Can going to Ecobuild 2012 save a polar bear

Polar bears are magnificent animals. At least that’s the image they portray on TV. I am sure it’s all PR spin on their part. Let’s face it they are not warm and cuddly. OK maybe warm but not cuddly. If you were face to face with one they sooner rip your face off and eat your insides as give you a warm nurturing hug. Even if they did hug they are likely to hug you to death.

So why are Polar Bears now wheeled out as the flag bearers for sustainability and saving the planet from global warming?

I know of their plight and the link to global warming BUT am I likely to change my lifestyle because you put a polar on your literature to sell me a more efficient boiler? I think not.

I attended Ecobuild last year. I admit I was there in a work capacity, but for the past two years I have worked for clients in this field and that has fostered a genuine and growing interest.

I had some time before filming so I decided to walk around and take a look. Ecobuild is huge but what caught my eye were two promo people dressed as, you guessed it, as polar bears. Albeit rather thin and undernourished but there they were walking around the Excel handing out leaflets.

“Aha” you say. Ok no one actually says aha, but you are at this moment pointing out the success of using polar bears in sustainability marketing. Well  I remember the bears but not what they were promoting, as is usually the case with fancy dress promotions.

It’s easy to disparage such lame brained marketing, probably why I do it,  but it does mask a bigger problem for those seeking to promote sustainable solutions as a remedy to a global crisis.

However much I might feel for the polar bear and its plight, they don’t live in my street. They don’t face any of the issues I face. Their situation and possible solutions are just too remote for me.

It’s Sport Relief season, if you didn’t know that then you’ve probably just returned from a trip to watch polar bears.  Sport and Comic Relief do a great job of making what I do and what I raise important and life changing. They are not alone in this other charities and good causes do the same.

What have they figured out?

By letting me know that my £10 donation will make a real difference. It will buy two mosquito nets and go a small but significant way to stemming the disease. In the grand scheme of things it may be a tiny drop in a very large bucket but lots of those drops will eventually fill the bucket.

It is a lesson the sustainability industry, if I may call it that needs to learn.

I spent some time in Austria with a group of architects some time ago.

They were great people and passionate, in particular, about PassivHaus.  (You can check out some video from the trip here, VIDEO )

They could quote figures at ease, which was impressive and important in the right context, but meaningless to me. When I eventually cornered one (they are elusive and shy creatures, architects) I asked him to put into everyday language what difference some of the technology we had seen would make to me. I told him the kind of house I lived in, the type of boiler I had etc. In easy to understand terms, ie pounds and pence, he told me the difference this could make to me. It also turned out that as well as saving me money it would lower my carbon footprint, contribute less to global warming and maybe, just maybe, help a polar bear or two.

The lesson is clear, I need to know what I can do at local level in terms I understand and make a difference to me. That it helps the bigger picture is a happy coincidence but it does not make it any less significant.

So sustainability people dump the polar bears embrace a red nose attitude and maybe we can all help those polar bears lives, unencumbered by constant PR stunts and appearances.

What do you think? Am I barking up the wrong, sustainable ethical sourced tree? Leave you comments below

We will be at Ecobuild 2012 again this year, download our pdf outlining the services we offer to exhibitors.