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Last season, South Park did a brilliant episode about Vampire Kids. Twilight (the movie) was huge and all the preppy kids at South Park Elementary began dressing like vampires, wearing fangs, and drinking fake blood.
The craze infuriated the “Goth” kids of South Park, who had been wearing eye-makeup and trench coats long before the vampire trend. All of a sudden they were being referred to as “Vamp” along with all the posers. Nobody cared about their genuine commitment to darkness because darkness was main stream. The Goth kids had to look for new ways to stand out because darkness no longer set them apart.
I bring this up because, in the career world, "Green" is the new "Goth."
Everybody’s going green, which means that your desire to help the planet no longer sets you apart from other candidates in the job market. It is admirable, but not memorable. If you want to stand out, you need to specify a “shade” of green to pursue. Start by answering the following questions:
Do you want to work directly on environmental initiatives or on traditional business initiatives for a company that is environmentally-aware?
What is your functional focus? More specifically, what do you actually what to DO in your sustainable organization? Non-profit or for-profit, you still need to develop professional skills. Marketing, engineering, finance, and human resources all apply to green business.
In your quest to go green, don’t lose sight of the workplace basics. At the end of the day your job is to add value to an organization. Again, your desire to go green is admirable, but your specific skills and experiences will make you memorable.
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April 21, 2009 9:45 am
I look to this a lot with businesses jumping on the "green bandwagon." While I will continue encouraging the initiative (hey, every little bit helps!) I frequently feel that many companies are becoming disingenuous in their support of environmental causes. Take for example Dell computers. I was on Facebook yesterday and saw something about some green "event" they were hosting on the sidebar. I was confused...the only green I've ever seen associated with Dell was a DEA bust of their "Dude, you're getting a Dell" spokesman.
It's a double edged sword...do you support businesses that are merely manipulating a popular "trend" in the marketplace (especially in April...hello Earth Day) because at least they're contributing or do you call them on their posing and lose a piece of the green puzzle?
April 21, 2009 10:38 am
What a fabulous analogy, and a funny one. These are great points, and Elisa's comment is taken with equal regard.
I also dislike the "jumping on the bandwagon" that many business are doing these days. It waters-down the public perspective of true sustainable initiatives. Companies are marketing the smallest measures as these great steps that they are taking for the environment. But more often than not, the companies doing this really haven't modified their operations, products, etc. enough to justify calling it 'green.'
Unfortunately, this watered-down approach and marketing to the general public says that it doesn't take nearly as much effort as it really does to honestly approach running your business in a sustainable fashion. Though I agree every little bit helps, it will take larger, bigger, more specific efforts to really legitimately follow a sustainable agenda. And eventually make a difference in consumption patterns and main-stream public opinion.
April 21, 2009 12:09 pm
Great comments.
There is actually another South Park episode that deals directly with the "trendy green" vs. "sustainable green" battle.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/1002
It is a little more low-brow than the Vampire episode, but topical none the less.
Jake
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