It’s different this time. That’s what most of the pundits have been saying about the current economic crisis. Why it’s different is still up for debate. Maybe it’s how it began or, of more interest to most of us, how it will end. It could be a “U” or a “V” with a relatively quick recovery, or a “W” or an “M” with a second bounce up or down. Whatever the reason, this time it’s different. I’m the child of parents who were part of the Greatest Generation, and who lived through the Great Depression.

Ironically, I was born just a handful of weeks before Sodexo first started business in France. And, along with Sodexo, I have lived through a handful of economic downturns. Some were short and sharp while others lasted longer. A few have been severe enough to be called a recession.

In those past downturns, whenever the economy started to decline, business and industry have regularly called for loosening environmental and health protections as one way to provide some stimulus. And lawmakers would just as regularly respond with proposals to provide temporary waivers or roll back regulations. 

This time is different. Protecting the environment is now at the center of government and business efforts to promote economic growth. This goes well beyond the $94 billion in short term investment that the US government has targeted for green jobs and environmental innovation, or the $2.6 billion that the Canadians are spending along the same lines or even the more than $200 billion the Chinese government will spend.

This time, more businesses are taking a leadership role in calling for new and long needed measures to protect the environment.

This time, we’ve also learned an important lesson. Improving our environment and our health is good business.

It’s all based on a new approach to protecting our environment: eco-efficiency. Thirty years ago, protecting our environment meant doing less harm to the planet by doing without some of what we enjoyed.

Many of us remember Jimmy Carter wearing a sweater and urging us to turn down the thermostat a few degrees. That’s easy to do in June; but for much of the year, many of us actually like having the heat on. Those kinds of choices also put the responsibility on the individual, or the consumer, to make all the right decisions.

Today, conservation has been replaced by eco-efficiency, or getting the same or even better while reducing our impact on the environment. Think installing a high efficiency heater, insulating your house, and putting in better windows before you go out and buy a new sweater.

That puts the responsibility for making the right choices on the business sector to design the right products and services, put the right choices in front of you, and continue to innovate. Sodexo is one of many companies that are taking on the challenge to provide services that make every day a better day, improve our health and the health of our planet.

Eco-efficiency is now part of the new foundation of our economy. It really is different this time.