Industrial Ecology: Can We Trust It?
When I hear the term ‘industrial,’ I see factories pumping waste into once
clear-running streams. . . or a ‘maximum yield forest,’ which is the Boise
Cascade euphemism for a clear-cutting policy that turns a deeply-shaded,
mossy, multi-layered Pacific Northwest forest into piles of slash, dry snags
and rubble. So I don’t much trust that ‘industrial’ can be joined to
‘ecology’ with any good results.
However, Bill Shireman, CEO and President of Global Futures
(www.globalfutures.org), is trying to change all that. The more I immerse
myself in ‘green reading,’ (or immerse one foot, keeping the other foot
firmly in the high-tech business world) the more strongly I believe that
sustainability is the force that will transform business in our new century.
Shireman and company is putting on the fifth year of an industrial Ecology
Conference (IE 2000, Industrial Ecology 2000), October 5-8, with the UC Berkeley Haas School of
Business. They are bringing heavy hitters like Ford and the EPA into
conversations with environmenatlists to discuss how to work together to
create sustainable business policy.
For a longer discussion of IE and Bill’s credentials, see my latest article
in Canada’s online digital culture mag Mindjack Mindjack Magazine -
Industrial Ecology: Can We
