On
August 18, Jacob Park (Assistant
Professor of Business and
Public Policy at
Green
Mountain College, VT, and Ethical Research Consultant at Green
Cay Asset Management) gave a talk at the Thoreau
Institute called Defining the New Ecology of Business.
Jacob
Park gave an informative and inspiring presentation on the
intricate relationship between the business world, natural
world, and human
society. He talked about the current state of the global
environment and how businesses have (and continue) to rely
heavily on the natural world for s
ustenance,
despite our increasingly technological way of life. The real
take-home message was: business can be an enormously powerful
force in fostering a healthier, more sustainable relationship
between the human and natural worlds. Manufacturing more
energy-efficient technologies and technological products,
providing incentives to start up a “green business”, and
investing in socially-responsible businesses were just a few of
the ideas discussed.
Jacob Park is also the
author of the book Ecology of the New Economy: Sustainable
Transformation of Global Information, Communications and
Electronics Industries (Greenleaf Publishing, 2002).
Resources:
Websites:
-
http://www.maweb.org –
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment “The Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is an international work program
designed to meet the needs of decision makers and the public
for scientific information concerning the consequences of
ecosystem change for human well-being and options for
responding to those changes.”
-
http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com - Ecosystem
Marketplace “The Ecosystem Marketplace seeks to
become the world’s leading source of information on markets
and payment schemes for ecosystem services; services such as
water quality, carbon sequestration and biodiversity.”
Books:
- Paul Hawken “The Ecology of
Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability ”
- Jared Diamond “Collapse: How
Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”
