Green is Genius
When I look over my last couple posts, I find myself surprised. I feel like I have learned so much about sustainability and social justice in the media yet at the same time have barely skimmed the surface. The issues have become something that excites me and I know it’s because of all the exposure I have had through the different media sources. The media has portrayed to the youth that these issues are something that they can become passionate about and do something about. It is the revolution that every young socially-conscious youth want to be part of.
One movement which really excites me is “The Greening of Pittsburgh”. This old industrial town is quickly “becoming a leader in the field of sustainable building” which is a movement largely led by young active locals. And the best part? It’s helping the city in a time of economic distress. Talk about combining sustainability and social justice!
Another tremendous example of a company pairing sustainability, social justice, and a hip younger generation is the Zipcar.
An awesome article article in the New York Times explains this phenomenon of a company which endorses people not owning cars but rather through their membership to Zip Car, having access to hundreds of shared cars throughout their city. Their product is only successful through due to their marketing. They wanted to get across the idea that “Sharing is clean, crisp, urbane, postmodern; owning is dull selfish, timid, backward” and so their target group became “an environmentally aware, cost-conscious, Internet-bred generation of urbanities who have come of age sharing information (Wikipedia), music (Napster), software (BitTorrent), videos (YouTube), and entertainment (Netflix) and the excrutiating minutiae of daily life anyblog.com).” They employed several different strategies:
- The two-step flow: they targeted cool, hip urban insiders who lived in the city and got them to buy into the plan
- A new sense of community: They followed the mass media trend and made their “zipsters” feel like they were a part of something by having gatherings of the members and pushing the “old-fashioned sense of community”
- Hyperlocal marketing: “Curbside demonstrations of Zipcar’s technology, droll Zipcar ads in bus shelters and free membership for merchants who prominently displayed Zipcar pamphlets”
And it is a quickly growing, in fact, booming success in some of America’s biggest cities and biggest campuses. Seriously, genius.
on April 21st, 2009 at 12:31 am
Meagan, I am glad you commented on the new face of Pittsburgh. This industrial town reminds me a lot of Milwaukee, except Pittsburgh has made strides to improve its system using sustainability. I have heard of the shared car system, and it is definitely optimistic. Opinions and politics aside, I think your analysis of what this means media-wise was dead on. Fresh, new ideas are what got Pittsburgh its new reputation in the first place, so the furthering of these fresh new ideas is sure to produce results. Good post, and I am glad you made cross-cultural references, because it is indeed important to note the signs of the times.
on April 21st, 2009 at 12:35 am
I think you guys are on to something, especially as you discussed the innovation of the ZipCar program. Never before have I heard of owning your own car as selfish and dull-I thought that meant hardworking and determined! The face of success is changing with the new face of sustainability, and I like what I’m seeing. These efforts are really linked up with social justice too, and I love that you were about to pick the two step flow out of this. It’s a nice finish to great blog!
on April 21st, 2009 at 1:03 am
Thanks guys! I really have found it fascinating how intertwined these issues of sustainability and social justice are in our lives. I think we have all had our eyes opened to some new ways of viewing how the media shapes our perceptions of things!