Just watched a video on the severe decline in the leatherback turtle population.  Over the last 20 years, the number of breeding females has plummeted from around 90,000 to just about 2,000.  The primary cause is global warming.  Rising seas mean less beach area for laying eggs, and just the slightest increase in the temperature of the sand in which the eggs are laid can cause them to boil rather than incubate.

Here in South Carolina this summer, I watched the birth of two carefully monitored loggerhead turtle nests, and it was beyond magical.  The baby turtles are attracted to the light of the moon over the ocean, and that is what draws them slowly and deliberately to the sea.  It is thought that the females leave a scent in the sand, so that even if they swim tens of thousands of miles away, they may return to the beach of their birth to lay their eggs.

So what’s all this got to do with marketing? I’m thinking about how there was this flurry of green marketing ,and then the tight economy made many well-intentioned companies reduce their interest in both going green and promoting green, concerned more – understandably – with today’s expedient transactions.  Perhaps we responsible marketers can encourage our clients to reaffirm their commitment to this cause.  Wal-Mart is certainly stepping up to the plate, as it has over these past few years.  What a turnaround in public responsibility and reputation!

As we help develop our clients’ plans and budgets for the new year , perhaps we can think of creative ways they can not only make the best use of their resources but also the resources of our fragile planet.