Taking care of business and our world

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	• The Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken Collins, 1994 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Taking care of business and our world

Hawken's message is no less urgent 15 years after he wrote this landmark book on economic change. It is a message he refined as co-author (with the Lovinses) of NATURAL CAPITALISM: CREATING THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (Little, Brown & Company, 1999), but this volume is more directly aimed at business owners. The author looks at the three ways that business interacts with the environment -- what it takes, what it makes, and what it wastes -- and shows that a fresh approach can be both profitable and life sustaining. If the book is dated at all, it is because things have gotten worse. Population was only (!) 5.8 billion when he wrote it, and humans were only (!!) using, consuming, clearcutting or burning, 40 percent of the net primary production (NPP) of the earth's land ecosystems. (NPP is the sum of all photosynthetic production minus the energy required to maintain and support those plants.) Both numbers have, of course, risen. Fortunately, during the 90s many of the world's governments have begun to embrace a new view of business and a new definition of profit and loss. The most significant holdout is, of course, the biggest taker, maker and waster -- us. (I must offer a disclaimer here: some Letterheads are not in the U.S.A., and therefore are absolved from this condemnation. Although, in owning computers, they are presumptively more like us than like the rest of the world.) Hawken's view in this book is so comprehensive, that it ought to be the blueprint for businesses in the 21st century. (I predict that it WILL be the blueprint for businesses that survive the 21st.) Ray Anderson, founder and CEO of Interface, the largest maker of carpet tiles in the world and a Fortune 500 company, clearly embraced Hawken's message when he revamped his company a few years ago: they are retooling with a stated goal of zero chimneys, zero waste pipes, zero landfill. Anderson took Hawken's message to heart and to the bank: waste is not just pollution, it is dollars down the drain. A business in tune with natural systems will not produce waste. Everything will recycle. In a neat resolution of apparent opposites, the author looks at optimistic claims that we can grow our way out of environmental problems -- viewing economic growth as the key to funding remediation -- versus pessimistic visions suggesting that we will exceed (perhaps have already exceeded) the carrying capacity of the planet. He notes that due to ever-improving extraction techniques, the pro-growth viewpoint is bound to work splendidly in the short term, and will do so right up until the day it fails. Because the pessimists are wrong in the short term, but are precisely correct about the more distant future. Unfortunately the pivotal point is hard to see coming. Hawken reminds us of the analogy of the twenty-ninth day, offered by ecologists including Dr. David Suzuki: "When algae take over a lake they grow exponentially, doubling every twenty-four hours, until the thirtieth day, when they effectively remove all oxygen from the water, killing all other forms of life. Since the algae bloom doubles daily, on the twenty-ninth day, it covers only half the lake, a reasonably benign condition as long as one does not take into account the nature of exponential growth." This offers not only a lesson in the speed with which collapse can come upon an ecosystem, but about the futility of technological fixes. If the oxygen in the lake were increased by 50 percent on that last day (a production boost that far exceeds human technological improvements in any short term) it would only forestall collapse by six hours. Businesses, governments and we ourselves ignore Hawken at our peril.

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Global Required Reading

I don't even know how to begin describing how great this book is. It should be required reading for EVERYBODY on the planet. I learned about this book while watching the documentary, "The Corporation," and I'll have to admit, I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary in this book. I thought I'd be getting some interesting pictures and statistics relating to consumption, recycling, landfills, global warming...pretty much your standard environmental rhetoric (of which I'm a subscriber) to complement what I already know. What I got, however, was so much more. This book is not only about the environment, but about how the environment integrates with global business and economics. For some reason, the 'developed' world has created a disconnect between the environment and business. Hawken shows how the two are inextricably connected, and in order to guarantee a successful future for us, our children and all life on earth, business and the environment must work harmoniously and each stop being the bane of the other.

His metaphor for business IS the environment: everything in nature is cyclical, which brings maximum efficiency. Nothing is more efficient than the natural world: one organism's waste is another organism's life source. If business would approach operations and resources from this perspective, waste would not be 'waste' and the benefits of increased efficiency would permeate throughout all life and systems. His metaphor is very simple but exceedingly beautiful, and only becomes more so as Hawken goes in-depth with concrete examples and further exploration of all issues from both sides. Throughout reading this book, I was continuously floored by his analysis, his insight and his prescription for the future.

And a note about his prose: every sentence reflects structurally the economies and efficiencies it conveys ideologically. This man is concise and his style is powerful - every word packs a punch. He says so much with so little, maximizing the time spent in our reading investment. Clearly, I have nothing but the highest praise for Hawken and this book - it is truly visionary.

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Reshaping industrialism

Looking for a book to explain how capitalism and environmentalism can coincide? This is it.
For years we've been led to believe that if we want progress and technology advances we should learn to accept there's a price---> pollution. Mega-Corporates keep polluting our world, poisoning the water we drink and the air we breathe, destroying habitats so thoroughly that our children will probably only see wild animals at Zoos. And it's all done in the name of progress.
Paul Hawken proves the concept of progress=pollution to be very wrong. He demands that companies cut their energy consumption by 80 percent and then use the money they save for research to help find better clean sources of energy. He demands companies reduce their waste and not simply dump it. He demands companies think of what they're doing to our world and not just the bottom line. He even thinks they can make money this way. He suggests a new, more moral way of doing business.
A very thought provoking book raising many very tough questions about the way companies today run their businesses. A must read for anyone interested in environmental issues and the business world.

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Always timely and smart

Paul Hawken's book "The Ecology of Commerce" is one of those books one never forgets because it changes the way you think. I first read this book back when it came out in 1994 and just re-read it.

The author doesn't squawk about how bad humans are, but rather offers a sensible, deliberate perspective on how we can change our economic systems to accommodate our relationship with the rest of Nature.

To avoid being an ignorant, knee-jerk reacting activist ( or at least deciding to go down that route) read this book!

Tough read but worth the time

This isn't an easy read. Lot of technical info but read it and re-read it. It may just be what America needs.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

A visionary new program that businesses can follow to help restore the planet.

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