In the book Cradle to Cradle (ch. 4), I read about how everything in nature has a purpose and is useful. The cherry tree blossoms to make seeds, but the petals of the flower fall and are decomposed and turned into soil. Waste is not wasted; it is used as nutrients, as food. I read about how unnatural the concept of waste is! Our system of industrial infrastructure completely ignores the clean cycle of nature for nutrients. Recycling products is a start but it is so far from being efficient. We recycle literally a handful of substances, when in reality, EVERYTHING could be recycled. Does that sound far-fetched? Actually, that's the way it has always been and the way nature intended. It's only been the last few hundred years (a sliver in historical time) that humans have taken to exploiting and using the Earth and her resources with pure ignorance. Now we know better, so don't we have to do better?
In the introduction of Upcycle, I find a glimmer of hope. If Walmart can make big moves in the right direction, surely there is a chance for us all to change for the better. And if a company executive, who clearly states he does not want to make changes until they "make financial sense" can set an intention of change that brings about economic opportunities/challenges for energy companies and leads to reaching a net-zero goal, there must be hope! In this example, the executive was only willing to state that the company wanted to become sustainable with it's energy use but only once it meant not having to spend more money. Being a large, international company, this statement got attention. Soon renewable energy companies were able to provide a solution that fit the company's current energy budget and the company was pleased to make the change. The best part is that this huge change started with a single "Sustainability Officer" (insert you or I here, potentially!) who questioned the company executive without challenging his authority or honesty.
I realized that I would have likely pushed the CEO and urged him to spend more of their budget because it's with it and the right thing to do. It probably would not have ended on a good note. However, I learned that there is a better way. What I learned from this story is to meet people and companies where they are. If we cannot make sustainability make sense economically, we will be fighting an exhausting, uphill battle. I need to change my perspective from "How do I get people to care?" to "How do I make it make sense for people to care?" and that way I can move from trying to convince the world I am right to a stance that presents opens doors that I can then assist people to walk through. I remember my Conflict Resolution studies (at Nova University before transferring to USF). "Conflict is about stance." It's about perspective. What's your angle?
Cited:
-McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way we make
things. New York: North Point Press.
-McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2013). The upcycle. New York: North Point
Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
This is a very interesting post! I like how you shifted the perspective, and the conversation, to putting oneself in another’s shoes. A good CEO will want to do the right thing, and they also must think about the human resources side of their business (how will making their company more sustainable affect their employees, will it take away from benefits, health insurance, etc.). I tend to have a narrow view of an issue, where someone in a management position is going to have to consider so much more. I would hope that companies would survey their employees on how they feel about taking sustainable steps forward, because, it will truly be a team effort.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Rebecca! I agree that companies are being held slightly more responsible all the time and that is such a good thing to see happening.
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