Links to Key Information Sources
We want to
share our thoughts and ideas. Part of that is giving you a "heads
up" on information sources we like. Here are a few to get you
started. Watch this space for regular updates.
| The Site |
The So What? Factor |
| www.aveda.com |
The first privately-held corporation to
sign the CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible
Economies) Principles, and a leader in the development of
plant-based hair, body and life style products. |
| www.business-ethics.com |
Marjorie Kelly's bimonthly take on business
ethics is a "must read" at ABBOTT STRATEGIES. |
| www.business.humber.ca |
If you want to change the world, check out
the one-year post-graduate certificate in International Development
offered by the business school at Toronto’s Humber College. |
| www.camc.com |
Winning in the global economy demands a
business perspective with a world view. Give yourself the
best possible advantage - a higher level of management consulting.
Get a CMC on your side. |
| www.earthisland.org |
David Brower's brainchild. Enough said. |
| www.eLance.com |
The web has reduced or removed the costs
associated with searching out talent. The corporation as we
know it will therefore never be the same. This site is a good
example of how our thinking about commerce has changed. |
| www.envisiontools.com |
Very powerful sustainability scenario-building
from Mike Walsh and Dave Biggs. This is where sustainability
starts to make sense. |
| www.fastcompany.com |
For wild, "out-of-the-box" thinking, Fast
Company can't be beat. At least 1 great idea in every issue. |
| www.greenbiz.com |
A storehouse of interesting
ideas to help society shift to a more sustainable trajectory
- especially good recent data on eco-efficiency and performance
metrics. |
| www.greenfrigatebooks.com |
I need to declare my own self interest here
(I'm co-editor), but hey, it's a cool site. Green Frigate
Books is a small publishing house focusing on the natural
and built environments, and the relations of humans with them.
My buddy, Robert France, is the real juice behind this venture
and his book, Profitably Soaked,
our inaugural release, is a good read. |
| www.hbr.org |
Harvard Business Review online. Still our
favorite general business magazine. |
| www.innovestgroup.com |
The most elegant thinking on the relationship
between environmental and financial performance, and one of
the few groups that appreciates the importance of attribution. |
| www.leadingtherevolution.com |
Gary Hamel lights the way ahead for business
in the 21st century. His book is the one Rob Abbott wishes
he wrote. |
| www.motherjones.com |
The legacy of Mary Harris “Mother”
Jones (1837-1930). Read the mainstream business press, but
then read this to get the point – counterpoint. |
| www.piquenewsmagazine.com |
The Resort Municipality of Whistler's weekly
newsmagzine gets a mention here because of G.D. Maxwell's
backpage commentaries. A dazzling writer, Maxwell's frequent
thoughts on sustainability are always insightful. |
| www.planning.org |
Home of the American Planning Association,
an organization dedicated to providing leadership in the development
of vital communities. The association's policy guide on planning
for sustainability (available at planning.org/policyguides/sustainability)
is especially useful. |
| www.small-potatoes.com |
David Van Seters, a friend, colleague and
inspiration, has built Canada's largest home delivery organic
grocery company as a model of sustainability. Watch this energetic
company and learn what it means to be sustainable…and
successful. |
| www.smsweb.org |
Home of the Strategic Management Society,
this site is the closest the web offers to a portal into the
world of strategy. A wonderful, and appropriate, mix of academic,
business and consulting thought, all the major thinkers can
be found here. Includes a kick-ass list of "must have"
references in strategy. |
| www.sustainablecanada.org |
Follow the story of an interesting initiative,
spearheaded by David Wheeler from the Schulich School of Business,
that asks whether or not Canada can brand itself as a sustainable
and socially responsible nation. |
| www.sustreport.org |
In the face of the most recent corporate
meltdowns, calls for greater transparency and accountability
in the reporting of corporate performance can only grow louder.
This site provides a window on what the future will look like. |
| www.tomorrow-web.com |
The best and most readable sustainability
magazine for business. |
| www.wri.org |
Home of Robert Repetto, architect of some
of the most cogent economic studies on sustainability available
anywhere. His recent work, with Duncan Austin, on disclosure
of environmental risks (or lack thereof) in the U.S. pulp
and paper industry is especially good reading. |
Recommended Reading
The definitive text on sustainability has yet to be written. While
there are some excellent primers that cover most of the bases
(a few of them are even included here), our preference is to dig
into the seminal texts, some many years old, from the disciplines
that inform the sustainability debate. A few of our favorites
in this regard are:
| The Book |
The So What? Factor |
| The
Seeds of Innovation (2002), Elaine Dund |
A
handy new book, written in plain language, that lays out what
innovation is (and isn't). Dundon wisely notes that innovation
is more than creativity or R&D - it's about creativity,
strategy, implementation and, most importantly, profitability.
The three "seeds" of innovation are Creative Thinking;
Strategic Thinking; and Transformational Thinking. Buy this
book. Read it, use it, and prosper. |
| AAAS
Atlas of Population & Environment (2000) |
A
wonderful synthesis of information on the relationships between
human population and the environment from the American Association
for the Advancement of Science - an important foundation of
knowledge on which to build an argument for sustainability. |
| Human
Activity and the Environment 2000 (2000), Statistics
Canada |
As
with the AAAS volume, but focusing on Canada. Essential reading
to understand the environmental costs of human activity. Includes
a handy CD-Rom, and a wonderful 2-page (!) overview of the
evolution of the concept of sustainable development. |
| What
Management Is (2002), Joan Magretta |
An early candidate for my favourite
biz book of 2002, Magretta, long-time strategy editor of Harvard
Business Review, cuts through the rhetoric that bedevils
most "management" books and explains in clear prose
what management really is and how it works. The rare book
that is equally valuable for the neophyte or expert. |
| Creative
Destruction (2001), Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan |
My favourite business book
of 2001, Foster and Kaplan, long-time McKinsey stars, draw
on Joseph Schumpeter's vision of capitalism as a process of
"creative destruction", and point out that it is
difficult, if not impossible, to sustain a competitive advantage
without challenging your company's business model (and potentially
reinventing it) on a regular basis. |
The
Ingenuity Gap: How Can We Solve the Problems of the Future
Thomas Homer-Dixon (2000) |
Homer-Dixon,
Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at the
University of Toronto, asks if the world is becoming too complex
and fast-paced to manage. His perspective is much-needed in
the face of uncertainty. |
The
Commonwealth of Life: A Treatise on Stewardship Economics
Peter Brown (2001) |
The
Director of the McGill School of Environment in Montreal,
CANADA achieves a wonderful synthesis of science, policy and
economics in a slim volume that should be widely read by those
with an interest in making better decisions. |
Let
the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run
(David Brower) |
An
elegiac "summing up" from the most eloquent and influential
voice in the environmental movement. Read it and be enobled. |
Beyond
Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development
(Herman Daly) |
A
clear-eyed account of the future of economics. Undervalued
now, it will come to be seen as prescient. |
Management:
Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
(Peter Drucker) |
The
world's greatest authority on management lays out the rules
for corporate behavior. |
Cannibals
with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business
(John Elkington)
|
Always
ahead of the curve, Elkington's account of the 3 dimensions
of sustainability, here called a "triple bottom line", is
a manifesto for change and the best single book for business
on the subject. |
Leading
the Revolution
(Gary Hamel) |
Building
on his 1994 book, Competing for the Future, one of
the world's greatest thinkers on strategy provides a compelling
case for corporate re-invention. |
A
Civil Action
(Jonathan Harr) |
Forget
the film version with John Travolta, this is a frightening
and yet riveting chronicle of environmental litigation that
takes you into the deep end of the legal process. You'll keeping
stopping to remind yourself that this actually happened -
it's not just a story. |
The
Ecology of Commerce
(Paul Hawken) |
It
now bears the mark of a "classic", and justifiably so. Paul
Hawken's 1993 masterpiece galvanized a generation of thinkers
and doers and is a deeply satisfying account of one man's
journey towards sustainability. |
The
Nature of Economies
(Jane Jacobs)
|
In
a series of "dialogues", Jacobs turns her formidable intellect
on the subject of sustainability and gently steers the reader
to an understanding of how economies should work. |
The
Lorax
(Dr. Seuss)
|
That
rarest of books, The Lorax can (and should) be read
and enjoyed as a child, but it is even more impressive when
encountered as an adult. A moving meditation on the responsibility
we have to our natural environment. |
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