Ecological Intelligence: The Hidden Impacts of What We Buy

Its important to see how we as consumers buy things and the effects of that purchase while ignoring the obvious negitive impacts of production to the earth. I like the long term look of this book, which I think is something diffently worth looking at, personally I think of my childern and grandchilden to come. I have notice companies poping up like Blue Iguana Software that try to help business become more green by looking deep into all aspects of the business process,facility, etc. I think the best thing about this book is trying to help move consumers and producers with green in mind. It starts with realistic steps but as we become better informed we will be able to make greater positive impacts in the ecology of the earth. Great Book!!!

The author proposes the creative idea: every consumer can use his purchasing behavior to affect the producers, given the full disclose of the key information about the product. It's only possible with today's information technology to analyze so much information about the ingredients of a simple product. Will this idea work? Only the time can tell.

I chose this book over Ecological Intelligence: Rediscovering Ourselves in Nature and seeing the author's note about this other book "by a physician, Jungian analyst, and poet" am certain I made the right choice. The author's "big idea" is called "Radical Transparency," what the rest of us have been calling "Open Books for decades. I like it, and in the context of his elegant story-telling, I buy in. This book also goes to a five because it is an Information Operations (IO) books, ably focused on data, information, and information-sharing as well as collective sense-making. He author anticipates most of us becoming "active agents" for change, armed with information as Thomas Jefferson understood so well. CORE NUGGET: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is not done for most things, but when done right, it is mainly data and it tracks impacts on human health, ecosystems, climate change, and resource draw-down, for every single component and every single process including transport, packaging, etcetera. Toward the end of the book when the author talks about how an LCA commons is emerging, and quotes Andy Ruben of normally ultra-evil Wal-Mart as saying that LCA innovation "is the largest strategic opportunity companies will see for the next fifty years," I am seriously impressed. EARLY INSIGHT: Drawing on Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future and other works, the author observes that the human brain is optimized by heredity for the here and now, able to sense "obvious" but not subtle changes. EARLY INSIGHT: Everything we buy or use was designed to tackle one need without regard to social or ecological costs. It was NOT designed to be green (the author cites Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. The author states "Green is a process not a status." QUOTE: "Ecological Intelligence allows us to comprehend systems in all their complexity, as well as the interplay between the natural and man-made worlds." I am reminded of Buckminster Fuller and Critical Path. Later, when he speaks of collective shared intelligence as a partial answer, he outlines three rules: 1. Know your impacts (others would add, know true costs first) 2. Favor improvements (others would add, at every level) 3. Share what you learn (others would add: this is the core concept of Multinational, Multiagency, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information-Sharing and Sense-Making (M4IS2) that is the 21st Century implementation of the 20th Century concept of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)). QUOTE: "As control of data shifts from sellers to buyers, companies would do well to prepare ahead for this information sea change." QUOTE: [When people mobilize you see] "the dual marketplace power of lowering the cost of information combined with information sharing. The multiplier effect meats networks of people pooling their knowledge can diminish information asymmetry." QUOTE: "To be trustworthy, Radical Transparency needs to be authoritative, impartial, and com

if more reople would read this book, our species might last a little longer than it's going to. much insight to the long term effects of producing products, some the same way we've been doing for 100 years. technology can vastly improve the methods we use to produce consumables. Very highly reccomened.

It's the ultimate detective work: examining the processes (including energy, chemicals, social impacts) involved with creating, transporting, storing and ultimately consuming and disposing of "stuff." Author Goleman digs deep into "life cycle analysis" (LCA) of a wide range of products, looking at the environmental and social ramifications that are usually "out of sight, out of mind," guided by expert Gregory Norris. The insights are illuminating and go far beyond the usual (casual) carbon calculation. The process of recycling glass alone-- and the energy and chemistry involved-- is a real eye-opener, reminding us that reducing our impact to CO2 emissions vastly oversimplifies our footprint on the planet. In my mind, this approach of telling stories and conducting forensic investigations into "stuff" should be embedded throughout education, because it is inherently interdisciplinary, combining math and science, but also social studies, history, psychology, business, sociology. It's also timely and would contribute to "eco-school" and 100% green school goals that are currently being developed. For business people, this book is a must. While the "greening" of business is nothing new and is all too often manifest as "green-washing," there are signs that business is taking "cradle to grave" analysis of products and the supply chain seriously, in part because regulation of embedded greenhouse gases will require careful accounting, in part because of increased social responsibility, and in part because, when done correctly, it can save money, reduce waste, and provide a competitive advantage over the competition. Goleman rightly points out that we can't consume our way of the dire situation we are in, but we can reduce our consumption and buy smartly. While a few individuals by choice or circumstances leave little environmental footprint, for most of it the challenge is to become significantly more aware of the impacts or the products and services we choose, thereby minimizing not only our carbon footprint, but our overall influence on the planet. Both the book and the CD version (spoken by the author) are well reasoned, well presented investigations into "stuff" in all its shapes and sizes, providing fresh insights into the complexities and hard choices that must be made at all levels of society in order to turn the tide of waste and social/environmental degradation and foster the new energy economy with resilient, sustainable communities.