Can Content Be Sustainable?

Julie Starr • January 25, 2022



Generally speaking, website content is designed to get consumers looking your way and to ensure that they stick around. Unfortunately, studies reveal that general internet use of this nature causes as much as 3.7% of global emissions . As such, despite your sustainability focuses elsewhere, the chances are that your content campaigns are doing a fair amount of environmental damage.

Unfortunately, in a world where online competition is rife, content is no longer a negotiable aspect of the business. The question is, how exactly can you improve content sustainability without ditching it all together?

In large part, this comes down to making sure customers spend generally less time consuming your content. This is largely counter-intuitive considering that the entire purpose of content is to keep people around, but it is possible without sales detriment if you manage this more fast-fire content approach in the following ways. 

Step 1: Make it visual

Lengthy blog articles might be great for keywords, but they’re guaranteed to take a while to consume. By comparison, visual aids offer a far quicker way to get your message across, and may even help you when it comes to impressing top search moguls like Google. It is important to note that video is perhaps the exception to this rule, especially considering the increased energy consumption necessary for even basic streaming. However, compressed images that require far less energy output can be more useful, especially if you streamline them by ensuring each image has a purpose, supplementing using animations/embeds , and even blurring unnecessary backgrounds to reduce file size. 

Step 2: Ensure website accessibility

Well-structured content and website navigation that sits nicely within that can significantly reduce the time consumers spend browsing your website, especially cutting down on energy-consuming page loads, etc. Optimized digital experiences that combine content seamlessly with the rest of your website make that possible, and, while sometimes complex to ensure in-house, can be achieved easily enough by working with an Episerver solutions partner like Guidance. With professional help in your corner, you should find it far easier to ensure content that links well with the rest of your site, and navigation that’s intuitive enough to halve the time consumers typically spend looking around.

Step 3: Call your customers to action

Sustainable marketing should always aim to cut back on anything unnecessary, both in terms of materials used and what your marketing is saying in the first place. With content, especially, unnecessary blog articles that seem to go on with no real purpose are both bad for business and guaranteed to lead to wasted energy without purpose. As such, effective and worthy content should always call customers to a clear course of action that ultimately makes the time they spend here worthwhile, whether that’s directing them straight to your stock listings, or even calling them to make positive sustainable changes themselves to offset the energy that they’re using here.

Sustainability really should stretch to every corner of your business, and, as you can see here, your content is no exception! 

 

5 Everyday Items That Can Quietly Boost Your Brand

By Julie Starr • July 17, 2025
The best branding doesn’t always come from big campaigns or expensive graphics. Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff that leaves the biggest impression. Things people actually use, touch, or carry with them. That’s where your brand can quietly make its mark without needing to shout about it. If you’re only focusing on social media and business cards, you’re leaving a lot on the table. Here are five overlooked ways to get your name out there that feel natural, useful, and more personal. Thank-you slips If you’re already sending out orders, there’s no reason not to include a short thank-you slip. You can easily get these made through any decent online print shop , and they’re usually pretty cheap to run off in small batches. Just a simple note that says thanks, maybe with a reminder to follow you online or a cheeky discount code for next time. It’s quick, thoughtful, and makes the whole order feel more finished. Customers notice that kind of detail, especially when everything else they buy online comes with zero personality. You don’t need a complicated design either. Just something clean with your logo, a message that sounds like you, and maybe a social handle. The point is to give them a reason to come back or remember your name without it feeling forced. Branded zip pouches If you sell physical products, offer services, or run events, small zip pouches are surprisingly effective. Think of the kind you’d use for stationery, receipts, or travel bits. You can get your brand printed on the side and hand them out with purchases or include them in welcome packs. People keep them because they’re actually useful. They get tossed in handbags, school bags, or glove boxes and your logo just keeps turning up. Cleaning cloths for glasses or screens This one works brilliantly if you’re in tech, health, beauty, or anything involving screens or eyewear. A simple microfibre cloth with your branding on it can go a long way. Everyone needs one. Whether they use it for glasses, a phone screen, or their laptop, it’s something they hang onto. It’s not the kind of thing people throw away, and that means your name sticks around too. Receipt envelopes You might already use little envelopes to hand over receipts or business cards. Branding those envelopes is a small change that makes a big difference. Instead of someone getting a scruffy bit of paper in a plain sleeve, they’re handed something that feels a bit more finished. You can even add a message inside. Doesn’t need to be anything dramatic. A simple “thanks for visiting” or “see you next time” is enough to add a personal touch. Wet wipes or mini hand gels If your business is in hospitality, food, or anything hands-on, branded wet wipes or pocket-sized hand gels are surprisingly popular. People actually use them, especially at festivals, food stalls, pop-ups, or kids’ events. They end up in handbags or cars and stick around longer than you think. They don’t scream “marketing” either. They’re practical, and when done right, they make your business feel thoughtful. That’s what good branding does, it shows you’ve thought ahead.

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.