{"id":6802,"date":"2016-02-19T22:26:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T03:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=6802"},"modified":"2018-08-09T12:39:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T16:39:52","slug":"sustainability-and-public-relations-earths-favorite-love-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2016\/02\/19\/sustainability-and-public-relations-earths-favorite-love-affair\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability and Public Relations: Earth’s Favorite Love Affair"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Courtesy<\/a>
Courtesy of Creative Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Understanding Sustainability<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gradually developed an interest in sustainability due to my personal experiences. I grew up often playing outdoors, writing notes to leave around my home to turn off the lights and cuddling with any dog I met. My idea of sustainability was that we had to be good to the Earth\u00a0and all of its creations. According to the<\/span> United States Environmental Protection Agency<\/span><\/a>, \u201cto pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sustainability could be more than a business\u2019 efforts to be environmental friendly. Sustainability strengthens public relations efforts by building trust and creating better relationships for businesses. All public relations students should understand the benefits of sustainability in this day and age.<\/span><\/p>\n

What can students learn from the relationship between public relations and sustainability?<\/b><\/p>\n

Businesses that are sustainable, and let their publics know what they\u2019re doing by being transparent, build trust with their publics. When I shop, I now look for the words \u201cvegan friendly\u201d or \u00a0\u201crecycled fabrics\u201d in the labels. While I\u2019m still eating both my veggies and proteins and not necessarily solving the world\u2019s climate change problem, I noticed my new shopping behaviors made me prefer and select specific \u00a0brands. Before this happened I did not notice that shopping behaviors could be changed due to a business\u2019 sustainable efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, sustainable businesses develop stronger relationships with their publics. If any crisis were to happen, the businesses that have been transparent will have an easier time recovering. They can take a proactive approach, rather than just a reactive one. <\/span><\/p>\n

Shel Israel, contributor on Forbes, <\/span>explains Edelman\u2019s Trust Barometer<\/span><\/a>, \u201cthe longest running most comprehensive survey of trust worldwide.\u201d He explains how this leading global agency has helped media and businesses understand what builds trust and noted that the Barometer shows, \u201c<\/span>sustainable energy companies are more conversational and more trusted in the energy sector.\u201d One of the 2015 Trust Barometer<\/span> insights in the energy industry<\/span><\/a> indicates that trust is essential to innovation. While businesses across all industries rely on reports similar to the Barometer, the energy industry can benefit greatly in a, \u201ctime defined by major movement – or lack thereof.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Future of Public Relations and Sustainability<\/b><\/p>\n

Once you understand what it means to be sustainable and how it can be useful to public relations efforts you can get a glimpse at the role of sustainability in the future of businesses. Recently developments such as <\/span>the Paris climate change conference have cemented the importance of sustainability. The conference concluded in a highly anticipated agreement; an ambitious deal that involves every country\u2019s commitment to the global issue and a thorough execution plan to protect the planet because world leaders know very well how important it is to do something about the environment. Just like I\u2019ve changed my behavior, many other individuals have become socially conscious by selecting more sustainable options. Sustainability is no longer a trend, or just a business maneuver; it \u00a0is a necessity to effectively run a business in this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>
\nKenia Zelaya is a senior public relations major and business minor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. You can connect with Kenia on<\/span><\/i> LinkedIn<\/span><\/i><\/a> or follow her on<\/span><\/i> Twitter<\/span><\/i><\/a> to chat more on sustainability and everything public relations. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Understanding Sustainability I\u2019ve gradually developed an interest in sustainability due to my personal experiences. I grew up often playing outdoors, writing notes to leave around my home to turn off the lights and cuddling with any dog I met. My idea of sustainability was that we had to be good to the Earth\u00a0and all of its creations. According to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2898,1],"tags":[2274,2455,2454,364,2453,60,993],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6804,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6802\/revisions\/6804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}