“The Next Green Revolution” by Alex Nikolai Steffen

 

Headnote For Students

 

In this article, originally published in Wired magazine, the writer claims that the environmental movement was right about the dangers of global warming but missed the mark in their attempts to persuade people to change their behaviors.  Now, many businesses are responding to consumer demands and the cost savings associated with “going green”.  The author expresses a very positive attitude towards the potential of business and technology in solving problems of sustainability, and concludes his article by providing four guiding principles of global change.

To some degree, governments regulate business activities in order to protect society, for example government regulations which control the disposal of hazardous waste.   To what extent can we rely upon business and the desires of consumers to guide us towards sustainable solutions? Businesses stand to lose a great deal of money if more restrictive government polices are enacted; however, as green products and services become popular with consumers businesses also stand to gain a great deal of money, plus corporations recognize the need to put on a green face for consumers.  Think about what would you add and/or subtract to this short article if you were to revise it for an academic audience.

Identifying Rhetorical Strategies

1. A good thesis is often the answer to a good research question or problem.  What is the author’s thesis? What question does his thesis answer?
2. Make a list the means of persuasion is the author employing and where he is employing them?  Are they effective; why or why not?
3. The author criticizes the environmental movement (what’s a hair shirt?) while at the same time suggesting that environmentalists have been right about the dangers of climate change for decades, what do you think the author is trying to accomplish with the Wired Magazine audience by this move? Why?

Examining Sources

 

4. Find out more about Wired Magazines’ position on the environment by searching through their issue archive; you can also find out about the author by checking out his website http://worldchanging.com. Also, search through the newspaper archives to for announcements of green business initiatives by major corporations, for example Wal Mart recently announced a 5% reduction in packaging in order to impact “environmental stewardship" and Richard Branson CEO of Virgin recently committed the next 10 years of profits from Virgin Airlines - around $3 billion dollars - to fight global warming. 

 

Understanding Key Terms

It will help you to think more critically about the relationship between business and the environment if you become familiar with the following concepts. You can find definitions to these terms at http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/definition.html  and http://www.wordreference.com/definition/ecology

 
• Corporate Social Responsibility

• Non-governmental organizations (NGO)

• Ecology

• Green Marketing

• Environmental Movement

• Eco-tourism