I am on holiday this week. Time to leave the ‘real world’ behind in favour of relaxation, recuperation and contemplation. However, for the writer of this column, it is somewhat difficult to entirely disengage from the consequences of one’s actions! During holiday time, just as with work time, it is easy to put to the back of the mind concerns about what impact we might be having on the environment.

At work we print out (hopefully double sided) our emails and 300 page powerpoint documents, order urgent bike couriers and jump in taxis without a second thought for how much resource and energy goes into making it happen (often for dubious real return or value).

Equally, when we depart the office for the airport on our way to our holiday destination, all of the good intentions and actions that we display at home (recycling, walking not driving, turning the lights off etc) go out the window!

Of course the problem is that once we leave our own home we also lose the control we have over how resources are used. If our employer chooses not to behave more responsibly it is difficult, and at the very least frustrating, for us to be the ‘killjoy’ lone voice on office sustainability.

When we go on holiday, again, control is taken out of our hands. Once we have got to our destination (putting to one side the fossil fuel burnt to get us there) we are subjected to hotel rooms and apartments that lack any of the essentials for practicing sustainability.

However, it is becoming increasingly unacceptable for us to simply carry on as if it doesn’t matter because we are at work or on holiday. The idea that when we are away from home we enter into a parallel universe where our actions have no impact on our environment is not only preposterous but utterly irresponsible.

Whilst reading The Australian today (25th October 2007) on the beach with a glass of vino beside me, I was gob-smacked to read Scott Norvell talking about how ‘Climate change hysteria had reached a ridiculous level’.

His hypothesis being that people in the UK are over-reacting because they have begun to demonstrate real concern for acts of irresponsible and excessive consumption such as driving SUVs in cities, domestic flying instead of catching a train and binge flying, whereby people will fly to Budapest for example because they have got nothing better to do on a Saturday night.

He states that what naturally follows on from this attitude is the following assumption “If we go nowhere, produce nothing, eat nothing, then greenhouse gas emissions would drop to zero. That would make the world much cooler. And lifeless.”

Yet he is missing the point. A more responsible and sustainable approach to life, and for that matter business, is not about making the world a less rich and enjoyable place. Far from it. Sustainability is about finding a balance between what we desire and what we need in order that there are enough resources to sustain us and future generations.

Smart brands, and journalists, understand that doing something rather than nothing is critical. Two quick case studies illustrate how sustainability can sit comfortably at the heart of a brand’s strategy whilst benefiting the business, the broader community and the environment all at once.

To build a deeper connection with their core audience, and presumably to sell more of their products, Clif Bar (a US based Energy Food brand) found a neat way of tying their brand into sustainability. It started with a fact “Did you know that 40% of US urban travel is two miles or less?”. It was executed via brand engagement “Take the CLIF Bar 2 Mile Challenge (2MC) and ride your bike to fight global warming”.

The communications strategy they employed included a website www.2milechallenge.com, a blog following the various challengers and their stories, events around the country with the 2MC bio-diesel bus, and encouraged participation by challenging you and your friends to get on your bikes.

The second case study is for Vodaphone and Nokia’s support for www.ShareIdeas.org, an online community and a wiki for sharing ideas on how to use mobile communications for social and environmental benefits.

As the website tells us, “ShareIdeas.org was created with support from Nokia and Vodafone, but belongs to the growing global network of individuals and organizations that use this virtual gathering place to communicate - and collaborate. The idea for ShareIdeas.org came from Ndidi Nwuneli, founder and CEO of LEAP Africa, a Nigerian NGO dedicated to nurturing a new generation of African leaders”.

“Groups like ours would really benefit from a resource that shows us how to use mobile technology to carry out our work more effectively,” said Ndidi at a Nokia stakeholder event of NGO and corporate leaders. ShareIdeas.org was created in response to Ndidi’s request.