Following Tractor Supply Company’s recent retreat from sustainability to “rural values”*, agriculture equipment giant John Deere says it’s ending support for “social or cultural awareness” events.**
Because we wouldn’t want to be socially or culturally connected.
You know, the news in sustainability circles seems dire. So many apparent ‘pullbacks’.
It’s easy to get negative. But don’t.
This won’t last.
There are always ups and downs. Lots more to say on this in coming days, but in short, the sustainability agenda won’t leave and it will be a priority again.
The issues driving sustainability are still there and getting more pressing.
Declaring that you won’t do as much on climate won’t stop climate from doing something to you.
And saying you’re not sure about this DEI thing won’t stop the world from getting more diverse (see the demos on the under-20 crowd and ask yourself if diversity will pay).
The fight for sustainability feels tiring to so many now and there’s talk of “burnout” in the field. I get it. But keep the faith and keep moving. We’ll get there.
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*Rural and sustainability go together nicely actually. Farms are deeply impacted by climate change, for example.
**Both companies seemed to have made this decision because one filmmaker/troublemaker pushed their buttons on X — yet another reason to get off that platform.
[See discussion this article on LinkedIn]
[Image pixabay]
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2417
One Response
To highlight an already simple, rational, and truthful concept Andrew has emphasized with Paul Polman: it’s about courage. Where is the executive/leadership courage to stand up to the phobias that drive these clearly politically (and financially) motivated decisions? It’s shameful, as shameful as cosmetics executives continuing to allow children’s mica mining in India and Madagascar because it’s cheap:
https://www.fairplanet.org/story/child-labour-in-mica-mines-the-beauty-industrys-dark-secret/
You can’t just look away from these realities because they don’t fit your view of the world. It’s just plain wrong and you need to have the courage to say no more, not on my watch.