On May 4, at the Living Futures conference in Portland, I had the great pleasure of hearing a keynote by the uproarious Carol Sanford. Her latest book, The Responsible Business: Sustainability & Success, voted one of the best business books of last year, outlines stories of 30 companies that became more socially responsible—without ever declaring their intention to do so. The funny thing about this … More
With my latest book, The Shape of Green, coming out this summer, a colleague asked me to compile a list of other sustainability-related books I would recommend. Since the usual suspects—Silent Spring, The Ecology of Commerce, Biomimicry, and Cradle to Cradle, etc.—are so well known, there’s no need to repeat them here. Instead, I’ll focus on a more personal list of favorites that have influenced … More
Fifty years ago today, John F. Kennedy gave a special message to Congress about protecting consumer interests: “The march of technology—affecting, for example, the foods we eat, the medicines we take, and the many appliances we use in our homes—has increased the difficulties of the consumer along with his opportunities.” He listed four basic principles, which he called the “Consumer Bill of Rights,” to safeguard … More
Rock star astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson appeared on The Daily Show last week to plug his new book, Space Chronicles, which muses on the future of space travel while reflecting on lessons learned from the now half-century-old Space Race. (John Glenn’s historic orbital flight was fifty years ago last week.) Tyson reminds Jon Stewart that the Cold War motivated Americans to shoot for the Moon. In 1957, when … More
In January, the United Nations declared 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. The action calls on governments and the private sector to expand energy access, improve efficiency, and increase the use of renewables the world over. One person out of five—1.4 billion people—lack access to modern electricity, and twice that number still rely on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste for cooking … More
In his State of the Union on Tuesday, President Obama called for new incentives to encourage innovation: “After all, innovation is what America has always been about.” Investing in new forms of energy production is the key, he declared, because “nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy.” Natural gas, for example, represents a hundred-year supply of fuel and the potential to … More
I spent last week in San Francisco at GreenBiz’s Innovation Forum 2011, organized annually for the past decade by former GreenBlue Board member Joel Makower. One of the few conferences that explores sustainability outside a particular market sector, it’s about ideas and innovation, not specific industries or product types. The diversity of the audience and the interactive format make it a must for businesses reinventing themselves. Right … More
Like many children of the 70s, I first felt the spark of environmental awareness while watching a television commercial. A buckskin-clad Native American paddles downstream in a bark canoe, enters an industrial port ringed by dark factories and belching smokestacks, and disembarks on a bank riddled with litter. Ominous music plays behind an even more ominous voiceover: “Some people have a deep, abiding respect for … More
This weekend, when presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann promised to shut down the “job killing” Environmental Protection Agency if she were elected, she was the latest among several Republicans to attack the agency. Since it was founded in 1970, the EPA has had an extraordinary track record of accomplishments, including, as EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson outlined during the agency’s 40th anniversary last year, removing lead … More
“Should design be environmentally responsible?” asks design critic Alice Rawsthorn in the New York Times. “The only sensible answer to that question is ‘yes.’ But if you asked a group of designers to define what that term means, each would be likely to give a different answer. Though there is one thing on which they might agree: that the most successful examples of environmentally responsible … More