Book Review: Green Values
We’re looking at three books that share a common theme: the need for individuals and companies to incorporate green principles and a respect for the Earth’s resources into their value systems and business strategies. Any of these books is worthy of a leader’s or a manager’s time, but combined, they make a powerful trilogy that addresses three important issues: national policy, corporate strategy and personal commitment.
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, © 2008)
Summary
Following on the heels of his best-seller “The World is Flat,” Friedman extends his curiosity and analytic skills to call attention to a global crisis: The world is getting not just flatter, but hotter and more crowded. Friedman states the world is entering an era in which global warming and soaring global population growth demand a new mindset for how humanity moves forward. He focuses on how these trends are intertwined, producing five immediate global problems: the growing demand for energy supplies and natural resources; a massive transfer of wealth to oil-rich nations and their petro-dictators; disruptive climate change; energy poverty that is dividing the world into electricity haves and have-nots; and accelerating biodiversity loss.
Friedman calls for America to implement “Code Green,” a system for powering our economy to solve national energy challenges and to show leadership about how to heal the global economy. He concludes that if we cannot find a way to overcome our weaknesses and greed, future generations will suffer.
The Takeaway
Friedman’s book proffers a critical warning about the precipice the world stands at. As he says, we are no longer on the Titanic watching out for icebergs; we’ve already hit one and our ship is quickly filling with water.
The fact is, the Titanic really did sink, and while the incredulous stood around doubting the ship would actually go down, they eventually saw their undeniable fate. It is absolutely clear that the Earth is now in the same sinking predicament, with the forces of global warming, population explosion and our insatiable appetite for the world’s resources acting as triple icebergs in front of us. And it’s not just Friedman telling us this: International scientists have put forth extensive research demonstrating the facts of global warming. Today’s combative geopolitics already confirms the struggles we will face with further overcrowding and competition for dwindling resources.
Yes, corporate leaders can read this book and walk away, but it’s impossible to remain isolated and protected from a hot, flat and crowded world. It’s difficult to imagine how any organization could continue to survive without altering its business practices to take responsibility for its use of resources.
Friedman’s message is larger, though. There’s token action on one hand … and authentic, values-driven action on the other. A company can scrape by enforcing the environmental mandates it is subject to, or it can voluntarily adopt new business values focused on outgreening the competition. In other words, a company can change its light bulbs to reduce energy consumption and save money, or it can change how it perceives its entire ecological footprint, evaluating its products and processes from cradle to grave (or cradle to cradle in a completely renewable lifecycle) and educating employees and leaders to act in this context.
In his book, Friedman tackles the most difficult of challenges, and his truth compels action. He has the ability to reframe the complex sustainability discussion into an impassioned call for innovation on responsible growth and planetary protection - yet, all along, he keeps it simple and accessible while changing how we see the world.
Ultimately, what company leaders conclude after reading Friedman’s ideas depends on how relevant and immediate they think Code Green is to their business model. But as Friedman suggests, practically no business remains isolated from having some impact on the environment. There are unexpected linkages everywhere between what a business does in its search for growth and profits, and the future health of the planet. Further, he notes, it provides an advantage.
Friedman offers a salient final thought: “It is much more important to change your leaders than your light bulbs.” But he is not talking about just changing our politicians but equally about our CEOs and business leaders. He hints that the world will no longer tolerate business leaders who ignore this impending threat. What we need now are leaders who will rise to the opportunity to find inventive solutions and to inspire new values in people so that everyone can learn to outgreen the world.
Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business by Joel Makower (McGraw Hill, © 2008)
Summary
If Friedman’s book opens a policy discussion about how America must change to deal with a hot, flat, and crowded world, Makower’s book is the complement in helping companies make the strategic decisions about how exactly to “go green.”
Makower reviews the lessons learned from the initial green movement in the early ‘80s, reciting how it was full of high expectations but collapsed quickly as too many companies made exaggerated claims about the environmental friendliness of their products, while too many consumers failed to put their money into the green products they ostensibly demanded. Today, varying consumer attitudes toward sustainable products are making the task of going green difficult for companies.
The book poses fundamental questions, asking what it really takes for a company to not just be perceived as green but to produce truly meaningful global change.
The Takeaway
There aren’t many individuals around the globe who understand the ins and outs of running a green business and know how companies can turn policy and principle into practice like Makower does. His 20 years of experience in the green movement and expertise as an advisor to businesses come through loud and clear in this book through his insightful analysis of where the green movement has failed, where it has succeeded and what companies must do to begin making meaningful change.
Makower makes no pretenses about the difficulties companies face when attempting to take real actions to reduce their environmental impact. Given the history of false starts and fraudulent claims about green products (e.g., eco-marketing misdeeds), Makower is pragmatic and realistic about the tight rope companies need to walk to make their business processes greener while still attracting consumers who remain largely “clueless” about how to live a green lifestyle. He is honest in pointing out that companies can get themselves into a brand disaster by promising too little, but they can also get ahead of themselves by promising too much and not furnishing deliverables.
The book is full of insightful tips and stories of both failed and successful corporate efforts to change their products or business processes that can be highly valuable in guiding companies and marketers down the path. For example, there was Nau, Inc., a designer and marketer of outdoor clothing which went belly up despite its laudable mission to source and sell clothing with a commitment to innovation and sustainability. And there were Nike, Harley Davidson, Herman Miller and Ford, which all agreed to share and collaborate on research to find new ways to produce leather with lower environmental consequences.
Above all, Makower’s position is that green business is neither a fad nor a short-term trend. While some green products and businesses will fail, the need for businesses to become more energy efficient, reduce waste, prevent pollution and clean up the environment will not disappear. The green movement is not a bubble, and no amount of cynicism or disbelief will dampen the absolute need for businesses to take responsibility for their operations and their products. While, he admits, that larger companies are making some changes to reduce their energy use and produce sustainably and responsibly, these are more superficial efforts than strategic decisions for the environment. Small and mid-size companies especially have a long way to go. In both cases, Makower laments that being green has yet to hit a critical mass.
You Are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet by Thomas M. Kostigen (HarperOne, © 2008)
Summary
Whereas Thomas Friedman’s book speaks largely to formulating a national policy issue and Makower’s book focuses on strategic decisions and practical advice for companies, Kostigen’s book is a personal journey to directly link human actions with their destructive results on the planet. In effect, “You Are Here” describes the environmental crisis from an experiential, first-hand point of view.
Kostigen travels to 10 locations to be an eyewitness to pollution, global warming, acid rain, deforestation, toxic dumping and more. In each location, he reports on the effects he witnesses and provides recommendations for real actions that individuals can take to reduce or alleviate their role in causing this environmental problem.
The Takeaway
“You Are Here” is a personal book that speaks to readers on a very individualized level. From its title alone, it seeks to address “you” by making readers feel that they are on location at the crime scene, digging up the evidence and tracing the root causes of the problem, whether it’s global warming, pollution, rainforest destruction or the loss of clean water.
On this level, this is an excellent book to inspire individual actions and a commitment to get involved. It’s not a policy book like Friedman’s that might wake up a company and help it become more values-driven to “outgreen” the competition; it’s more like a well-written travel book that reviews cities and makes readers hungry to visit them. “You Are Here” inspires readers to feel the pain and see the destruction that people and their cities are living through. Environmental problems are no longer thousands of miles away where we don’t need to care about them; they literally walk in our door as we read about Mumbai, Borneo, Linfen and the other locales of Kostigen’s journeys.
“You Are Here” is a call to truly “go there” in one’s heart, to pick a cause and get involved. It is a great book for companies seeking to instill values in employees or to sponsor volunteerism among people in an effort to get workers more involved in making environmental change a real part of their job - and not just a passing thought or a management program of the month.
Kostigen’s book is a global tour of innocent human error, misguided and short-sighted behaviors and inconsiderate greed. No matter the cause, the 10 sites he visits are all powerful reminders that the way we live our lives and conduct our businesses does not happen in a vacuum. The Earth is a single ecosystem, and for each action we may take, there is a reaction that occurs somewhere on the globe.
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November 11th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I’ve read You are Here and I was very impressed by it. You couldn’t be more right that reading about the individual places makes you want to go there even though they have all suffered their fair share of carnage. I would highly recommend it.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I thought Thomas Friedman’s book did a good job in its argument; having read your review, however, I’m going to check out “You are Here.” Any chance I get to absorb more knowledge about this issue I will take, and I advise every other American to do the same.
I found a post on Peterman’s Eye that details more of Thomas Freidman’s book…thought I’d share if anyone wants to check it out.
http://www.petermanseye.com/anthologies/who-didn-t-win/376–hot-flat-and-crowded
Cheers!