How to be an Eco-Conscious Materialist

Many thanks to Amy Hebard from earthsense for inviting me to the LOHAS Earth Day Media Luncheon, which took place at an organic restaurant in Midtown Manhattan last Thursday.  Designed as a forum for pitching the LOHAS conference (June 23-25th in Boulder, CO), the lunch offered insight into the wild array of products catering towards an eco-conscious market demographic typically willing to spend more for goods and services they perceive as "green." For the uninitiated, LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, and the event was hosted by an organization by the same name dedicated to furthering the movement around this market segment (estimated market size: $290 billion).

I learned more than I had expected at the event, but before I jump ahead, I feel I would be remiss to not share a few comical or perverse aspects of the event:

1) My electronic invitation to the luncheon demanded that I "Please PRINT and bring this ticket to the event entrance."

2) The first three people I met at the event worked for Organic Spa Magazine, American Spa Magazine, and Spa Magazine respectively.  The fourth person I met worked for a spa.

3) Each attendee came away with a three-pound swag bag (yes, I weighed it), one pound of which consisted of brochures, pamphlets, flyers, and leaflets. The remaining two pounds included a bag of adult dog formula, a dog toy, herbal shampoo for pets, some over-packaged skin toner, two t shirts, plastic measuring cups, a pen made of something that looks like wood, an iPhone case, and a device that may or may not be a bottle opener.

All this aside, the event impressed upon me the amount of innovation that takes place in large part due to the market opportunity presented by the existence of this demographic. The quest for greener products is hindered by the fact that the average consumer will not pay more for a healthier or more environmentally-friendly product, DESPITE what he or she may claim. Consumers willing to pay a premium for these goods offer manufacturers space to experiment with new products and to test how low they can push the cost of production without compromising standards. In fact, one of the two hottest topics at the event was how the LOHAS movement can capture "the middle", the segment of customers (currently) unwilling or unable to pay more.

So what's next for LOHAS? You may have noticed that debate is starting to brew about green certification.  If the EPA hasn't yet been able to develop the processes required to maintain a credible standard for the Energy Star label, you can bet that certifications for "B Corp", Fair Trade, and organic as well as product ratings databases such as GreenGuide and Skin Deep will increasingly swim in controversy until some consistency begins to emerge.  More on that in future posts, but in the meantime, get out your checkbooks for your flights to Boulder for the LOHAS conference!