http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071001005301&newsLang=en
A couple things about this report really stand out to me...
First, 62% of these Top 100 retail companies have reported increasing their green investments over the past two years. That's a pretty solid number. It shows these CEOs are putting their money where their mouths are.
But what I found really fascinating was why they're doing it... why they're going greener.
Surprise Surprise: Corporate America Hasn't Grown a Conscience... Yet!
I'm not sure if they were given the option of saying: "Because I'm interested in keeping a nice planet for myself and my posterity."
But whatever the case may be, only 25% said they were going green for zoning or tax-break-related reasons. About 13% of CEOs said they were greening because they wanted to improve their image with shareholders...
But a whopping 54% of the CEOs polled cited "image among consumers" as their primary reason for instituting sustainable business practices.
That tells me that the sustainability movement is winning the war against ignorance... in the place where it matters most: the marketplace of ideas. That tells me that we can bring about major change in the thinking of the PEOPLE who run America's biggest corporations... not by hitting them over the head and preaching, but by sharing information, sharing the facts.
Al Gore did it with his book and his movie. And it's a great paradigm for enlightening people in general.
After all, everything comes down to the human beings behind the corporations... From the CEOs to the board members... to the management to the entry-level employees. That's why this movement seems so perfectly suited to grass roots efforts.
Sustainability is not a political movement, in my opinion... It's much bigger than that... And more important, too... This is about humanity waking up to a brighter, healther, sustainable future... one person at a time... and not only because we need to in order to survive... which is true... but because we want to...
Best,
James
No comments:
Post a Comment