The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability

The world has changed in the seventeen years since the controversial initial publication of Paul Hawken's Ecology of Commerce, a stirring treatise about the perceived antagonism between ecology and business. Yet Hawken's impassioned argument-that business both causes the most egregious abuses of the environment and, crucially, holds the most potential for solving our sustainability problems-is more relevant and resonant than ever.

Containing updated and revised material for a new audience, The Ecology of Commerce presents a compelling vision of the restorative (rather than destructive) economy we must create, centered on eight imperatives:

• Reduce energy carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030 and total natural resource usage 80 percent by 2050.
• Provide secure, stable, and meaningful employment to people everywhere.
• Be self-organizing rather than regulated or morally mandated.
• Honor market principles.
• Restore habitats, ecosystems, and societies to their optimum.
• Rely on current income.
• Be fun and engaging, and strive for an aesthetic outcome.