THE ETHIC OF SuSTAINABILITY
Corporations involved in bottom-of-the-pyramid activities, as well as a number of other companies around the world, are also embracing a revolutionary idea called sustainability or sustainable developement. Sustainability refers to economic development that generates wealth and meets the needs of the current generation while saving the environment so future generations can meet their needs as well. With a philosophy of sustainability,managers weave environmental and social concerns into every strategic decision, revise policies and procedures to support sastianablity efforts, and measure their progress toward sustainability goals. One of the most ardent, and perhaps unlikely, advocates of sustainability is a carpet manufacturer.
For Ray Anderson, who founded the carpet tile company Interface, the approach to the environment used to be "to follow the law," Then he started reading about environmental issues and had an epiphany: "I was running a company that was plundering the earth, Anderson says.
How things have changed since then. Anderson challenged Interface to become a restorative enterprise an operation that does no harm to the biosphere and that takes nothing out of the earth than cannot be recycled or quickly regenerated Since 1994, Interface's use of fossil fuels is down 45 percent, with net greenhouse gas production down 60 percent. The company's global operations use only one-third the water they formerly used. Interface's contributions to garbage landfills have been cut by 80 percent one key to the company's success, Anderson says, is a comprehensive approach sustainability into every aspect of the business. Rather than going green that incorporates program, managers looked at and revised the by tacking on this or that environmental program, managers looked at and revised the whole system.