Thesis research - Possible References

By Molly Moran

Hawken, Paul. (1993). The Ecology of Commerce. A Declaration of Sustainability. New York. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

The book begins with a powerful statement about business and the world, “Businesspeople must either dedicate themselves to transforming commerce to a restorative undertaking or much society to the undertaker” (Hawken. 1993. Pg.2). It is a do or die statement that sets a serious and ‘real’ mood for the rest of the book. By listing the problems or issues that equate to, “waste equals food, nature runs off of current solar income, and nature depends on diversity” (Hawkins. 1993. Pg. 12).Explaining the consumption and reuse system that the world runs on. That we as consumers do not consumer as much as we put out. A product produced may takes more material to make then is actually in the product and that the waste of some products are reduced to a harmful form instead of something that can breakdown back into nature. Even products that can be broken down back into nature may be over produced to such a concentration that it can’t be absorbed back to nature. Business handles these environmental issues with, “the concept of ‘environmentally sound’ landfills and toxic waste incineration is attractive to industry because it requires the least amount of change and preserves the status quo with respect to industries’ goal and ambitions, while boosting the waste disposal industry. By focusing on the immediate problems involving the disposal of waste, industry is able to say that it is responsive to rising public concern. What it is actually doing is avoiding the fundamental issue, which is the creation of waste” (Hawkins. 1993. Pg.45).

Paul Hawken gives several cons and statics on waste incinerator plants, the initial concept for my thesis, that I feel is best left the contexts he provides in his book:
"What about waste incineration, the method of choice for dealing with most other forms of waste? First, keep in mind that the incinerator industry rose from the 'ashes' of the nuclear industry. As costs and safety concerns began to erode nuclear power's allure, the companies that had most benefited from building the plants-Bechtel, Westinghouse, Combustion Engineering, and Babcock & Wilcox- got into the 'resource recovery' business, also known as 'trash to cash'. But the energy resource recovered through burning trash to run steam turbines is a minute fraction of the total energy required to make the trash in the first place.

Incineration does not eliminate garbage or waste, it merely changes its form. Emissions are spread across town and country, which is why they have tall smokestacks. (New Jersey example of average yearly emissions) For every 100 tons of trash, incinerators produce 30 tons of fly ash, a granular substance that contains most of the toxins from paint and plastic, as well as mercury, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals. The fly ash is then trucked to a landfill where it has to be enclosed in a plastic liners for many thousands of years."(Hawken. 1993. Pg. 46-47).

Moving on from the negatives of business and industry on the environment Hawken begins to explain what efforts it will take for business to turn around it distcrutive ways and provide a healthy environment for the future. "Restoration is not a business term. But then, neither is degradation." (Hawken. 1993. Pg.58). This quote infers that business must act and conduct itself in a way that not only reduces its impact on the environment, but enriches the future environment and society.

The book then goes on exploring ways and examples of corporations and industry actively reducing and reusing waste and the pros and cons of those examples. Such as, Kalundborg, Denmark where thanks to geographical proximity a wide verity of major industry reused nearly all of each other's waste without prompting from the government. It accrued thanks to business cooperating and ultimately saving a buck. Then again, many other examples and suggestions urge government to give a more persuasive push toward sustainable business by making more economical to reduce and reuse material and waste.