I just read The
Ecology of Commerce, by Paul
Hawken. Like other environmentalists, he
describes all the harm that multinational corporations and industry are doing
to the world. It’s depressing, but he’s
not just a naysayer.
In a nutshell, the way to solve all the world’s
environmental (and perhaps social) problems is not CSR. It’s not joining the ‘green team’ with Con
Edison or recycling your office paper or carpooling. That helps.
But it’s not enough.
Changing the world from a linear system (in which inputs
become outputs that become waste that goes into pollution that leaks
everywhere) into a cyclical system, like nature, requires a change in
consciousness.
Not surprisingly, you might notice that a lot of people who
care about sustainability also meditate.
In meditation, you don’t stop thinking.
You don’t force yourself to think about nothing. The word “meditation” is simply the act of
placing your mind on something. Usually,
it’s a stream of consciousness, one thought after another, jumping around all
over the place. In the practice of
meditation, by placing the focus repeatedly on the breath, one becomes aware of
the mind’s natural habits. As I recently
learned at the Shambhala Meditation Center
in NY, in Tibetan, the word for meditation is “gom” – which means “becoming
familiar with.”
If you want to change yourself to become a more
compassionate human being, try meditation.
Just 10
minutes a day (or even 10 minutes
three times a week) makes a huge difference.
You might notice that you stop reacting to things and start responding
more consciously to the world around you.
Maybe you notice some habits about your thinking patterns that you
didn’t see before.
If we want to change the world, we need to start by changing
our consciousness. To acknowledge the
suffering around us, to acknowledge our habitual patterns of thought and
action, and to not subject ourselves to the fallacy that past performance
indicates future financial or environmental returns.
We need to start understanding the “restorative economy”
based on “industrial ecology.” This
means thinking about business like a natural system, for example, a forest. For designers and engineers and
businesspeople and civil servants of all kinds to think about some big
questions.
What would it look like for wastes to become fuel for
another department, company, or industry, like the Kalundborg
Eco-Industrial Park in Denmark?
How can citizens nudge
government to set up restorative policies?
Such as:
- Requiring consumables to be biodegradable (pesticide treated food doesn’t count)
- Requiring manufacturers to take back everything they produce which is not biodegradable (like phones, cars, and refrigerators)?
- Requiring “unsaleables” (toxins that don’t biodegrade) to be disposed of at the manufacturer’s cost
The perspective shift is required is not beyond our
ability. It merely requires the courage
to see things as they are, acknowledge the truth of what is happening, and
imagine how to emulate natural processes in business processes…to secure a
sustainable, livable future for all.
As John Lennon sang, “imagine…You may say I’m a
dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
If all this resonates with you, check out the “con/fest” (an
un-conference/festival) DoGoodCon in
NYC from May 27-29. It will be a great
place to connect with others who are creating innovative, disruptive and
sustainable change.
