College of Business Administration

1) Environmental management adds value in an organization in different ways. Can running a business using Loop-Closing create a marketing advantage for a company?

Does Loop-Closing or re-cycling create more goodwill for a company?

2) Industrial Ecology recognizes that at its core environmental issues are monetary concerns. This is one of the reasons why Hawken says one of the “most comprehensive proposals toward sustainable industrial methods.”, supporting loop-closing as both profit for a business and restoration for the environment.

Do you agree with Hawken?

Is loop-closing enough to solve all the environmental issues?

3) Looking at the two extreme types of Eco-Industrial Parks (EIP), listed in “Eco-Industrial Parks: One Strategy for Sustainable Growth”, zero emission and virtual. Which extreme example is most likely to be the most effective in benefiting both the environment and business?

If you were a manager or top executive what EIP approach would you want to implement and why?

4) Hawken writes: “Imagine what a team of designers could come up with if they were to start from scratch, locating and specifying industries and factories that had potentially synergistic and symbiotic relationships.”

Comparing the government developed approach mentioned by Hawken and “Eco-Industrial Parks: One Strategy for Sustainable Growth” to the natural developed Kalundborg example, what approach is or would be the most effective? What approach is best to solve the environmental problems that exist?

5) Hawken quotes a friend by saying, “running a business with a conscience is like driving with the brakes on.”

In previous discussions we have examined the ability to succeed in businesses using social responsibility. We discussed the trade-off of being socially responsible and reduced profits. Can using the eco-industrial park structure reduce this trade-off?

6) In chapter four of Hawken two types of thinking are described: cradle to grave and cradle to cradle. Cradle to grave is viewed as the predominant way of thinking in today’s economy. It involves only overseeing a product from its creation to disposal. An alternate cradle to cradle viewpoint is now being developed so that every product or by-product is imagined in its subsequent forms even before it is made. This cyclical approach factors in the future utility of a product, and the avoidance of waste, from a product’s inception.

Previously in class we have discussed recycling and re-using individual products. The cyclical process or the system as a whole, was also brought up in Mindwalk by Sonya. Is it more beneficial for us to focus on the cyclical process at the product level or the industry level?