Greening Business

From The Nature of Things series, Greening Business is an interesting, although ultimately less than satisfying, look at attempts by individual business enterprises to grapple with ecological responsibility. Host David Suzuki provides a handful of fascinating case studies--all drawn from Canada--to demonstrate the creative ways in which going green has made good fiscal sense, as well as good sense in terms of planetary survival. Examples of eco-conscious re-engineering include Canadian Pacific Hotel's program of intensive recycling (everything from table scraps to those cute little complimentary sundry bottles in the bathroom). Similarly were shown Bell Canada's policy of taking away employee wastebaskets in favor of recycling bins, and the firm's efforts to design recyclable product packaging. Other pioneering green corporations visited include clothing manufacturer Patagonia (parkas from soda bottle shreds, yow!), and cosmetics monger The Body Shop (helping the Kayapo of Brazil just say no to slash and burn agriculture). In between these cases, the ruggedly handsome talking head of author Paul Hawken (The Ecology of Commerce) is trotted out to say a few softly spoken but grimly cautionary words. As interesting and laudable as these experiments are, the overall discussion seems mighty facile in the end. Most businesses shown are small to medium in size; none are involved in heavy manufacturing. Most of the emphasis is on enlightened voluntary action; the role of government regulation in promoting larger scale sanctions and shifts in industrial practice is grazed over superficially. Hawken talks about the need to move from a linear approach to manufacturing and distribution to a cyclical economy--one based on products which ultimately degrade and return to the earth, or which can be recycled. Unfortunately, there's not even a glimmer of how this larger revolution is realistically to be accomplished. Recommended with reservations for public or school libraries (grades 7 and up). (G. Handman)