Bonus: Get the Sustainable Business 101 Email Series
Welcome to my introductory series on Sustainable Business.
Before I explain what is a sustainable business in another email to come, or show you examples of sustainable business in practice, we need to start with why sustainable business matters.
My answers might not be the answers youād expect.
The Race (isnāt) to Meet Consumer Demand
No, it doesnāt matter that businesses adopt āsustainable practicesā so that they can meet consumer demand.
Even though trends show consumers are caring more and more about how businesses are impacting the environment.
That reason isnāt BIG enough.
Businesses must be sustainable because we need to change consumer demand faster.
We need to change culture faster.
Because of the resources at their disposal, brands have the power to dictate culture.



A savvy advertising campaign, a visionary CEO…they can dictate whatās cool, whatās admirable.
If businesses and business people can lead and say that itās not okay to take home a profit unless the people and the planet are taken care of first…
What could that do for our culture?
What might be different about the state of our world if businesses said that THE PEOPLE and THE PLANET are more important than profit?
What if we all truly began to believe that it wasnāt money that made the world go roundā but it was the planet and the people on it that spun it?
A World with (Truly) Sustainable Business
Business is not the solution for everything.
But, business can be an incredible solution for many things.
As much harm as business is doing, itās equally possible that business could do good. Serious good.


And if a business canāt stop doing so much harmā¦should it exist?
The truth of it is, we are in an āall hands on deckā situation.
We arenāt acting on the climate crisis fast enough.
Capitalism has amassed a great deal of resources for a few, but not for enough of us. Thereās no reason that Elon Muskās net worth should be near $300 Billion and Bezosā per minute earnings well exceed what the average American earns in a year.


While at the same time, near 700 million people globally still live in āextreme poverty.ā
And so, itās not just about business. It canāt be ājust business.ā
Because the world…
just.
canāt.
take it.
Perhaps if a business canāt turn a healthy profit without exploiting people and extracting from the planet, then maybe they just canāt be in business.
And so who does that leave to ādo business?ā
That will be the subject of the next essay, where together we will define what is a sustainable business.
Have any questions or comments? Leave a comment below and let me know.
ā”ļø P.S. ā Want to dive deeper and discover who are the businesses and business people setting a new standard for how business can and should be done?
Be sure to check out Grow Ensembleās latest Ensemble 10 Collection: Examples of Sustainable Business in Action.
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Cory Ames
I’m Cory Ames. I’m a writer, podcaster, social entrepreneur, and the Founder of Grow Ensemble.
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I started Grow Ensemble in late 2018. I launched the podcast (then named The Grow Ensemble Podcast) in January 2019. We launched the Social Good Blog in October 2019. This newsletter, The Better World Weekly Newsletter, started that same month. …
āļø Bonus Material: Get the Sustainable Business 101 Email Series Weāve just about covered it all in this Sustainable Business series. Weāve covered why sustainable business is important. Weāve defined what a (truly) sustainable business is. Weāve shared…