Do You Care About the Ocean? Then Show Me the Money!

I created The Sea Suite with one basic assumption: Business and healthy oceans are not necessarily at odds and, in fact, there are vast areas in which their interests intersect when viewed intelligently and creatively.

With recent attention emerging as to the Supervalu/Albertson's grocery chains selling shark products and Trader Joe's selling environmentally vulnerable fish and using less-than-environmentally friendly packaging, the most immediate response is on the consumer end: boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, demonstrations near their stores, awareness-building efforts on the internet, etc. These approaches are all necessary and laudable, but from my perspective there must be huge business opportunities being missed here.

When you see an issue gaining traction on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets (as sustainability and ocean friendliness seem to me to be), it is time to start thinking: How do I make money from this? I know it sounds cold, but think analytically about this for a moment: People's purchasing practices, by definition, reflect their values. If people's values are beginning to shift toward ocean friendliness and if they are finding it difficult to live that value shift consistently (I know I am!), then, by definition, a business opportunity exists. It's easy to complain about the businesses that are not ocean friendly - it's a bit harder to recognize the challenge of being an ocean-friendly business and step up to it.

Too often, business is about creating desires for things that people don't need or didn't feel they needed until the things were marketed to them. Well, I want healthy, sustainably sourced seafood and don't feel confident about any of my local sources - BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEONE! I want to reduce my consumption of plastics, which ultimately find their way to the ocean - BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEONE!



I want my food to come from farms that don't pour tons of toxic pesticide, fertilizer, and animal waste into the groundwater, rivers, and oceans. This is a BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMEONE!

The big question is, are you going to be a business leader by promoting and profiting from this value shift? Or are you going to "see who goes first" and try to piggyback on the real innovators and leaders who are already trying to make a difference while making a buck?