On Apr 29, 2011, at 8:04 PM, Ismail Lagardien wrote:
> I was invited to a meeting to launch this book, today. Would like to know what
> people think of this. The invitation came with a copy of a 1999 essay, "Roadmap
> for Natural Capitalism" published in the Harvard Business Review, if anyone is
> interested. Not sure if I could/should attach it.
>
> Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
> by Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
Wow, this sounds like something to kick around the block a few times. Alex Cockburn once described Paul Hawken as a purveyor of teak-handled mulchers for the better sorts. Smith & Hawken <http://www.smithandhawken.com/> used to be an upscale brand (thus Cockburn's epithet), but they now seem to be vending through Target.
> Reinvest in natural capital. Capital begets more capital; a company that
> depletes its own capital is eroding the basis of its future prosperity.
> Pressures on business to restore, sustain, and expand natural capital are
> mounting as human needs expand, the costs of deteriorating ecosystems rise, and
> the environmental awareness of consumers increases. Fortunately, these pressures
> all create business opportunity.
You could write a book on the delusions packed into this little paragraph, couldn't you?
Doug