May 14.20

For the Love of Wild Goats

Our unprecedented retreat indoors has given us a precious peek at the role humanity plays in ongoing disruption of the environment. Practically overnight, absent throngs of people, a herd of wild goats has taken over the now silent streets of Llandudno, Wales. Coyotes have been spotted roving parts of San Francisco’s Mission District. NASA is reporting a 20-30% drop in nitrogen dioxide emissions in some of the hardest hit areas of China and Italy. Seismologists have even noted that the earth’s crust isn’t vibrating nearly as much as it usually does.

Given the scope, variety and speed of these changes, it’s hard not to get the queasy feeling that we’re a significant burden on the environment, and that in our absence it is…recovering. Re-greening. Healing. Thriving. It’s enough to make you say, “man, we’ve gotta start doing better. Everywhere we can.”

Our industry’s overall footprint is no doubt tiny compared to more invasive segments of the economy. But, it’s also no secret that the activations and events we create generate outsized amounts of waste — heaps of uneaten food, spikes in power usage, tons of incoming flights. The list goes on and on.

As coronavirus ravages legacy business practices, we as an agency have rapidly adopted hybrid real-world/online tactics…that also happen to be greener. Is this the start of a more permanent shift away from large, centralized events toward smaller get-togethers? Will the industry of the future be (gasp) direct-to-consumer?

Time will tell.

But whether these changes are short- or long-term, there’s clearly plenty of room to continue creating bold new engagements of every kind…that are also intentionally eco-friendly.

For clients interested in making environmental consciousness a brand priority, we’re ready to start the conversation. From advice on virtual events to tips about how to reduce or offset the carbon footprint of your real-world events portfolio, to strategic- and operational-level recommendations, XDA has a suite of greener recommendations ready to go.

So, let’s get started. Right now. Tomorrow. For Mother Earth. And the love of wild goats.

 

To learn how The XD Agency can develop award-winning—and more importantly, results-driven—experience design for your business, email us at hello@xdagency.com.