I first wrote about Green Jujitsu in the sense of choosing your language to suit the audience (I’ve since expanded that from everything from images to engagement activities) and I’ve been reminded of the importance of the words we use several times recently:

• A client who is restructuring and the names of the new divisions reflect what the customer gets – this has had the effect of reinforcing that much of their market is helping others be more Sustainable;
• A local cycling/walking infrastructure project based on the ‘mini-Hollands’ in London, but branded with the much more friendly (and descriptive) Streets for People – a move lauded by someone who’d taken a lot of flack when working on the former;
• Someone who made the mistake of labelling an energy efficiency project as Sustainability rather than cost reduction and then found the project was cancelled to, ironically cut (less) cost.

The whole point of Green Jujitsu is to let go of Sustainability and let the organisation own it in whatever form works for the organisation, and the language you use is the easiest (and cheapest) way to make that happen.