Trending Terms in Sustainability
Guardyan
Having trouble keeping up with the current lingo on social media? You’re not the only one!
Social media is a dynamic landscape with ever-changing trends, making it hard to keep up. When it comes to sustainability, environmental topics have become mainstream, including more interest in climate change and sustainable development.
As with any trending topic, we’ve seen an expansion of the vocabulary related to sustainability. Uncommon phrases and words have begun to circulate and sometimes new definitions seem to appear out of the blue.,
To help break down the language barrier, Guardyan has created a list of relevant sustainability terms, along with definitions to help you navigate the current landscape.
Guardyan’s Dictionary
Carbon Neutral and Net-Zero:
A target of negating all of the human produced GHG and carbon emissions from our atmosphere, through emission reduction and carbon drawdown strategies.
Climate Positive:
Rather than just being carbon neutral a company or individual goes even farther and removes more emissions from the atmosphere than they produce.
Climate Action:
Efforts taken to generally keep the earth healthy and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Climate Crisis, Climate Emergency:
Another term for climate change or global warming.
Climate Justice:
A form of climate action that focuses on a just transition to net zero that involves everyone and allows for equitable distribution of resources. It involves understanding the challenges faced by the people and communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and a mindset of working to reduce our emissions as quickly as possible to protect them.
Clean Energy, Renewable Energy, and Green Energy:
Energy that comes from a source that does not deplete when used, such as hydro, geothermal, wind, or solar power.
Eco-Conscious:
A person or mindset that is marked as showing concern for the environment.
Eco-Friendly:
“Less” harmful or damaging to the environment.
Ethical/Conscious Consumerism:
A type of consumer activism that focuses on buying ethically made products from companies that help protect people, society, and the earth.
ESG:
Stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, which are key factors that measure the ethical and sustainable impact of a company and are often looked at by potential investors.
Greenwashing:
False or misleading information put out by an organization to convince the public eye that they are an ethical and environmentally conscious company.
Regenerative:
Renewal or restoration of an ecological system; something that can be restored.
Sustainable Development:
Economic development that has a positive effect the environment.
Social Sustainability:
An aspect of sustainability and sustainable development that focuses primarily on people, and encompasses human rights, labour rights, and corporate governance.
Stewardship:
A moral principle that embodies strategic planning and taking responsibility.
Well Sourced:
A general way of referring to something that is ethically sourced and produced.
Zero Waste:
A philosophy that focuses on preventing materials from ending in the landfill and encourages reusing and redesigning materials to give them a continued life cycle.
Most of these terms will be shown as hashtags underneath a posts caption. To see how these terms are applied to social media check out our platforms below.