Overwhelming. Breakthrough book. Loved it for the optimistic and concrete ideas and attitude. Have referenced the Rocky Mountain Institute regularly through the years since, RMI.org . Just now seeing they are aiming for 100% sustainable power for the country, and moving toward it! When I doubt that we might not be able to turn the climate disruption around in time, they are one place to find hope.

Still painfully prescient and relevant over 20 years after publication.

i read paul hawken's book "the ecology of commerce" while i was on vacation in thailand during a break in japan. i am such a nerd about this topic that i was underlining and taking notes, that's right, while on vacation in thailand! of course i was going to read his follow up book, "natural capitalism," duh! this book is quite dense and each chapter covers a different sector of the economy and natural resource area and talks thoroughly about what needs to happen, what's happening, and what the results will be. this isn't just about environmental awareness and saving, but he shows that it is commercially practical, and financially smart, to add natural resource conservation into the design and implementation processes.

quote taken from the dust jacket: traditional capitalism, they argued, has always neglected to assign monetary value to its largest stock of capital--namely, the natural resources and ecosystem services that make possible all economic activity, and all life. natural capitalism, in contrast, takes a proper account of these costs. as the first step toward a solution to environmental loss, it advocates resourse productivity--doing more with less. (there's more i want to include, but i'll stop there)

Pretty cruicial reading for anyone interested in the current green/sustainable movements in corporate operations, philantropy, architecture, design, industrial operations, process engineering, et cetera.

Important for anyone who wants to start/run/manage a business, as well.

Kind of dry reading at times, but can be thrilling if you believe in the movement.