Conscious consumption in the companies

Over 500 people inside and many in the waiting list outside. The attendance at the workshop “Companies and Education for conscious consumption,” held in the Instituto Ethos’ 2007 Conference, had such a large audience that surprised even the organizers. The theme raises interest in people because sustainability is consumption-driven. Today we need a change of paradigms in this area,” comments Aron Belinky, research coordinator at Instituto Akatu.

The workshop aimed to deepen the perspective of companies as agents of change in people’s behavior towards sustainability. According to Helio Mattar, director president of Instituto Akatu, this management workshop seeks to align the company with the public’s perception of sustainability, as well as develop the sense of protagonism and citizenship in the participants. “The goal is to consider the impacts of each action on the individuals, the environment, the economy, and the social relations, as well as bring more consistency between the speech and the actions of both people and the companies.”

Mattar believes developing awareness is critical. “There is no point in conducting a campaign in the company forcing the employees to turn out the lights, turn off the faucets, save paper, and reduce printouts. Actually, the company wishes to cut costs and increase profits. If, alternatively, the company starts an awareness-raising campaign, the individual will be spreading the information at work, at home, or anywhere he goes. He/She will have a shared vision in line with values and objectives.”
Having in mind the implementation of corporate social responsibility policies, Marcia Carreiro, manager at Unicred Central Norte e Nordeste – a microcredit program for needy families in João Pessoa, state of Paraíba – chose Akatu’s activity to experience new ideas. “One month ago I started to develop the CSR implementation project in the company. The first step will be conscious consumption,” she said.

Another participant looking for new intelligent consumption ideas was Frederico Alves, product manager at Caixa Econômica Federal. He is responsible for a project to fund the reduction of impacts caused by pig waste. “For you to have an idea of the relevance of this project, I’ll give you a basic example: the waste of 2 thousand pigs is equivalent to that of a city with 25 thousand inhabitants. I’ve chosen this workshop to learn alternatives that will help me implement the project.”