SUSTAINING OUR PLANET

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I don't mean to gainsay what we and other companies were doing. It's important that business becomes aware and starts to change manufacturing and distribution. But nevertheless you can't become a sustainable enterprise under the existing systems. And I became very curious as to why that is so. Why is it that it's cheaper to destroy things than it is to sustain them? Why is it that we can destroy the world at a discount, but if we want to do the right thing we have to pay a premium?

MOTHER: Did you sell your business before you started writing your book, and would you consider yourself an entrepreneur now or a writer?

PH: I'm a writer. I wouldn't have felt comfortable running and operating a business while taking the stance about business that I have taken in the book. It would be conflicting. It's not that I didn't understand the dynamics of business, but I didn't want to write it from the point of view of owning, operating, or being in a business because the logical question everyone would ask is, "Well, what are you doing to help?"

MOTHER: Well it is true that you have made money selling your book. And the obvious criticism is that you're the beneficiary of the system you criticize.

PH: If I were saying, "Throw the bums out," it'd be hypocritical. Except I'm not saying throw the bums out. What I'm saying is that business is critical to our future. In fact, if we're going to restore the environment, it's going to be business that's going to do it. Furthermore, I'm not saying the problem is business' fault-it operates within a system that has a design flaw. It's the design that prohibits restoration of our system of commerce.

Also, I don't personally care how much money a person makes, as long as the way they're making it is making a better world for you and me and my children. What I am concerned about is that we have a situation now where people can and do make a lot of money in business. At a certain point their conscience is struck and they can decide to use some of that money to help restore the environment that was destroyed by the very business practices they benefited from.

MOTHER: One of the arguments in your book is that we should adjust prices so that they reflect the real costs of what the product is taking out of the whole system. You use the example of raising the costs of gasoline.

NATURE ILLETERACY: "Adults can recognize one thousand different logos of companies and products, but they cannot identify ten native plants around their houses, or even name five native birds."

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