This year marks the 25th anniversary of Our Common Future, commonly known as the “Brundtland Report.” Named for Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway and Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), the UN-sponsored study almost singlehandedly put sustainability on the map. A quarter century later, how has it fared? First, it was an important precursor to the UN’s Millennium … More
Last week, USA Today reported that a rash of product recalls may be creating “fatigue” among consumers, who may be more likely now to overlook or ignore the recalls. In 2011 alone, 2,363 consumer and food products, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices were recalled by manufacturers. IKEA, for example, took back 169,000 high chairs because the restraint buckle was unreliable. That’s 6.5 recalls per day, an … More
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