Sustainability Copywriting

I offer copywriting for companies and organizations that focus on sustainability.

There are two types of copy and content that companies need when it comes to sustainability.

The first is For.

For sustainability companies

These types of companies are working in sustainability. The companies are built from the ground up, grounded in sustainability. It’s part of their founding ethos, and everything they do harkens back to it. However, while they may be doing things in better ways, those ways might not resonate with their customers directly.

Sustainability still requires a solid product or service, but it might not be what sells.

In these cases, you and I are working together simply because our values match up. And you need some good copywriting to sell your product or service (or get donations or whatever it is you need here—you get the drift).

That’s For. In the end it’s just classic copywriting.

About sustainability

The other type of writing is for companies that need stuff About sustainability. This could be writing about microplastics or solar energy. This is primarily content-oriented. It could be journalism. What it is is highlighting a company’s sustainability efforts and why they matter. Or writing about the problem. Or…again, you get the drift.

And that’s what you get from a copywriter and content writer with a base in journalism and a degree in Creative Writing. You get the goods. Creativity and selling. Journalism and informing.

Why sustainability?

Why not? Seriously. I was learning about melting polar ice caps when I was 8 years old in 1995. My mom was a 6th grade science teacher. My parents went multiple times to see Will Steger speak about his polar expeditions and the changes he noticed throughout the years.

So I’ve been learning about climate change all my life.

And then, at my first writing job, one of the first clients I was asked to handle was a Teflon coating company. The only thing I knew about Teflon coatings at the time was that some frying pans had them. But I researched the hell out of them. And I discovered that I probably shouldn’t be promoting their sale. But of course I did because that was my job and I wasn’t in a position to say otherwise.

Eventually I left that job, and realized that if I’m writing to help sell stuff, then it would damn well be stuff I thought people should buy. Stuff that wouldn’t destroy our planet. Or, more precisely, destroy our place on this planet.

So that’s it. I write for and about companies focused on sustainability because we all have a choice on what we work on. And for me, and lots of others, and you too, we want to keep this planet habitable for all of us.

And Mars is fucking cold and a long ways away. Also, have you ever been in a car with a small child for even 3 hours? I ain’t doing that all the way to Mars.

What qualifies as sustainability?

Oh, I’m pretty sure you qualify if you’re on this page. Do you work with fossil fuels? Are you selling barrels of PFAS? Are you logging old growth forests to make toilet paper? Are you involved in bottom trawling? If you answered No to all of those (and a few more I didn’t mention, but you get the point) then you qualify.

Sustainability covers a wide range of topics and venues, including the obvious ones like working for clean air and water, reducing fossil fuel usage and reversing deforestation, the materials we use and the food we eat. But there’s so many others that aren’t always thought of as “sustainability,” such as:

• Urban farming

• Urban design

• Education

• Literacy

• Access to fair housing

• Fair pay

• Worker rights

There’s so many others that could fit on this list. But an easier way might be to say what sustainability isn’t:

• Pollution

• Mindless consumerism

• Making everyone unemployed and claiming you’re “democratizing work” by using tech that was made with stolen material

Why hire a sustainability copywriter?

So why might you want a sustainability copywriter? Why not just get any good copywriter? Why not just find any good content writer and researcher to handle your stuff? Well, that’s a bunch of good questions.

The first is simple. If you work with a sustainability-oriented copywriter, you can be much more assured to avoid greenwashing. There’s also the historical knowledge of deep research already in this field, which should make it easier for whatever research you need. And being able to converse fluidly with interview subjects.

The second is, if you’re working within sustainability, would you really want to pay a copywriter who will gladly take on Shell or Exxon as a client? Seems a little counterintuitive.

When our values match up, we can make some pretty cool things.

So if you think our values do line up, then let’s talk. Because sustainability shouldn’t just be a buzz word.

At the end of the day, the writer you work with matters because of these reasons:

• Do you get along? If not, it might be hard to make good work.

• Do your values line up? Or can they at least be buried enough to make good work?

• Do you pay on time and do I submit my work on the timeline we agree to?

That’s about it. If you need a copywriter who knows sustainability and who wants to see every company doing impactful work actually succeed, then let’s talk.