Week 3 - Sustainable Carpets

Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, the world's largest commercial carpet manufacturer, had an environmental epiphany and re-organized his $1.4 billion company on sustainable principles. I first heard of Ray Anderson from the movie, "The Corporation" and his part/interview was really good. You could clearly see that this guy got it. And what I mean is, he saw corporations for what they were - to generate profits at all costs - regardless of degradation to the environment or the amount of non-renewable sources consumed to make a buck. He not only disapproved of the greed and disregard for nature but he found a better way to run his own business through sustainability. Ray Anderson was also in the movie the 11th Hour, another great movie on the state of the planet by Leonardo Dicaprio and again, what Ray had to say was very valuable.

I recommend that anyone who cares about the Environment and is concerned about the role corporations play in society and the impact they have on our lives to watch the movies The Corporation and the 11th Hour and pay attention to Ray Anderson's parts.

For those business owners who may ask themselves how can I make my business sustainable or what are the benefits of sustainability - visit Interfaces website and take alook at one of the first corporations to transform its ways to reducing its impact on the environment and becoming more profitable. http://www.interfaceglobal.com/

Ray Anderson had his epiphany in 1994 after he read "The Ecology of Commerce", by Paul Hawken, who argues that the industrial system is destroying the planet and only industry leaders are powerful enough to stop it.

Ray Anderson also wrote his own novel Mid-Course Correction...which I found out researching this blog and intend to read.

Please watch this short 9 minute video of Ray Anderson in The Corporation.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcRDUIbT4gw

If the sustainable movement is going to happen, CEOs and business owners are going to have to have their own epiphanies and act as Mr. Anderson did back in 1994. If leaders of the corporate world cant be convinced to value the environment, hopefully they will at least value the cost cutting measures of sustainability.