Big Business: Bane or Boon to the Environmental Movement?

About 10 days ago Jared Diamond stirred up a bit of a debate with his NY Times Op-Ed: Will Big Business Save the Earth?

If you read this blog for any period of time, you'll eventually see me talk about how green commerce (products, services, etc.) will never go mainstream until it delivers the same value for the dollar as non-green commerce. You'll see me talk about how I may be a vegan, among other things, but I'm all in favor of baby steps. That taking a few steps towards a more ethical and sustainable lifestyle is better than taking no steps at all. You'll see me argue that absolutism or perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

So, at first glance, Diamond's Op-Ed speaks to me. It makes sense to me that it is only when multi-national conglomerates start not only to care about their environmental impact, but to seek to publicize any positive impact, that we can make mass change and improvements. Part of me does believe that small improvements from a company like Walmart may net out better results for the planet than the small personal improvements from thousands of individuals.

We need both. That's for sure.

Food Politics, however, doles out a cold splash of reality (and incredulity) about Diamond's Op-Ed in: Saving the earth: Coca-Cola?

And the pendulum swings the other way. Crediting companies like Coke for what they plan to do does seem premature. Questioning the motives of for-profit companies in this country, where corporate social responsibility programs still need to somehow contribute to the bottom line in order to be fiduciarily responsible, seems rational, not cynical. 

For me, it's a tough call. How can big companies become more responsible citizens overnight and in one fell swoop? Don't they have to take incremental steps? Not just because they have  fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, but also because they have massive numbers of employees and processes in place...let's be realistic about what it takes to re-direct Titanic companies (and I don't use the metaphor lightly).

So, I'm just a bundle of non-answers and gray areas on this. How about you?

Comments

[Mary]

Sorry about disappearing in 2009 (medical stuff), but I'm back now and have some answers that should make you feel better.

The foregone conclusion is that women are the will, corporations are the way and sustainable standards will keep us all honest.

Regardless of how we get there, that will be the global checks and balances. Consumer goods and services are 60% of the GDP. You know the rest of that story, companies are crawling all over themselves to win the womens' purse.

I've been harping on standards for years and finally they are coming to pass. There are over 300 or mainliners vying for control. To cull the herd, the Sustainablility Consortium (backed by Wal Mart and pals) has Duke University and others gathering all the sustainable attributes of ALL the standards and comparing the best of the best via a benchmarking method. They are focusing on the B2C world.

If you'd like to see how that happens in a B2B mini format, go to GreenBuildingPages.com. On GBP, products (instead of standards) answer 160 questions and based on their answers are given a spot on the benchmarking tree. The most sustainable products are ranked the highest. Duke's system will rank the best consumer standards the highest.

Once this "high ground" is established by Duke, Wal Mart etc. will begin to require the best of the best standards to be followed. In 3 years, ALL products will be required to have an LCA or they won't be doing business with Wal Mart. In 5 years, all Wal Mart products will carry a Green Seal of Approval. From what I've heard it will consist of levels of information. 1. A BIG LOGO for those who want to grab and go. 2. Bullet points for what makes it green. 3. The standard that the information came from. What Wal Mart etc. does will have a global effect.

That's what the Sustainability Consortium is aiming for - a global standard of standards, per se. We need one or else the multinational corporations can't play on a level playing field.

Meanwhile, Investors are asking their investment to go transparent with their systems (LCAs again) and Wal Street property owners are requiring it in their buildings. USGBC and others are spinning up.

The ONLY THING MISSING is educating the average women, who will be expected to work in tandem with this new economic order, on her power and responsibility. Women such as Diane MacEachern, Beth Terry, etc., the green bloggers, will lead the conversation and keep business in their trend-watching comfort zone. Once the world turns green, no one will care if it's green or not, at that point, it's back to value marketing.

The tipping point has happened, this decade is a rush to the foregone conclusion. It's still messy on how that conclusion will be reached, but it will happen as surely as women voices have dominated the blogging world. What happens off line, will happen online.