Danielle Shroyer

After my post yesterday, I thought I’d offer up an example of a company that has wholeheartedly embraced the green economy- and they did so as the world’s largest flooring company.

Ray Anderson, the CEO of Interface, claims he began to take stock of how his company made their flooring after reading a few books about the environment. He says the results he got back made him want to throw up. He realized that in that year Interface used 1.224 billion pounds of material from the earth to create $802 million worth of flooring products. About 400 million of those pounds were abundant natural resources. The remaining 800 pounds consistent of non-renewable resources such as coal, oil, etc. And of those 800 pounds, a whopping two-thirds of those materials were simply burned up in the process. He found this to be so ludicrous- both from a business perspective (what a waste of money!) as well as an ecological perspective (what a waste of precious natural resources!) that he was determined to redesign the entire way Interface made flooring. Interface has a goal of reaching total ecological neutrality in the making of their products. You can read on their website about concrete steps they have taken to do things like reduce their water intake by 75% and divert over 100 million pounds of material from landfills.

Anderson wrote a book telling the story of this major overhaul in Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise. Not only is it packed with wise insight, it also proves that being ecologically savvy makes good business sense. It’s cheaper when you use less resources, being ecologically aware brings you a satisfied and loyal customer base, and because you are doing something worthwhile in the world, your employees will feel a high level of satisfaction working for you (and therefore will do a better job). Interface was voted by Fortune magazine as one of the best places to work. In the first two quarters of 2009, Interface has netted $410 million.

I tend to appreciate Thomas Friedman’s take on things. I especially appreciate this recent article about the state of our green economy in the NY Times. Here’s an excerpt from the bottom of the article:

“O.K., so you don’t believe global warming is real. I do, but let’s assume it’s not. Here is what is indisputable: The world is on track to add another 2.5 billion people by 2050, and many will be aspiring to live American-like, high-energy lifestyles. In such a world, renewable energy — where the variable cost of your fuel, sun or wind, is zero — will be in huge demand.

China now understands that. It no longer believes it can pollute its way to prosperity because it would choke to death. That is the most important shift in the world in the last 18 months. China has decided that clean-tech is going to be the next great global industry and is now creating a massive domestic market for solar and wind, which will give it a great export platform.”

I try not to be frustrated by the fact that America is so behind in seeing the future of green industries. But it’s incredibly frustrating. Not only is it an ethically good choice (seriously- who can have disdain for supporting renewable energy?!) but it’s also the kind of sizeable untapped market that should make even the most die-hard capitalist drool. Instead, we have a nation filled with creative entrepreneurs like Applied Materials who have to move their brilliant new products (not to mention their factories) to other countries because we are not interested.

What in the world are we waiting for?

We’ve been back to school for two weeks, and I’m tired! It’s always difficult ramping back into the routine, even when a return to routine is desirable. As I usually do this time of year, I start to wonder about how I can simplify, streamline, de-clutter my life/our lives. It gets so busy so quickly, and sometimes you run, run, run for a month and then wonder, “Why am I doing all of this again?”

This is probably why I found it great timing for No Impact Man Colin Beavan’s book to come out. He helps me remember that simplifying where you can is always a good thing. If you didn’t know, Colin and his wife and daughter live in NYC and they decided to go totally green for an entire year- hence “no impact.” They didn’t use cars, electricity, didn’t buy anything new except locally grown food. I know- it sounds both insane and horrible- especially in New York City. Not only did he prove it was doable, but that it was actually enjoyable. (He does admit, however, that he does not want to go without a washing machine again, so I also appreciate his honesty. With the massive loads around my house, no way I’m giving that up!)

I admire them because they had about every excuse available to them- they are busy, they live in New York, they have a child, they are not gazillionaires, etc. Still, they made it work.

As I feel the tug of busyness this fall, I could use a reminder that I can still choose to reduce my impact, to simplify my life, and to spend my best energies on the most important things and not the unnecessary ones.