Natural Capitalism – An Interview With Amory Lovins by Satish Kumar




“Natural capitalism is based on respecting and learning from the natural order of things rather than trying to replace it with human cleverness . . . . This book describes what capitalism could be like if it behaved as if natural capital were properly valued . . . . Ecosystem services are extremely valuable, but they?fre not on anyone?fs balance sheet, and they get inadvertently liquidated in pursuit of resources whose market value is recognized . . . . The world has moved a long way away from Ricardian economics in which land was the basic value . . . . land (in the wider sense of the natural world) is not only where you can grow crops; it?fs what regulates atmosphere, climate, watersheds, fertility and all the other services that make life and therefore economic activity possible.”

“If you think human ingenuity can replace natural capital, just reflect on the way that the $200-million Biosphere 2 (the vast dome in the Arizona desert) proved unable in 1992 to provide adequate air, water and food for eight people, the number we add to the planet every three seconds. In contrast, Biosphere 1 (our planet) provides those services for six billion of us every day for free, and we haven?ft the foggiest idea how to do it.”

“We must also recognize the importance of ?ghuman capital?h, not just in the sense of educated minds and skilled hands, but also as the unmonetized social processes that make us human and make life worthwhile. We must recognize those aspects which make us more than cogs in a machine; which produce community; which create a loving, caring, sharing, family; which develop beauty, honour, integrity and creativity. These are attributes of social systems, as well as of individuals. They require support and reinvestment if they?fre going to keep on relieving suffering and producing happier human beings. If we treat what are tellingly called ?ghuman resources?h as if they were simply an ore to be mined out of the ground, we will deplete society?fs ability to support the wider purposes of being human. Economies are supposed to serve human ends – not the other way round. We forget at our peril that markets make a good servant, a bad master and a worse religion.”

“Today we have a temporary aberration called ?gindustrial capitalism?h which is inadvertently liquidating its two most important sources of capital – the natural world and properly functioning societies. No sensible capitalist would do that . . . . We can behave as if we were properly valuing them; and we can thereby make money, even now when they?fre valued at zero, by following the four practical principles of natural capitalism.”

“The first and most obvious principle is to use resources (energy, water, materials, topsoil and so on)with radically greater productivity; to get ten to a hundred times as much work out of them through better technologies that provide the same or better services with more brains but less money. This substitution can dramatically reduce the half-trillion-ton-a-year flo w of resources, from depletion to pollution, that is at the root of the degradation of natural systems . . . . Resource productivity can often achieve not diminishing but expanding returns . . . . Today we have abundant people and scarce nature. So it now makes sense to substitute abundant people for scarce nature – not the reverse, as we still seem prone to doing.”

“. . . . the second principle by which natural capitalism reduces pressure on natural systems is to redesign production on biological lines with closed loops, no waste, and no toxicity. It is to design out anything that shouldn?ft be there, anything that isn?ft benign and valuable, any unsaleable production. This will yield better products at lower cost. It will transform everything that we produce into either a natural nutrient that goes to compost or a ?gtechnical nutrient?h that goes back to remanufacturing.”

“. . . . the third principle of natural capitalism is to change the business model by switching from selling goods to delivering a continuous flow of service and value. And this should be done in a relationship that rewards both the provider and the customer for resource-saving and loop-closing. It?fs one of those radically simple ideas that, once you see it, makes a great deal of sense . . . what?fs important here is not so much the form of the transaction – leasing a service instead of selling a product – but that the provider of the service and the customer for the service both get rewarded for doing more and better with less . . . . Interface Corporation, realized that people don?ft want to own a carpet in their office; they just want to walk on it and look at it. So he started to lease a floor-covering service. His company owns what?fs on your floor. They?fre responsible for keeping it always fresh by replacing one-square-metre carpet tiles in the worn spots, which are only one-fifth of the whole carpet area. Interface can thus provide a better service with lower cost, higher profit, and more employment . . . . you?fve got a 97% reduction in the flow of materials to maintain a superior floor-covering service at lower cost . . . . Interface had doubled its revenue, trebled its profits and nearly doubled its employment. Its goal is to take nothing from the Earth and to put nothing harmful back into the environment . . . . All that waste turns into profit . . . . That?fs exactly where any business ought to be – shifting saved resources from a reduced revenue to a reduced cost. James Womack calls this concept, the ?gSolutions Economy?h.”

“. . . . the fourth element of natural capitalism is reinvesting in restoring, sustaining and expanding the stock of natural capital, as any prudent capitalist would do. That?fs the easiest step because God does the production; we just need to get out of the way and allow life to flourish wherever it can. As more people choose fewer resources, this creates increasing business value.”

“Communities and businesses need to do the same – developing rather than growing. There is nothing graven in stone that says businesses must always get higher revenue in order to produce more happiness for their customers, satisfaction for their workers, justice for their communities, and profit for their shareholders. What?fs quite extraordinary in the emerging natural capitalist companies is not just their financial performance but the level of energy, initiative and enthusiasm that emerges at all levels of the firm as soon as the perceived contradiction is removed between what people do at work and what they want for their kids and communities when they go home. The resulting cultural revolution is a marvel, and a big management challenge to keep up with, but it?fs a nice problem to have.”

“People in many societies are opting out and saying, ?gNo, I don?ft want to be part of this outward affluence and inner poverty.?h They are saying: ?gI would rather build my life round things that really count, not those that are merely countable.?h What happens to conventionally framed economic growth if people start buying only what they actually need, and industry produces only what is wanted ?“

Full article at Resurgence Magazine

Keywords : capitalism, industry, business, profit, economic growth, nature, biomimicry, resource flow, nutrient cycle, appropriate science and technology, resource productivity, product service system, zero waste, work, community
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Published::
4.11.07 / 10am
Category:
Appropriate Science and Technology, Ecosocionomics, Means, Paths, Ends
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