Product Description

Most businesses still operate according to a world view that hasn't changed since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Then, natural resources were abundant and labor was the limiting factor of production. But now, there's a surplus of people, while natural capital natural resources and the ecological systems that provide vital life-support services is scarce and relatively expensive. In this groundbreaking blueprint for a new economy, three leading business visionaries explain how the world is on the verge of a new industrial revolution. Natural Capitalism describes a future in which business and environmental interests increasingly overlap, and in which companies can improve their bottom lines, help solve environmental problems and feel better about what they do all at the same time. Citing hundreds of compelling stories from a wide array of sectors, the book shows how to realize benefits both for today's shareholders and for future generations and how, by firing the unproductive tons, gallons, and kilowatt-hours it's possible to keep the people who will foster the innovation that drives future improvement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3740 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.com
In Natural Capitalism, three top strategists show how leading-edge companies are practicing "a new type of industrialism" that is more efficient and profitable while saving the environment and creating jobs. Paul Hawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins write that in the next century, cars will get 200 miles per gallon without compromising safety and power, manufacturers will relentlessly recycle their products, and the world's standard of living will jump without further damaging natural resources. "Is this the vision of a utopia? In fact, the changes described here could come about in the decades to come as the result of economic and technological trends already in place," the authors write.

They call their approach natural capitalism because it's based on the principle that business can be good for the environment. For instance, Interface of Atlanta doubled revenues and employment and tripled profits by creating an environmentally friendly system of recycling floor coverings for businesses. The authors also describe how the next generation of cars is closer than we might think. Manufacturers are already perfecting vehicles that are ultralight, aerodynamic, and fueled by hybrid gas-electric systems. If natural capitalism continues to blossom, so much money and resources will be saved that societies will be able to focus on issues such as housing, contend Hawken, author of a book and PBS series called Growing a Business, and the Lovinses, who cofounded and directed the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental think tank. The book is a fascinating and provocative read for public-policy makers, as well as environmentalists and capitalists alike. --Dan Ring

From Publishers Weekly
Hawken (The Ecology of Commerce) and Amory and Hunter Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental think tank, have put together an ambitious, visionary monster of a book advocating "natural capitalism." The short answer to the logical question (What is natural capitalism?) is that it is a way of thinking that seeks to apply market principles to all sources of material value, most importantly natural resources. The authors have two related goals: first, to show the vast array of ecologically smart options available to businesses; second, to argue that it is possible for society and industry to adopt them. Hawken and the Lovinses acknowledge such barriers as the high initial costs of some techniques, lack of knowledge of alternatives, entrenched ways of thinking and other cultural factors. In looking at options for transportation (including the development of ultralight, electricity-powered automobiles), energy use, building design, and waste reduction and disposal, the book's reach is phenomenal. It belongs to the galvanizing tradition of Frances Moore Lapp?'s Diet for a Small Planet and Stewart Brand's The Whole Earth Catalog. Whether all that the authors have organized and presented so earnestly here can be assimilated and acted on by the people who run the world is open to question. But readers with a capacity for judicious browsing and grazing can surely learn enough in these pages to apply well-reasoned pressure. Charts and graphs, with accompanying CD-ROM. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Hawken is the author of The Ecology of Commerce (1993) and is best known for his PBS series Growing a Business. Amory and Hunter Lovins founded the Rocky Mountain Institute, which promotes efficient resource use, and Amory has been called the "godfather" of alternative energy. The three have joined forces here to set a blueprint for sustainable development. The authors argue that it is possible for companies to reduce energy and materials consumption by up to 90 percent but still increase profits, production, and employment. They outline the four strategies that underlie "natural capitalism" and, using hypercars and neighborhood land use and superefficient buildings as examples, show how these strategies are being applied. They also identify ways resources are being wasted and explain the principles of "resource productivity." Throughout their book, the authors indicate new business opportunities that will be created by practicing "natural capitalism." Accompanying the book will be a CD composed of "KnowledgeMaps," which will be "visual, interactive conceptual models" that complement the material in each chapter and include hyperlinks to relevant sites on the Internet. David Rouse

Customer Reviews

Indispensible
This book is required reading for people who want to reduce the amount of waste they generate and learn to be better consumers.

Adam Smith, move over
Whew! Adam Smith, move over. NATURAL CAPITALISM is the bible which ought to unite environmentalists, socialists and free-market capitalists in a meaningful shift to sustainable systems. It offers a breathtaking overview of the technological and methodological fixes now available -- and in the authors' view, imminent -- together with ways to get there from here. (This one actually left me feeling cautiously optimistic.) The suggestion is that we should eliminate the filters in the smokestacks by installing better filters in our heads - working smarter, solving whole systems instead of piecemealing our way into the future. Separate chapters deal with automobiles, farming, heavy industry, construction, water pollution, climate change, markets and labor, but the overview is consistent: saving our planetary environment and continuing improvement in human well being do not require contradictory plans. Natural Capitalism provides the key. Eliminating waste, for example, satisfies both environmental and business goals. Using more labor and less material provides jobs and conserves resources. (The authors point out that the "labor-saving" goal of the first industrial revolution occured in a time of labor shortages and resource abundance, a situation which has now reversed.) To offer but one small example of the new thinking explored here: downstream solutions are often best. When an office decides to print all documents on two sides of each page instead of one, the apparent saving amounts to 50 percent of the original paper use. In fact, only 1/3 of the tree fiber harvested in the forest reaches our desks - the rest is wasted due to inefficiency in the pipeline. So a pound of paper saved in the office amounts to 3 pounds of pulp in the forest. Similar or greater savings accrue in every delivery system. It takes 100 units of energy to deliver 10 units of water energy at your tap. So 10 gallons conserved at home actually saves 100 gallons at the well-head. The information and ideas presented in NATURAL CAPITALISM are too sweeping to easily discuss in a short review. Amory Lovins was one of the seminal thinkers who launched my greening 30 years ago, when I joined the anti-nuclear movement and decoupled from the grid. His pithy, "Making electricity with atomic energy is like cutting butter with a chain saw," was "one of those songs that you think you forgot, but is one of those songs you cannot." He and Hunter, his wife and co-CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, have championed green engineering for years - including developing and patenting a schema for a hyper car and placing it in the public domain so that any manufacturer can use the plan. (They confidently predict it is THE car of the future.) Paul Hawken is a long-time developer of green businesses, president of the American Natural Step, and previously author of THE ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE (HarperBusiness, 1992), a narrower discussion of the ideas in this tome.

Great book. Innovative and still readable.
This is more than one book's worth of information. Years of research and innovation are woven together tightly and the result is an extremely informative book that is also a page turner.

The book includes enough technical detail to be of use to current experts in the field and the writing makes the data accessible to the newbie as well.

This would be a particularly good read for anyone in business who's looking to improve the bottom line while simultanteously lessoning the negative impact of operations on the planet. The authors show clearly how businesses can reduce costs by implementing eco-friendly practices.