Carom’s ‘Living Market’ Methodology
Explore the methodology behind our Living Marketplace.
Remember that feature on Facebook profiles that shared current relationships and statuses? Now imagine if the businesses we engage with daily had a Facebook connection with sustainability - that relationship status would no doubt read “It’s complicated.” At best.
After all, it’s a confusing world out there when we start talking about what it means to be green. I mean, sustainable. Oh no, circular. Wait, what about regenerative?? On top of all of the certifications the business world and our governments throw out there, it can be exhausting to muddle through it. We really are quite amazing at creating complexity, even in places where it does not need to be. And while the systems may sometimes seem complex, the overall concept is not.
It comes down to this – we have only one planet, Earth, and as large as it seems sometimes, it has finite resources to support life. For too long, businesses have been taking advantage of these natural resources to the detriment of the very planetary systems that allowed us to thrive. All for growth and profit. Meanwhile, we have massive biodiversity loss, air/land/water pollution, a plastics crisis, and rapid climate change leading to global warming..all of these are primarily impacted, even caused, by human economic activity. It’s evident now we have reached the point where something must be done to change. But, as usual, we continue to make it complicated. Let’s create degrees and training programs for sustainability experts, let’s build software and systems to report on it, let’s focus on replacing everything with renewables, and let’s build carbon capture technology. On and on we go...
So let’s try something else instead in an effort to make it simpler. The biggest and easiest impact we could have on these crises is to not produce harmful and wasteful stuff, buy less of everything, and when we do buy, we buy better. Here’s how a methodology for thinking through such economic decisions might look:
First, what’s being offered (goods and services)?
Second, consider its ‘why’ – does it serve a human or planetary need?
Third, how is it used? What does it do?
Finally, what happens when it reaches the end of its life?
If these questions are difficult to find answers to, then maybe these goods/services deserve further contemplation. Let’s dive a little deeper into each of them to understand what businesses are really offering to us and our planet.
What’s being offered?
The easiest of the questions is, what’s the offer? The answer to this can be any good or service. Sure, there may be some gray areas between them at times, but let’s keep it simple. It’s what a company produces for a consumer to purchase.
Important to this step in the methodology is to address production. It should be transparent to see what inputs and resources were used, how they were extracted, collected, or processed, and finally, how they get to and from the producer to consumers. Any company serious about addressing our planetary crises demonstrates this by their means of production.
Desired result: a business provides a specific good/service that is sustainable.
Why? Does it serve a human or planetary need?
How does it make things better?
Here, we can start to distinguish with some more nuance. Every good or service has a value proposition. While it is possible to come up with lots of justifications, for the sake of our species’ survival purposes, let’s start to put some simple limits on the ‘why’. The answer from any company should be that their goods or services somehow make the world a better place, and this is how.
If companies produced primarily for our core needs the economy can very quickly lower its impact. Core needs would include things like food, water, air, shelter, clothing, and transport, along with safety and security. Eliminating (or at the very least severely limiting) offering extraneous and luxury items would go a long way to reaching our targets.
Desired result: businesses that aim to make the world better by providing goods and services only for human and planetary needs.
How is it used?
Another seemingly more straightforward question is what a good or service does for the purchaser. How does it satisfy the need it is meant to address? For example, food needs to be transported, stored, prepared, consumed, and finally disposed of in an appropriate manner. This entire process of use also needs to be as free from waste and pollution as possible.
Desired result: business products that address stated needs and are non-wasteful across use.
What happens when the product reaches its end of life? Where does it go after use?
Once the good or service has been useful to its purchaser, it’s time to think about end of life. This should be known and planned by the business that produced it, whether it can be repaired, reused, composted, recycled, or otherwise handled within the mindset of a circular paradigm.
Desired result: businesses who have planned for end of life in a sustainable way.
This simplistic methodology allows businesses to create products that will sustain a living economy. These types of companies have become easier to find and support, creating a partnership that drives us to live in harmony with our planet. It’s time to redefine what it means to fulfill the need for progress. It can all start if we make less, make better, buy less, and buy better.
At Carom, we strive to:
identify and support companies that have already started this journey.
drive sustainability innovation at companies to adopt circular, regenerative business models.
create businesses where we see the opportunity to build better.
For each business we identify, we will analyze its business model, create content for videos/blogs/social media feeds, and spread the word. We will also offer a marketplace for these companies so people can shop for better products.
You can explore the marketplace here.