Page 13 - Tropic Magazine Issue 19

some recycled material. Every luxury car brand in Europe is
transitioning to electric vehicles. IKEA is going even further.
At the launch of over 100 projects to address environmental
issues in its operations last year, IKEA’s Chief Sustainability
Officer Pia Heidenmark-Cook said: “We see that a movement
is coming and since we decided to go all-in for people and the
planet, we’ve demonstrated how sustainability can be a driver
of innovation and renewal - contributing to the success of
our business.”
Clearly, I’m not the only one having eco-friendly alfoil lightbulb TROPIC STUDIO
moments. CEOs and boards don’t take their companies down From digital marketing to
a certain path if it’s bad for shareholders. Clearly, they know websites, video to graphic
going green is good for the bottom line. design, copy-writing to
Like the world’s biggest companies, cities all over the world are event management, we
also going green. From New York City to Beijing, Tokyo to Oslo, can deliver it all in-house
sustainability is central to policy making and the appeal to at Tropic Studio. We’ve
citizens. It might be time for Cairns to jump on board too. just overhauled the studio
Cairns: the world’s most sustainable city, your gateway to the website, and we think you’ll
Great Barrier Reef. love it.
How’s that for a new brand message?

OPPORTUNITY CALLS Chat about your next project
Instead of tip-toeing around the edges of sustainability, we tropicstudio.com.au
should go all in, like IKEA. Fully embrace sustainability at
every turn. Bring together all the eco-bits and pieces already (07) 4079 5217
happening in the public and private sectors and make it
our brand, sell it to the world. And go a lot further. Instead
of planting a few trees here and sticking up some solar
panels there, Cairns could lead the nation with a sensible
sustainability agenda that is bold, futuristic and, inevitably,
lucrative. Foster research hubs and university think tanks,
entice green businesses to set up shop here, transform the CBD
into an environmentally friendly oasis with smart technology,
beautiful gardens, retrofitted buildings and urban micro-
farms. Reclaim our role as the world’s greatest custodians
and managers of the Great Barrier Reef. Drench our city in
sustainability. If we embrace it wholeheartedly, you can bet
government officials, scientists, conferences and tourists
from around the world will visit us just to check out how we’re
leading the way. SUBSCRIBE
From a purely capitalist point of view, even the most hard- Want Tropic delivered to your
headed, anti-climate change warrior must surely recognise mailbox, old-school style? Need
the shift to sustainability by consumers is an economic to switch off screens for a bit
opportunity we can’t afford to miss. We know the sustainability with engaging editorial and
trend is only going to speed up as millennials (and even beautiful design? Grab an annual
younger kids like mine) embrace it more than any generation subscription for just $56, then
before them. If you can’t beat them, join them. Who knows, kick back and relax with a good
there might even be some environmental benefits to it all as read every two months. Head
well. Bonus. to tropicnow.com.au/tropic-
We’ve heard about the need to diversify our economy beyond magazine, sign up and we’ll do
tourism for a very long time. Sustainability - in myriad forms the rest.
and permutations - might just be our next big economic play.

Gavin King
[email protected]

13 • tropicnow.com.au