Biodegradable: Currently, there’s no legal standard for products that carry this term. Essentially, if it breaks down eventually, government policy says it can be called biodegradable. That includes plastic bags and bottles - items that take hundreds of years to disintegrate.
Compostable: A term that tricks people into believing an item is suitable for home-based composting. “What it actually means is commercially compostable,” Shannon says. “It has to be [composted] in an industrial or commercial composting facility in order to break down.”
Natural: As one of the most commonly MANIPULATED terms, it has little to no value as an overall sustainability indicator. “It means absolutely nothing because there’s no regulation behind it,” Shannon adds.
Words have power, and labels aren’t required to sell the whole truth. Some companies wield clever marketing strategies against consumers, sowing confusion, then taking advantage of someone’s good intentions. Shannon advises consumers to do their research, pointing out that even a cursory glance at the marketing or product website can shift buying habits for the better. “I always say that the more information a company shares with you, the more authentic and legitimate they are.”
Brand Sustainability 101
When it comes to eco-consciousness, brands that conduct the necessary due diligence have a valuable marketing tool at their disposal and an opportunity to communicate those actions to their customers. “What I always tell consumers is...look for the how and why instead of the what.” That’s good advice for business owners as well; becoming more transparent about policies factors into long-term sustainability goals.
Shannon offers these suggestions to get you started:
Audit your messaging; correct misalignment and hidden instances of greenwashing
Take an inventory of the physical materials you use and review internal processes (like your website or social channels); what can you do differently within your current structure?
Review your freedom of information policy; does it highlight or hide your intent?
Don’t brush off that last bullet. Shannon says many eco-friendly brands bury their true colors beneath layers of “proprietary information” or “intellectual property” legalese. “If you can’t give me that information, honestly, I don’t want to buy from you.”
India agrees. “Visibility is definitely a two-way street.” If the information isn’t provided up front, consumers will seek new places to invest their money.
Making Eco-Conscious Connections
A big part of Shannon’s work is helping clients market their sustainability practices in an authentic - and legally supported - way. That includes securing certifications and crafting a message that consumers can feel good about and trust. “At the end of the day, if a business can connect with its customers on a values-based level, you will have a customer for life.”
Customers want to know what you’re doing. Sharing your efforts publicly via a sustainability page on your site, for example, is an inexpensive step with a significant appeal. Social media, too, is another excellent way to broadcast your goals even if your efforts are in their infancy. “Even if your systems aren’t perfect, you’ll connect with your customers,” Shannon says.
Remember how Shannon’s actions prompted those in her circle to make similar changes to their habits? That same mirroring can happen between customers and the brands they love. Customers want to join in on your sustainability journey so let them share in your process. Your efforts don’t need to be perfect right out of the gate. “A little bit goes a long way in terms of transparency.”
In addition to individual consumers, India points out that your actions positively impact colleagues and other business owners. Shannon agrees. In working with clients, she says, “The thing that comes up...over and over is, I want to be a leader within my industry, to show other people, other businesses how this can be done so that they can start to think about it as well.”
Fostering An Environment For Change
Even the most eco-conscious of us can learn new tricks. Shannon’s free resources are fantastic tools created with her trademark ungranola approach, one that clients naturally gravitate towards because of its clean format and clear directives. Here, too, she’s leading by example, avoiding potentially misleading practices. “I really wanted to help businesses see what are the opportunities that [they] have to be more sustainable.”
Like DEI practices, Incorporating sustainability policy into a business is rapidly becoming a customer-driven requirement rather than a feel-good elective. “I think that 2020 really showed us that all of these things that we thought were just nice to have,” says India, “...like, no, we can’t run from them anymore. They’re a must!” And they’re intrinsically related. As business owners, if we continue to look for short-term, inexpensive solutions, Shannon points out that “we are going to have a very big, long-term problem.”
Don’t Get Left Behind
The truth is, not making eco-conscious decisions will cost businesses more as they try to catch up with national and local policies changes. “It’s becoming expected that you have a stance on sustainability,” Shannon says. “You don’t want to just be making a profit.”
Reusable bag ordinances illustrate the point. Municipalities requiring reusable bags present brands with a new opportunity for visibility (think: printed logos on canvas bags). Some businesses might see this as an annoying additional expense. Shannon sees advertising, value transparency, and goodwill. Beyond better bags, eco-conscious environments support all sorts of innovation. Companies unwilling to explore sustainable options now won’t be in a position to take advantage of cost-advantages or consumer preference later.
It’s important to note that access to sustainable practices varies from business to business (and client to client). Both India and Shannon acknowledge these vast discrepancies. Shannon advises people shift their attention from what’s lacking in their immediate circumstance to those things they can change right where they are (whenever appropriate, of course). “...Have your eyes wide open and, try to make the best decisions that you can with what you have..communicate that in the most transparent way.”
Still don’t know where to start? Mama Eco can help. Shannon’s educational blog posts and easy, actionable advice supports better decision-making in a stress-free environment. “It’s not a place that’s going to overwhelm you.”
YOUR ACTIONS FOR THIS EPISODE
Visit Mama Eco for more resources, including her free resource guide Top 5 Mistakes Most Businesses Make When Becoming More Sustainable.
Join Shannon, Erica, and India for an exclusive evergreen workshop on sustainability when you join the Pause On The Play Community.
GUEST CONTACT & BIO
Shannon Kenny is a Sustainable Business Consultant who helps eco-conscious businesses become more sustainable without sacrificing profit. Growing up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad instilled a deep sense of environmental responsibility within her, and in 2017, she turned that conviction into her career with the launch of Mama Eco, a business dedicated to helping eco-conscious people make better decisions for the environment. Shannon has spoken at sustainable events as well as been on panels with thought leaders in the environmental world. And has been featured in several publications, including USA Today, MarketWatch, mindbodygreen and Grateful.