This morning on my way to work I was, as per usual, listening to KUOW. The guest was Ray Anderson, author of Confessions of a Radical Industrialist and retired CEO and founder of Interface, a commercial carpet company.
In 1995, he described his vision to his company: to be both sustainable and profitable. He asserted that the path to sustainability lies in rethinking the entire industrial system. Under a new system, ecological awareness would be a requirement, based on the belief “to take nothing from the Earth that can’t be replaced by the earth.”
In order to do this, Anderson set measurable goals (like cutting greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel consumption, waste, and water use) and led his business by the mission “doing well by doing good.” He has reduced his businesses waste by over a third over the last fifteen years. In fact, since 2003, Interface has “manufactured and sold over 83 million square yards of carpet with no net global-warming effect.” Through the company’s Mission Zero project, they are striving for a zero environmental footprint by 2020.
Many Seattle business owners called in, bemoaning the effects of the tanking economy on their green business efforts, begging the question: are sustainability and capitalism mutually exclusive?
ECOSS thinks not! With our no-closed-door policy, our free and confidential services are available to business owners and individuals who aim to incorporate sustainable practices in their business models or in their homes. We can help you reduce waste and consumption with the bottom line in mind.
-Elise