The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World

Description

The Necessary Revolution is a book about the end of The Industrial Age Bubble the take, make, waste way of thinking that has dominated the developed world for the past 200 years. It is also a book about a new era emerging in which companies are beginning to recognise the larger systems in which they operate (environmental, social, and economic) and integrate these into their core strategies. Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost effective than wasteful ones. A world in which corporations like BP, Nike, Coca-Cola, and countless others are forming partnerships with environmental and social justice NGOs to ensure better stewardship of the earth and better livelihoods in the developing world. Now, stop imagining that world is already emerging. We must act together now.

PETER SENGE, senior lecturer at MIT and the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), is the author or co-author of several bestselling books, including The Fifth Discipline, Schools That Learn and Presence. He was chosen by The Wall Street Journal for their 2008 list of the 20 most influential business thinkers. DR. BRYAN SMITH, coauthor with Senge of The Dance of Change and two other Fifth Discipline fieldbooks, is a member of the faculty at York University s Sustainable Enterprise Academy, and president of Broad Reach Innovations, Inc. NINA KRUSCHWITZ, manager of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project, is the editor of Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change. JOE LAUR and SARA SCHLEY co-founded the SoL Sustainability Consortium in 1998; Joe is vice president of content for Greenopolis.com, and Sara is a mentor for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

Review: A"Senge is best know for The Fifth Discipline ... this book is far better: it is better written and more powerful. On the evidence presented here, the case for business sustainability is overwhelming.Although the authors never say so directly, it seems clear that the business case for sustainability is so strong that the personal beliefs of the CEO and the board do not really matter. Even the most adamant climate-change denier must recognise where the market is going. Forget the environment: this is business. ... Their arguments are compelling and there are plenty of examples of businesses already leading the way.A"The Financial TimesAn interesting and important contribution to the burgeoning literature on the implications of climate change for business.Senge and his co-authors have produced an excellent volume, which deserves to find a place on the shelves of any thoughtful manager. The book is an example of what is is about, since it is both innovative and radical."Lord Anthony Giddens, professor emeritus at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance and the London School of Economics writing in Management Today, August 2008