[GreenYes] Re: Healthy Business Strategies report from Clean Production Action

["Eric Lombardi" <eric@no.address>]

Helen,

Whew, this could be a long conversation... but you are right.  We need to
deconstruct the arguments of our opponents so that we can understand and
possibly partner on sub-issues.  Building the trust is a process as
necessary as oxygen to this process.

My little effort over the years has been to use Eco-Cycle Inc. (a nonprofit)
as a marketplace experiment where we make money in the capitalist manner,
voluntarily cap our profits at around 10%, and pour our energy/growth/cash
into a social mission.  I call it the ten percent solution, and I am very
open with the local governments and local businesses I serve that the 10%
Solution is good for everyone.  So far, after 15 years, I have never had a
government or business client tell me that a 10% profit was excessive, and
then they pay it and thank us for doing our social mission.  

This approach is now called "social enterprise" in the nonprofit world and
it has become a mega-trend over the last 5 years.  I'd like to see it
continue to rise as a "new option" to the old anything-goes kind of
capitalism.

Eric Lombardi
Executive Director/CEO
Eco-Cycle Inc
Boulder, CO. USA
303-444-6634
www.ecocycle.org
 

-----Original Message-----
From: GreenYes@no.address [mailto:GreenYes@no.address] On Behalf
Of Helen Spiegelman
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 2:54 PM
To: Greenyes List
Subject: [GreenYes] Re: Healthy Business Strategies report from Clean
Production Action


Peace activists from all over the world are gathered in my fair city 
(Vancouver, Canada) this week for the World Peace Forum. They are talking 
in hundreds of intense, well-attended sessions about how to get past war 
and conflict. One of the sessions I attended was an exercise in "deep 
dialogue." The premise of deep dialogue is that we are going to have to get 
people with what seem like fundamentally opposed views working through the 
issues in order to achieve workable solutions (think "restorative justice" 
which is a deep dialogue between victims and perpetrators of crimes).

I came away persuaded that this can be done by de-constructing opposing 
positions. In the present instance: what is it, specifically, within the 
"Capitalist modus operandi" that does not work for us? What elements can we 
break out and negotiate on, rather than trashing the Capitalist modus 
operandi in its entirety?

This is what Product Policy Institute is wrestling with when we talk about 
"good governance". Commerce is a part of the human experience. How can we 
tame commerce so it serves humans and the environment? Can we really 
imagine a world without any commerce whatsoever? (Will the first person who 
never bought anything please raise your hand?)

Helen.

At 01:12 PM 6/27/2006, Mike Morin wrote:

>Is this progress or is it greenwash (i.e. public relations)?
>
>While McDonough's work is admirable and desirable, I sincerely believe that
>we can not build an equitable and sustainable culture (i.e. economy) by
>trying to green the Capitalist modus operandi.
>
>
>MM
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Monica Wilson" <mwilson@no.address>
>To: "Greenyes List" <GreenYes@no.address>
>Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 12:06 PM
>Subject: [GreenYes] Healthy Business Strategies report from Clean
Production
>Action
>
>
> >
> > A new report detailing how companies can and are moving from toxic
> > chemistry
> > to green chemistry is available at http://www.cleanproduction.org  See
> > especially the recommendations to business starting on page 47. This
looks
> > like a very useful tool if you're working with businesses to reduce and
> > detoxify both onsite wastes and products (potential wastes-to-be).
> >
> > The report profiles innovations at:
> > Kaiser Permanente (health care)
> > Interface (fabrics and carpets)
> > H&M (clothing)
> > Herman Miller (furniture)
> > Avalon (cosmetics)
> > Dell (electronics)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > >
> >
>
>
>
>





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