'Sustainable business' needs to be more than green tech and carbon footprints
- Future Ancestors Services
- Mar 18
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 22
This article explores how expanding our definition of sustainability can create more equitable, lasting, and transformative business models.
The way we do business today won’t sustain us tomorrow.
Thankfully, sustainable businesses are crucially shifting the way products and services are being designed, created, distributed, reused, and reduced.
The problem is, "sustainable business" has been limited to metrics that fit within existing, extractive systems. But those systems are exactly what got us here: to a planet in crisis, to widening inequality, to wealth that pools instead of flows. And what about the sustainability of doing this work not just socially or politically, but for our bodies, minds, and spirits as well?
So when we talk about building a future that sustains us all, we need to expand the very foundation of what sustainability means.
To some, the way we define and practice sustainability is unconventional, and it doesn't always get us qualified for sustainable business streams for funding or awards. Being aware of this, we've had to come pretty articulate in how we define sustainable business.
Here are some of the ways we position and practice our work as sustainable, and that you can consider as you expand your understanding of "sustainable business."
“We expand sustainability beyond profit margins to center worldviews that have sustained societies for millennia.”
Sustainability didn’t start with green capitalism. It didn’t start with net-zero commitments. It started with the worldviews and knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples who have sustained societies and ecosystems for millennia.
Yet, today, these voices are still excluded from the mainstream business world, treated as an afterthought or, at best, a diversity checkbox.
We use “We expand sustainability beyond profit margins to center worldviews that have sustained societies for millennia," to acknowledge Indigenous worldviews and ways of being as inherently sustainable, and we get specific about how this informs our work and process.
“We center worldviews that have sustained societies for millennia, and represent Speakers who are doing this in provenly innovative ways. We guide the Speaker-Client relationships using some of our most nationally recognized work in temporal (de)colonization and respectful, restorative engagements.”
“We prioritize long-term economic sustainability.”
Going beyond financial metrics is essential if we’re going to expand how we understand profitability in more sustainable ways. When we define sustainable businesses, we also need to consider whether a business creates lasting value for its workers, communities, and the environment.
We use “We prioritize long-term economic sustainability," to introduce our relationship to profit, and to underscore what this means beyond financial gain.
“What about long-term economic sustainability? Our accessible pricing model redistributes resources ethically, ensuring that change-makers who are actively solving today’s greatest challenges can build sustainable businesses. One of our Speakers just went from pitching $150.00 for her speech to earning 10 times that, and in doing so met the budget of the client while more accurately pricing her expertise.”
“We challenge extractive business models by prioritizing collaboration over competition.”
The way most industries operate is inherently extractive, from how they source materials to how they treat workers.
We believe that moving away from extractive business models is a crucial characteristic of a sustainable business.
“We’re not here for the extractive, competition reliant models of traditional speakers bureaus. Instead of forcing Speakers to compete, we provide a platform and supports for them to actively collaborate, mentor, and exchange knowledge with one another while amplifying their work to our audiences.”
Redefining sustainability for the future
If we want to build truly sustainable businesses, we need to rethink not only how we operate but also what we strive for: what success looks like when we practice sustainability, how we categorize it in funding and awards, and how we celebrate and uplift businesses leading in these spaces.
If the criteria for a sustainable business only recognize what fits within the status quo, then we are missing the opportunity to support models that are truly transformative.
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