Print friendly
E-mail story
Contact an Editor
iPod friendly
Comments
Bookmark This
del.icio.us.
Digg!
furl
google
newsvine
reddit
technorati
Facebook
Yahoo!Could it be that world happenings are conspiring to require business to evolve? If the corporate world can accept an equitable interest in social and environmental responsibility as well as in profit, it will serve us all better.
We know of the happenings. It has become clear that our natural resources - fossil fuels, minerals, forests, water - are truly limited, that we need to radically change our use of them, that our flagrant use of these resources and our generally polluting ways are harming all of us. Climate change threatens, population growth compounds the dangers.
The current fallout from the bomb of the subprime mortgage crisis and the absurdity of the soaring CEO salaries, sometimes unrelated to company performance, are some of the grist for the business mills to filter and churn out more social responsiblity, honesty, and transparency.
Thanks to our wealth and technology (especially the internet), the exponentially rising level of awareness and understanding of these crises has given us the power needed to foster change. Granted, much of that same wealth and technology were products of our wasteful ways, but they have equipped us with the tools we need to ease the world's "blessed unrest."*
*"Blessed Unrest" by Paul Hawken, c2007 Viking Press
Related Links
- SAM Starts Tenth Annual Assessment for Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes
- Copenhagan Climate Council
- Green Business Alliance
Barbara Hirsch is a sustainability change agent at UCSB, where she is also the recording technician for the UCSB Music Library. When not at the University, Barbara can be found recording classical concerts and living in wonder.
Double-clicking on any word or phrase in this story will open a reference window with definitions and links to other reference material.
Previous Month
Comments
Discussion Guidelines
Post a comment