Juliet Schor - Collossal Failure The Output Bias of Market Economies - March 7 2009 avi

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein. While this woman appears to be well intentioned, if the rest of the human race manages to miss the point as successfully as she has...
You can't remedy a civilization based on cities with fewer work hours per job and a little less 'keep up with the Jones'' mentality. I wasted a good thirty minutes of my life on this presentation: don't make the same mistake.

Here's 16 minutes that aren't a waste. Ted.com talk by Ray Anderson of Interface Carpets, who has been climbing 'Mount Sustainability' since the early 90's. A concrete example of how to be successful in business today by treating the Earth with respect. This guy has doubled the profits of his company and decreased his environmental impact exponentially at the same time.
I just posted the video here on Onebigtorrent. Can also watch it here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability.html

Tybie,

I believe that you may have chosen a particularly absurd example as the company to hold up as the model of 'sustainability'. I'm well aware of the Ray Anderson, Interface phenomenon that the media is in such a frenzy to put on a pedestal. There is a key problem though. Carpet, is a completely unneccessary product. I couldn't think of anything else more unnecessary...I had to google it - http://www.oddee.com/item_96781.aspx
Truly sustainable, zero footprint buildings would have earthen floors. Carpet is a luxury item that produces toxic dust to those that breath in the air in the building in which it is installed. don't believe the hype. When we look at Ray Anderson, what we need to understand is that we have a guy in the midst of a futile battle with his own guilt complex. He knows better than the rest of the world, that his company's product is completely superfluous, and he is trying to justify his existence with a bunch of statistics that obfuscate the fact that any energy use or pollution in the goal of making an unneccessary product, is too much. Please also don't forget, that he is making an absurd claim that his company will become '100% sustainable'. The implication is that it will use 0% non-renewable energy and will produce 0% pollution. According to the laws of thermodynamics, it's an impossible claim. But, it's so far in the future that he knows he won't have to worry about it by then.

I'd say that in a culture basically in defacto denial of the crisis we're in that Ray Anderson is HUGE step in the right direction. Your points are well taken though. Carpet may be completely unnecessary. When I build my straw-bale earthen I don't intend to put carpet down on the floor. I'd like to hear the conversation Mike Reynolds, ('Garbage Warrior' doc. subject) would have with Ray Anderson.