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This is a presentation from Melissa Clark-Reynolds at the June 2009 Hillary Symposium in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her focus is on the role of entrepreneurship in a green new deal.
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Why listen to me?
• 20 years as an entrepreneur• Multiple financial crises• Multiple environmental movements• Masters in Environmental Health• Ambassador for The Climate Project
Cast of characters
Act I: The ‘Infinite Resource’ Paradigm
If fish in a depleted ecosystem grow by 5% a year and the catch expands by 10% a year, the fishery will collapse. If the global economy keeps growing at 3% a year (or 1700% a century) it too will hit the wall.
Monbiot.com
Act II: The ‘Either/Or’ Paradigm
OR
• Stock market down more than 34% from October 2007 high
• U.S. Consumer Confidence at all-time low
Source: CNNMoney
Source: Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle Design
Source: Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle Design
We all go down together
We’re asking the wrong questions
• What is wealth?• What does ‘sustainable’ mean?• Oikos – Ecology and Economy
– Home?
Act III: A Sustainable Paradigm
‘Sustainable’ means
‘you can keep doing it’
Sustainability is smart
• Henry Ford paid his staff well enough for them to become customers
• Those customers kept his company growing
Sustainability is no luxury
• Forget about minimising footprint
• Any entity that only takes out of a system will ultimately fail
• Businesses must contribute to overall system
Sustainability is big business
• The Durst Organization has focused on the environment for nearly 100 years
• One Bryant Park: 2.1 million s.f.
• World’s most environmentally responsible high-rise office building
"Wealth consists of physical energy (as matter or radiation) combined with metaphysical know-what and know-how."
Buckminster Fuller "Critical Path", p.198
Beyond ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’
• Old ‘minimise everything’ thinking leads to zero• New ‘cherry tree’ thinking leads to sustainability
Image source: Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle Design
Not ONLY for profit
Not ONLY for profit
We need new questions
The answers are not just environmental.
They are social. Economic. Military. Lifestyle.
Ready or not, it’s happening
Get real or go home
• Individuals are moving• Businesses are moving• Government needs to catch up
There is no finish line
Kyoto was a starting pointCopenhagen is a starting pointNow is a starting pointWe all win or we all lose
Act IV: The Next Paradigm?
