Osbert’s ethical enterprise

I recently asked people involved in corporate social responsibility to recommend some books. I wrote:

“Ray Anderson at Interface was famously influenced to address sustainability as a result of reading Paul Hawken’s ‘The Ecology of Commerce‘. (You can read Ray’s story here.)

“That was some years ago (1993) and general awareness of climate change and sustainability is much higher. And lots of new books have been written.

“What book would you now give to someone - especially in business - to inspire them to take action for people and planet?”

I wanted to find out if there were some great books out there that had passed me by. I particularly wanted to discover a book to give to people working in business who are concerned about environmental and social issues, but perhaps need inspiration and guidance to move from concern to action.

It was interesting to see some old favourites suggested:

• Small is beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered by EF Schumacher (1973). Bob Ellis at the Centre for Sustainable Engineering wrote: “One of my all time favourites, and probably one of the most groundbreaking sustainability texts ever written. Light-years ahead of its time and still just as relevant in today’s world.”
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962). “45 years on, it’s as powerful as ever,” says Robin Cole-Hamilton of Massar, the Children’s Project in Syria.
• The Lorax by Dr Suess (1971) was suggested by John Pinkard of VIPRE: “I don’t know I’d give this to a business-person, but I might give it to them to read to their kids!”

More recent books suggested include:

• Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus (1999). “It’s enlightening, it’s written by a man which made a difference. It’s business related and it’s also interesting if your target audience is outside the social sector,” says Annalisa Picciolo of Merrill Lynch.
• The Growth Illusion by Richard Douthwaite (1999) - suggested by Jo Southall at Ethical Consumer.
• Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins (1999) - a direct descendant of the The Ecology of Commerce.

And some recent books trying to show how capitalism could be tamed and redirected towards sustainability:

• Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity by Stuart L. Hart (2007) is recommended by Tom Ewart of the Research Network for Business Sustainability: “For a business audience or one that is reasonably academically mature… It is perhaps less visionary than Hawken, but more concrete and actionable.”
• Capitalism as if the world matters by Jonathon Porritt (2005/2007) is just out in a revised second edition. Strangely this was only recommended once - perhaps because it’s so well known already? In my experience this is the one current book on this side of the Atlantic that gets to grips with these issues from a business perspective.
• The New Capitalists: How Citizen Investors Are Reshaping the Corporate Agenda by Stephen M. Davis, Jon Lukomnik, David Pitt-Watson (2006) is a new book to me suggested by Camilo Terranova.
  

Most of these books are ‘big picture’ and it’s perhaps not also always obvious how one can take action unless you happen to be CEO of a major corporation or a powerful government minister. Sustainability consultant Penny Walker wrote:

“Here are two which are fun and engaging - some people from the world of business might find them so too, or not, depending on their personality and the context in which they receive them:

• I count - your step-by-step guide to climate bliss - Stop Climate Chaos Coalition / Penguin
• Change the world 9-5 - We Are What We Do / Short Books

“I suggest these because, frankly, I think most people in business and elsewhere know that there is a big looming problem out there, and know more or less what needs to be done about it, but they can’t see / don’t believe what they can personally do - the ostensibly powerful feel disempowered. Both these books are about helping people feel supported in doing a few small steps to get them on the way.”

It’s an interesting thought. I’ve not read them yet, and I’ll be interested to see how/whether they make the link between small, practical steps and the major, structural changes that are required.

I do have a worry that focusing on the small steps, without highlighting the need for bigger shifts, can lead to complacency. An interesting article at Tom Crompton’s Valuing Nature blog suggests that perhaps we need to fully understand the horror of what the modern world has unleashed if we are to address the problems with sufficient vigour. The piece ends with a profound quote from Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown’s classic Coming Back to Life (1998) “The problem, therefore, lies not with our pain for the world, but in our repression of it.”

We’re now moving away from books which explicitly address the potential role of business in addressing climate change etc, to books that inform a deeper perspective of the state of the world and may, one hopes, inspire compassion and action:

• Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World’s Environmental Hotspots by Alanna Mitchell (2005) suggested by Miriam Katz is a new book to me, and judging by the reviews, one I’d like to read.
• Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the World in the 20th Century by J.R. McNeill (2000) suggested by Charlie Knaggs of DLA Piper is a superb book that gave me one of those ohmigod moments: my perception of the scale of humans’ domination of the world shifted when I read that humankind accounts for 5% of the world’s animal biomass (p272). It’s interesting that this book contains no polemic, no blame, no calls to action - it just sets out, clearly and fully referenced, the changes to the environment over the last century and describes how these came about.

Here are two books that I’d like to share, though they weren’t suggested during this exercise. Echoing Penny’s point above, the context in which people are given, or discover, books is important and worth thinking about.

• Soil And Soul: People Versus Corporate Power by Alastair McIntosh (2001/2004) has often led people to get in touch with the Centre for Human Ecology - of which Alastair and I are both Fellows. Soil and Soul tells a powerful personal story, rooted in the places of Scotland, culminating in the successful campaign to prevent the development of a super-quarry on Harris. Several people have told me they bought the book while on holiday in Scotland, were blown away by it - and as direct result have come to study at the Centre for Human Ecology. Perhaps there’s something special about the combination of time to read (perhaps forced indoors by rain or midges!) and reading a book in the land, and among the people, that are at the heart of the story.
• A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming by Michael Northcott (2007). Michael is also a CHE fellow and Professor of Ethics at Edinburgh University, and in A Moral Climate he explores both the science of climate change and the ethical grounds for taking action - and taking action ethically. In a world where we too often hear only the dark side of major religions, the book is rooted in Christian traditions of compassion for others, stewardship of creation, and of challenging the powerful. But given the instinctive suspicion many, myself included, have of organised religion, it’s worth reflecting on the right time and place to recommend a book where each chapter starts with verses from Jeremiah. I found the rewards for overcoming my suspicions worth the effort!

Sometimes, when you ask a question you discover it perhaps wasn’t the right question - although I asked about books, Michael Ambjorn said “I’d actually start with a couple of presentations rather than a book - The excellent TED Talk by John Doerr is good for making that opening for follow-up reading.”

Adrian Henriques was modest enough not to plug his excellent new book Corporate Truth: the limits of transparency, and instead recommended the films: An Inconvenient Truth and Peace One Day.

If I’ve missed your favourite book, you want to give your thoughts on any of the suggestions, or to share your experience of recommending these to others, please leave a comment!

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question, and particularly to the CSR-Chicks, the CSR-Blokes and my network on LinkedIn.