Is there anyone in North America that has not been impacted by the current financial crisis? Many have lost jobs, their homes and a significant percentage of their savings and investments.

However, at the same time – despite the hardship, fear and worry about the future – this ‘recession’ has resulted in a surprising upside for many people who have reported that their lives have been improved by the simple fact that things have changed.

We’re seeing a return to old values such as hard work, loyalty and authenticity, and a redefinition of what it means to be successful in the 21st Century. This recession is altering our perception of what we truly need - it’s no longer possible, sensible or socially acceptable to consume like we have been. In its place is a new found prudence – bordering on frugality – and prestige awarded to people who grow their own food, make meals from scratch and save for things that they want to buy (your grandparents would be proud!)

We’re calling it a resetion, and here’s just some of the ways we see it coming to life:

The New York Times ran a story recently. It documented how a family – in a bid to save dollars – was cutting back on eating out at restaurants. This one simple money saving effort – together with thousands of other American families – is having a serious impact on the GDP, but how does you measure impact this has on the well-being of the ‘family’? Less time staring at menus and bellowing orders at a waiter in a noisy crowded diner means more family time around the kitchen table.

The growth of Urban Gardening

Gardening is on the rise… and not just growing primroses and daffodils. The need for low-cost, fresh food, the popularity of all things “green”, concerns over food safety and the increase in vacant city space due to the recession have been cited as contributing factors for the growth of urban gardening.

Urban gardens are not just a new fad. People have been planting gardens in the city since the world wars, and the recent “return to the land” rivals the Victory Gardens of the 1940’s.

With a sharp increase in seed sales across North America and the UK, we are keen to see how ‘Gardening’ and ‘Making a meal from scratch’ trend in SHIFT 2010.

To offer a little more substance on the matter, here are some interesting stats from last year’s study. What sustainability issues do gardeners care about? Of those who garden ‘weekly’, here’s how they rate the following sustainability issues as important: Community Connection 93%, Buying Local+Supporting Local Business 70%, Organic Product 35%, Pollution 73%, Global Warming 59%, Fair Trade 75%.

Which segment from the Sustainability Passion Index is most engaged with gardening? 34% of the Vocal Globalists garden once a week or more, while 27% of the Hyper Locals garden once a week or more.

The rise of hyper-local

Ever since we completed a study on people’s relationship with the locally based business versus the multinational in 2006, we have been predicting the rise and rise of local. Why? Well, in Ci parlance it ‘helps consumers fulfill their desire to be conscious consumers’ by a) connecting with their community – social sustainability, b) sustaining their local economy - personal sustainability, and since local products travel fewer miles c) making less of an impact on the planet (environmental sustainability).

Buying local offers consumers a unique experience. Yes it feels warm and fuzzy to support your local farmer/ baker/ candlestick maker, but supporting your local producer/ business also offers consumers the additional benefits of a) keeping more of your dollars where you live, and b) influencing the quality of the product (Asking your local baker to add more choc chips to his muffin recipe is far more likely to be successful, than - say – writing a really nice letter to the folks at Nestle!). For this reason we often think of ‘buying local’ as a ‘self-serving generosity’!

In fact, in last year's SHIFT ‘buying local’ AND ‘’being engaged in my local community’ ranked higher than – believe it or not – ‘global warming’ for North Americans.

Judging by the amount of ‘local-washing’ going on - as multinational giants such as Walmart, HSBC, Unilever and Citgo look to capitalize on growing public enthusiasm - we are keen to see how it trends in SHIFT 2010. That’s not to say that global brands cannot engage on a local level for a positive return on their marketing dollars, but authenticity is key.

In SHIFT 2008, 4% of the population said they feel HSBC is a socially responsible brand and 18% said they felt Walmart is a socially responsible brand. We’ll see how this trends in the 2010 study, along with some more brands we’ve inserted. Is your brand in the study? Download the 2008 overview here or email kierstin[at]ci-shift[dot]com

Home-made/ re-made

As with so many sustainability efforts, re-purposing off-the-shelf and found objects is not so much new but merely forgotten. Since the last SHIFT Report installment in 2008, many Americans and Canadians have had to tighten their belts and curbed their appetites, but that’s not to say they have had to stave off on being creative. Far from it, the economic downturn has prompted even greater levels of innovation, and the growth of industries that support re-use, if not repair (check out yesterday’s great article in NYT on the booming business of tailors)

Examples are everywhere from fashion to social programs, but amongst our favorites is the work of a small, independent design studio based in Vancouver, BC called Organelle Design who work from a simple premise: “waste is the most abundant local resource our cities have to offer”.

So… what does this mean for brands?

In a global reset everything gets reduced down to what’s important. The extraneous, the needless is lost and all that remains is what people value most – what’s in our core. The economic downturn has only served to remind us that sustainability is a crucial ingredient not only for survival but also for innovation, and very much embedded in the way people have always lived. People aren’t looking for a ‘green’ life - they’re looking for a sustainable life.

Remember: Sustainability is more than green!