Just finished another excellent book called Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, & L. hunter Lovins. Following the lines of Green to Gold, this book offers a strong macro level approach for companies, citizens, and governments to consider. At 322 pages, there are a lot of lessons to draw out, a lot of examples to look at, and a lot of things to consider (I have a full page of notes to follow up on), however, in my mind, there are a few key messages to be found in the book: 1) We live in a system, and the system has a lot of waste in it that can be sucked out of the system which will free up a lot of resources that otherwise would need to be recycled later (not as efficient as never drawing the resources out in the first place). 2) Companies/ Government/ Citizens fail to make investments in efficiency because the equation is wrong. Rather than look at the life of a product, the secondary savings, and the lifetime of savings… companies, governments, and citizens often are blinded by the initial “expense” 3) Converting inefficient systems into efficient ones is much easier than many think, and all it takes is a little time (sometimes some capital). However, the amount of investment is quickly offset, and will provide lifelong benefits. 4) Closing loops is one of the best ways to capture waste than cannot otherwise be taken out of the system. Recycling, planning, zoning, etc are all ways that can have a significant positive impact. In the mind of the author, and I would agree, the ball has already begun to roll and those that are already looking to invest in efficiency are seeing gains larger than they thought. in their last paragraph, they sum it up really nicely by saying:

Natural capitalism is not about fomenting social upheaval. On the contrary, that is the consequence that will surely arise if fundamental social and environmental problems are not responsibly addressed. Natural capitalism is about choices we can make that can start to tip economic and social outcomes in positive directions. And it is already occurring - because it is necessary, possible, and practical

For anyone in product design, urban planning, manufacturing, or energy, this really is a must read. The authors have done a fantastic job of interweaving all these subjects into a single message, and the facts that the present are pretty compelling.