Perspectives on Green Business ENVS 5150 Brian Milani

Perspectives on Green Business ENVS 5150 Brian Milani bmilani@web. ca

Course Overview • Focus on overall economic context • some attention to practical business problems • Postindustrial: the Redefinition of Wealth • Sectors & use-value • Distinctions between – protection & alternatives – big & small business; corporate & community • Importance of “values-driven” or “missiondriven” business • Relationships within and outside of the firm

Green as Postindustrial • from mechanics to organics • from machinery to the landscape • Increasing role of “public goods” and the Commons • culture-based development • substitutes intelligence for resources (people-intensive) • focus on end-use, or human and environmental need • from quantity to quality: redefining wealth

The Green Economy • A Historical Transition: …from Quantity to Quality • A Question of Potentials …not simply limits • Key to Sustainability: Redefining Wealth

Principles of a Green Economy 1. The Primacy of Human Need, Service, Use-value, Intrinsic Value & Quality 2. Following Natural Flows 3. Waste Equals Food 4. Elegance and Multifunctionality 5. Appropriate Scale / Linked Scale 6. Diversity 7. Self-Reliance, Self-Organization, Self-Design 8. Participation & Direct Democracy 9. Human Creativity and Development 10. The Strategic role of the Built-environment, the Landscape & Spatial Design

Basics of a Green Economy 1. The Service Economy “Hot Showers and Cold Beer” Nutrition, Illumination, Entertainment, Access, Shelter, Community, etc. 2. The “Lake Economy” Flowing with nature, Every output an input, Closedloop organization, Let nature do the work

Human Development in the Green Economy • Production: human creativity the key • Consumption: “end-use” Direct targeting of human need = massive resource savings • Regulation: participation at all levels.

The Economy in Loops

Industrialism: The Divided Economy Invisible Use-value “Consumption” People Unpaid Women Informal Private Visible Exchange-value “Production” Things Paid Men Formal Public

Invisible Economy (1) Total Productive System of an Industrial Society (layer cake with icing) GNP-Monetized ½ of Cake Top two layers GNP “Private” Sector “Public”Sector “underground economy Non-Monetized Productive ½ of Cake Lower two layers All rights reserved. 2 “Love Economy” Mother Nature Rests on GNP “Public” Sector Rests on Social Cooperative Love Economy Rests on Nature’s Layer Copyright© 1982 Hazel Henderson

Industrialism: Accumulation • Production-for-production’s-sake • Invisibility of key factors • Centralization of production, massive upfront investment • Focus on labour productivity : resources substitute for human energy • Cog-labour: humans as component parts • Regulation: controls as limits • Scarcity-based: role of waste since WWII • Globalization: free trade & intellectual property

Postindustrialism: Regeneration • New relationship of culture to economics: centrality of human development • Substitution of human creativity for resources • Direct targeting of human need: conscious consumption • Human-scale technologies: production ‘distributed’ over the landscape ; Integration: ALL places are places of production • Qualitative Wealth is PLACE-BASED • Distributed regulation: incentives for positive action throughout economy. • Self-reliance / interdependence: “Trade recipes, not cookies”

Structural obstacles to sustainability • Nature of the Corporation • Centrality of Economic Growth • Ownership patterns inconsistent with Stewardship • Alienated relationship to human need – Creating rather than responding to it

The Business Case for Sustainability • Single Bottom Line Sustainability (SBLS) • Essential to large corporations • Not sufficient to create ecological economies • Corporations need outside help!

Internal & External Action • The balance is different for big & small business • Relationship between democracy & economic evolution • Centrality of Stakeholder relationships • Importance of New Enterprise Networks

Market Transformation • Social & Environmental Values become drivers of “mindful markets” • Money & capital increasingly a means (not the end-goal) of economic development • Involves the transformation of regulation —incentives & disincentives built into everyday economic life

3 -D’s of Green Development • Dematerialization • Detoxification • Decentralization

Common Sense Economics Increase restrictions on the flow of material goods and physical capital (to minimize transport costs, etc. ) Lessen restrictions on the flow of information and culture. Herman Daly “Trade Recipes, not Cookies. ” note: Globalization does exactly the opposite: via free trade and intellectual property law.

Corporate Strategies • Corporations as financial, not production, entities • Structural problems: the ‘bottom line’ • documentary: The Corporation • Need to change corporate DNA • Need for outside help: regulation (EPR), new enterprises networks, certification • The Stakeholder Corporation & democracy

Community / Small Business • The realm of cutting-edge alternatives in almost every sector • Need for new & stronger networks • Local market power based on solid knowledge • Import substitution • Regenerative finance • Necessity of empowering all sections of the community • Community development Plans & Indicators

Living in De-Material World Redesign not simply controls Direct focus on human (& environmental) need The Service Economy: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) encouraging provision of services not stuff. Servicizing (voluntary EPR). The “Lake Economy”: economic biomimicry: sectoral orientation: regenerative food, energy, manufacturing, c ommunications. New forms of economic security Conscious support of the Commons Disarming the autonomous power of money Building a community/ecosystem base: localization.

Social Change Today • Strategic priority of ALTERNATIVES over opposition. • Community as the key locus for change, but every level requires action • Need for long-term VISION • Need for incremental change and PIONEER ENTERPRISES in ecological economic succession. • Need for incentives/disincentives thoughout the entire economy.