ENVS 5150 PERSPECTIVES ON GREEN BUSINESS Fall 2008

Mondays, 9:30-12:30 HNES 102

Course Director: Brian Milani <bmilani@web.ca>

Office Hours: 12:30-2 Mondays [and one other day TBA]

Course Description, including Objectives Themes Requirements Prerequisites Instructor Student Presentations Schedule and Readings Book Bibliography

Schedule and Readings

Readings: Most of the readings will be articles and essays, posted right on this webpage. This year, however, one book—available at the York U. Bookstore—will be required reading:

Jill Bamburg’s Getting to Scale: Growing Your Business Without Selling Out.

Schedule: Attention: These are the tentative topics planned for this year (not necessarily in this order) Readings and guest speakers subject to change.

Week 1, September 8, Introduction: student introductions and statements of interest, with an overview of key issues and relationships in green business.

Week 2, September 15, Perspectives on Sustainability & Business

· Eric Assadourian, “When Good Corporations Go Bad,” World Watch magazine, May/June 2005

· Gary Gardner and Thomas Prugh, “Seeding the Sustainable Economy,” Chapter 1, The State of the World 2008, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2008

· World Business Council for Sustainable Development, The Business Case for Sustainable Development, WBCSD, 2002

· Brian Milani, “What is Green Economics?”, Synthesis / Regeneration, #37 (Spring 2005); and Race, Poverty and the Environment: A journal for social and environmental justice (2006)

· Bill McDonough & Michael Braungart, “The Next Industrial Revolution,” Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 1998

· Walter Stahel, “From Products to Services: Selling performance instead of goods,” ITPS Report, #37

Powerpoint Presentation: Business & Sustainability

Week 3, September 22, The Value Revolution in Economic Development: Wealth, Indicators & Accounting

· David Korten, “Living Wealth: Better than Money,” Yes! magazine, Fall 2007

· John Talberth, “A New Bottom Line for Progress,” Chapter 2, The State of the World 2008, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2008

· Susan Burns, “Keeping our Eye on the Goal: How to measure corporate sustainability progress,” Natural Strategies.com

· Mehenna Yakhou and Vernon P. Dorweiler, “Environmental Accounting: An Essential Component of Business Strategy,” Business Strategy and the Environment 13, 65-77, 2004

· Frank Dixon, “Total Corporate Responsibility: Making SRI and CSR sustainable,” GreenBiz, April 2004.

· Linda Baker, “Real Wealth: The Genuine Progress Indicator Could Provide and Environmental Measure of the Planet’s Health,” E magazine, Volume X, Number III, May-June 1999.

· Toronto’s Vital Signs: skim/browse quickly.

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Foreward, Preface, and Introduction; and Chapter 1: “Mission Comes First.”

Powerpoint Presentation: The Value Revolution in Economics

Also See (optional):

Global Reporting Initiative: browse various sections.

Sustainable Measures: sustainable community indicators

Redefining Progress

Week 4, September 29, Local vs. Global

Videos: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?, PBS Frontline documentary, Nov. 2004

Austin and the Economic Multiplier Effect

Michael Shuman on local economic development

Reading:

· Nelson Lichtenstein, “Wal-Mart: A Template for 21st Century Capitalism?”, abridged version of introduction to Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First Century Capitalism (New Press, November 2005)

· Jonathan Rowe, “Is the Corporation Obsolete?”, Washington Monthly, 2001

· David Korten, “Economies for Life”, Yes! magazine, #23, Fall, 2002

· Michael Shuman, “Open Letter to Bellingham: The value of local business”

· Herman Daly, “Globalism and Its Discontents,” August 2000

· Stacy Mitchell, Rebuilding Community-rooted Enterprise, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapter 2: “Any Business Can Do It.”

Optional:

· Stacy Mitchell, “Keep Your Eyes on the Size: The impossibility of a green Wal-Mart,” Grist, March 28, 2007

· Michael Shuman “Amazing Shrinking Machines: The Movement Toward Diminishing Economies of Scale”, New Village Journal, issue 2, 2003

· Wendell Berry, Global Problems/Local Solutions, Resurgence #206 (May/June 2001)

· Big Box Economic Impact Studies

· Wayne Roberts, “The End of Big Biz: In the new epoch of capitalism, big-box bullies will be no more, says Small-Mart guru,” NOW magazine, July 6-11, 2006

· Promoting Independent Business Slideshow, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, New Rules Project

· Charles Fishman, “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know,” Fast Company magazine, no. 77, Dec. 2003

· Adria Vasil, “The Greening of Wal-Mart: What should we make of the big box giant’s eco-bid when it’s crushing local economies all over the globe?,” NOW magazine, May 4-10, 2006

· John T. Lyle, “Urban Ecosystems”, In Context magazine, Spring 1993

· Stacy Mitchell, 10 Reasons Why Vermont’s Homegrown Economy Matters, and 50 Ways to Revive It, ILSR / Preservation Trust of Vermont, 2003

· Promoting Independent Business Slideshow, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, New Rules Project

Week 5, October 6, Eco-Design in Energy, Production & Built-environment

Required:

· Keith Parkins, “Soft Energy Paths”, Gaia briefing paper.

· Walter R. Stahel, “The Utilization-Focused Service Economy: Resource Efficiency and Product-Life Extension,” The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems, Washington DC: National Academy Press, 1994

· David Morris, “The Once and Future Carbohydrate Economy,” The American Prospect, March 19, 2006

· Ed Cohen-Rosenthal, “What is Eco-industrial Development?”, chapter 1 of Eco-industrial Strategies: Unleashing Synergy between Economic Development and the Environment, Sheffield UK: Greenleaf Publishers, 2003

· Helen Lewis and John Gertsakis, Introduction: Design + Environment: A global guide to designing greener goods, Greenleaf Publishers, 2001

· John T. Lyle, “Urban Ecosystems”, In Context magazine, Spring 1993

· Michael Smith, “The Case for Natural Building,” in Kennedy et al, The Art of Natural Building, New Society Publishers, 2002

Recommended but Optional:

· FITs: Feed-in Tariffs: the best available mechanisms for accelerating the uptake of renewable energy in grid-connected areas; PACT website.

· James Howard Kunstler, “The Long Emergency: What’s going to happen as we start running out of cheap gas to guzzle?”, excerpt from The Long Emergency, Grove/Atlantic (2005), reprinted in Rolling Stone magazine, March 24, 2005

· Amory Lovins, TED lectures: Winning the Oil Endgame

· L. Hunter Lovins, “Rethinking Production,” Chapter 3, The State of the World 2008, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2008

· Peter Calthorpe, “The Urban Network: A New Framework for Growth,” Calthorpe Associates, 2004

· Steve Lerner, “Pliny Fisk III: The Search for Low-Impact Building Materials and Techniques,” chapter 1 of Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today's Environmental Problems, MIT Press, 1997

· Sustainable Business.com, “Companies Taking Climate Change More Seriously,” Sept. 25, 2007

· David R. Baker, “Environmentally minded ingenuity drives the latest business wave to plant its roots in the Bay Area,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 4, 2007

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapter 3 “Organic is the Way to Grow”

Week 6, October 27, Consumption, Markets & Marketing

· Michael Renner, “Moving Toward a Less Consumptive Economy”, Chapter 5, pp. 96-119, from the State of the World 2004, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2004

· Dara O’Rourke, “Market Movements: Nongovernmental Organization Strategies to Influence Global Production and Consumption,” Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 9, no. 1-2, Winter/Spring 2005

· Lisa Mastny, “Purchasing for People and the Planet,” Chapter 6, pp. 122-142, from the State of the World 2004, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2004 (skim)

· Michael Shuman, “Local First: New Approach to Bay Area Development,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 16, 2007

· The Local Multiplier Effect, Yes! magazine, Winter 2007

· Chip Conley & Eric Freidenwald-Fishman, “Why Marketing Matters,” Introduction from Marketing That Matters, San Francisco: Berrett-Kohler Publishers, 2006

· Jacquelyn Ottman, Consumers With a Conscience, chapter 2 of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation, New York: NTC-McGraw-Hill, 1998

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapter 4 “Finance Your Independence”

Optional/Recommended:

--Gary Gardner and Erik Assadourian, “Rethinking the Good Life”, Chapter 8, from the State of the World 2004, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2004

--Tim Jackson, “Is There a ‘Double Standard’ in Sustainable Consumption?”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 9, no. 1-2, Winter/Spring 2005

--Aseem Prakash, “Green Marketing, Public Policy and Managerial Strategies,” Business Strategy and the Environment, 11, 285–297 (2002)

--book description and excerpts: Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet: Work time, consumption and ecology, by Anders Hayden, MES

--David Morris, “Is Eating Local the Best Choice?”, AlterNet, Sept. 11, 2007

--Stacy Mitchell, “The Impossibility of a Green Wal-Mart,” GRIST, March 28, 2007

--Stan Cox, “War, Murder, Rape…All for your cell phone,” AlterNet, September 14, 2006

--Green Marketing News, Greenbiz.com

--Wind Energy Principles of Green Marketing

Forbidden:

Ø George Carlin on Materialism and Consumerism

Ø Rev. Billy, The Church of Stop Shopping: Preacher with an Unknown God

Week 7, November 3, New Enterprise Models for Food System Transformation

special guest: Rod MacRae, FES and Local Food Plus

· Richard Manning, “The Oil We Eat: Following the Food Chain Back to Iraq”, Harper's Magazine, February 2004

· Harriet Friedmann, “Scaling up: Bringing public institutions and food service corporations into the project for a local, sustainable food system in Ontario,” Agriculture and Human Values (2007) 24:389–398

· Wes Jackson, “Natural Systems Agriculture: A Radical Alternative”, The Land Institute website, April 17, 2001

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapter 5 “Build Your Values into the Brand”

Optional:

· Catherine Porter, “Food Growers Target Customers with a Conscience,” Toronto Star, October 3, 2007

· Wayne Roberts, “U of T's Plate-Side Revolution: Sustainable food initiative could serve up a banquet of change if campuses use their massive buying clout,” NOW magazine, Sept. 21-27, 2006

Also:

· Store Wars: “Not long ago in a supermarket not so far away…”

· The Meatrix: Take the red pill (don’t worry, it’s organic)

· The Ground Under Overtown: Permaculture in Miami’s poor black community

Week 8, February 2, Regulation

· Michael Marx and Marjorie Kelly, “Who Will Rule?” Yes! magazine, Fall 2007

· Neil Gunningham and Darren Sinclair, “Regulatory Pluralism: Designing Policy Mixes for Environmental Protection”, Law and Policy 21, 49-76, 1997

· Brian Milani, “Mindful Markets, Value Revolution and the Green Economy: EPR, Certification and the New Regulation”

· Michael Braungart, "Product Life-Cycle Management to Replace Waste Management", in Socolow, Andrews, Berkhout & Thomas (eds.), Industrial Ecology and Global Change, N.Y./Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 335-337

· Brian Dunkiel, M. Jeff Hamond, and Jim Motavalli, “Sharing the Wealth: If We Shift the Tax Burden From Work to Waste, Everyone Benefits”, E magazine, March/April 1999

· Eric Assadurian, “The Role of Stakeholders,” Worldwatch magazine, Sept./Oct. 2005

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapter 6 “Match Manufacturing to Mission”

Optional/Recommended:

· Michael E. Conroy, Certification Systems as Tools for Natural Asset Building: Potential, Experience to Date, and Critical Challenges, Working paper No. 100, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts-Amherst, July 2005 (skim)

· “EPR: A Prescription for Clean Production, Pollution Prevention and Zero Waste”, Grassroots Recycling Network, August 2003

· Brenda Platt, Local Inititatives Leverage EPR, ILSR Waste to Wealth report, Nov. 2000

· Barry Commoner, “Pollution Prevention: The Source of an Ethical Foundation for Sustainable Development”, 1990

· Norman Myers with Jennifer Kent, Executive Summary of Perverse Subsidies: Tax Dollars Undercutting Our Economies and Environments Alike, IISD, 1998

· Executive summary, Tax Waste, Not Work, Redefining Progress, 1999.

· Wayne Roberts, Making Taxes Sexy: Green gurus say we should use city taxes to punish ugliness and reward sustainability, NOW magazine, vol. 24, no. 52, Aug. 25-31, 2005

Week 9, February 9, Financing Green Enterprise and Development

· Marshall Glickman and Marjorie Kelly, “Working Capital: Can socially responsible investing make a great green leap forward?”, E magazine, March/April 2004, vol. XV, no. 2

· Bill Baue, “Investing in Sustainability,” Chapter 13, The State of the World 2008, NY/Washington: Worldwatch Institute, 2008

· Jessica Brown et al, Developing a Social Equity Capital Market 2006, report for New Economics Foundation (UK), read Executive Summary and Next Steps (p. 11-14), Introduction (p. 14-17), and skim/browse the rest.

· Richard Hudson & Roger Wehrell, “Socially Responsible Investors and the Microentrepreneur: A Canadian Case,” Journal of Business Ethics (2005) 60: 281–292

· Michael Shuman & Merrian Fuller, “Profits for Justice,” The Nation, January 24, 2005

· Tara Lohan, “Big Banks Are Selling Us Out on Climate Change,” AlterNet, October 6, 2007

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapter 7 “Morph Early and Often”

& Chapter 4 “Finance Your Business”

Optional Readings:

Ø NOW on PBS, "Help for Homeowners: Is there a solution to the foreclosure mess that's destroying communities?" ; audio, video and print resources

Ø Wuppertal Institute, Micro-finance and Renewable Energy Investing in a Sustainable Future

Ø Steven Lydenberg, “Universal Investors and Socially Responsible Investors: a tale of emerging affinities,” Corporate Governance, Volume 15 Number 3 May 2007

Ø Joel Makower, “At New Resource Bank, Money Talks ... Green,” greenbiz.com

Ø Ron Scherer, “New Combatant Against Global Warming: Insurance Industry,” Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 13, 2006

Ø Studies of Socially-Responsible Investing, UC-Berkeley

Ø York Coalition for Social Investment: resources: studies

Also Check out these links:

§ RSF Social Finance

§ New Resource Bank

§ Social Funds.com

§ RBC Jantzi Funds

§ Green Money Journal

§ Social Investment Organization

§ Calvert Foundation

Ø Domini Social Investments

Week 10, February 16, Social Justice & Participation

· Catherine Lerza and Michael Gelobter, “Changing the Social Climate,” The Tides Foundation/Redefining Progress, April 2007

· “Diverse, Green, Beautiful Cities,” Sarah Van Gelder interviews Carl Anthony, Yes! magazine, Summer 1999

· Van Jones and Ben Wyskida, “Green-Collar Jobs for Urban America: Oakland looks for a greener path toward prosperity,” Yes! magazine, Winter 2007

· Van Jones, “The New Environmentalists: How to make the green movement less white,” ColorLines, August 2007

· Omar Freilla, Green Development for Environmental Justice and Healthy Communities, Green Worker Co-ops report, 2005

Ø fyi (optional) : NY Times: Omar Freilla Wins Jane Jacobs medal, June 26, 2007

· Fair Trade: An alternative economic model, CBC website

· Rualdo Menegat, “Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre Brazil,” IIED, June 2002

Jill Bamburg, Getting to Scale book: Chapters 8-10

Optional Resources & Links:

· David Roberts, “A Van with a Plan: an interview with Van Jones,” GRIST mag, March 2007

· New Energy for America: the Apollo Jobs Report: Good Jobs and Energy Independence

· Video: Eco-Equity with Van Jones, YouTube

· Tracy Fernandez Rysavy, “Environmental Justice for All,” Coop America Quarterly, #73 Fall 2007

· Mark Engler, “Fair Trade Sweatshops?”, the New Internationalist, November 2006

· Annie Gallop and Daniel Schugurensky, “Porto Alegre, Canada?”, Rabble.ca

· Nadia Martinez, “What the Rise of Democratic Movements in Latin America Means for the Rest of the World,” Yes! mag, August 2007

· Mae Burrows, Just Transition: Moving to a green economy will be more attractive when programs are designed to reduce job loss fears, and focus on transition to a more sustainable future, Alternatives Journal, Winter 2001

· Apollo Alliance

· Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (Oakland)

· Low Income Energy Network, Ontario

· Green Worker Coops (New York City)

· Inner City Development (Winnipeg)

· Carolyn Chase, “Sustainable Jobs”

· REPP, Job Creation and Renewable Energy

· Blue-Green Alliance: United Steelworkers and Sierra Club

· Good Work Canada

· Foodshare, Toronto

· Wikipedia, Environmental Justice

· Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ)

· Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University

· Earthjustice

· Environmental Justice Foundation

· Kellie Lunney, “Will ‘Green’ Building be the Future of New Orleans?” The American Prospect, Feb. 2007

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