Catching up...

I didn't pick up a book on Christmas Day or Boxing day so i'm playing catch up tonight. I'm 200 pages into my second book and i should have nearly finished! Doh! I'll be reading till the wee small hours tonight to get it nailed. The last 40 pages have been really interesting, the whole book so far has been good. Lots of case studies, no jargon, great information on what the future of business might look like.

There's a great case study on Levis. Ten years ago they started sourcing 2% of it's annual cotton buy organically and decided not to tell anybody about it, i couldnt work out why the worlds largest cotton buyer wouldnt tell people they were doing something bold and new that reduced their impact on the environment. I found out half a page later.

If they started promoting this, they would need to explain why-that fully a fourth of all pesticides in the world are used on cotton, and the resulting impacts on groundwater run off, worker health and safety, and the birds and the trees. If they did that they risked their customers saying "So 98% of what you buy is bad for people and the planet?"

They had to be careful because activists love to make examples of brand leaders.

Interesting stuff hey!

Next book is.....

Strategies for the Green Economy by Joel Makower. Yeehaa! Here's a hit from the back cover - “Strategies for the Green Economy joins big-picture perspective with ground-level practicalities in ways that will challenge and inspire even the most skeptical executive.”
--Lorraine Bolsinger, vice president of Ecomagination, General Electric

I read the first 60 pages last night and it's refreshingly easy to read after the heavy science of Biomimicry.

One thing that stuck out was the challenges that many businesses face becoming a green company that has minimal impact on the planet as there are no real standards of what good looks like. It's hard to be a leader when you don't know where your going, its about having the courage and belief to take risks and inspire other businesses to follow! I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

First book - DONE! With one day to spare..

Well it's certainly been an interesting read, pretty deep at times, industrial ecology, biomimetics, smart computers, profitable and earth-friendly business. Immitating what nature has been doing for millions of years seems like common sense but common sense isn't something we've been good at since the industrial revolution. Biomimicry is a pretty special science that genuinely could lead the next generation out of this shit-hole we've dug ourselves. Learning and respecting nature, a simple idea, next time i'm in the woods i'll certainly be wondering about the wonder of nature! If you have an interest in environmental science this book is an absolute must, if your like me and have no scientific background but your interested in protecting the beautiful planet we call home this is an absolute must. 8 out of 10 :)

Half way!

180 pages in and it's been a tough last 60. Remember i said jargon free....Well that certainly applies if your Stephen Hawking! Some real deep chemistry going down. Still, i think i grasped most of it and the last 15 pages have been really interesting. Did you know ounce for ounce spiders silk is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar, but the spider is a "factory" smaller than your little finger, which uses no boiling sulphuric acid or high-pressure extruders, and whose only raw materials are crickets and flies, incredible!

Rhino horns tonight....

50 down, 250 to go!

What on earth have we been doing to ourselves in the last 100 years, we've totally lost our minds, ignored nature, made twice as much work for ourselves and polluted the planet in the meantime, Doh!

The first 50 pages is pretty much all about farming and how farmers in America have started learning from nature and introducing polyculture (using multiple crops in the same area) permaculture (sustainable land use design) to help fight against pests and use less chemicals and oil in the process of growing natural foods.

There's a great story about a guy in Japan called Masanobu Fukuoka who practised natural farming, he basically uses no machines, no pesticide and very little weeding. He does not plow the soil or use prepared compost and yet the condition of the soil in his orchards and fields improve each year. His method creates no pollution and does not require fossil fuels. His method requires less labor than any other, yet the yields in his orchard and fields compare favorably with the most productive Japanese farms which use all the technical know-how of modern science.

So far it makes perfect sense,  there's definitely not to much jargon and some really interesting case studies.