No, I’m not writing about Apple just because they are an apple and we highlight good apples on the PosiPeople blog. Rather, I am writing about Apple because it is taking a leadership role in its industry in producing products and protecting the environment at the same time.

Not only does Apple recycle any iPod or cell phone, regardless of manufacturer, for free, but it also has consistently created products that have low energy consumption, and have little use of harmful chemicals.

In addition, Apple is setting a tremendous precedent by publishing a environment impact report that, I hope, will be published annually and will force competitors to publish annually. Before you dismiss it as a poor attempt at quantifying its environmental impact, you should read it closely. This report is pretty in depth and broad. It covers topics such as responsible manufacturing, energy efficiency, recycling, and product design.

Apple has a list of chemicals that they have banned from products and manufacturing such as Arsenic and Brominated Flame Retardants. In addition, many of Apple’s products exceed Energy Star efficiency ratings. (Did you know that Apple was a founding member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program?) Furthermore, Apple generates less waste by limiting the amount of packaging used in delivering its products to consumers.

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A Place Just Like Every Other Place, Only Not

The above NYT article, in short, is about the fact that the American countryside has become one homogeneous, sprawling scene. Everywhere you go it’s the same signs and logos; anything resembling regional diversity is all but erased by our corporate monoculture. One group, Scenic America, is fighting to change that. From their website:

“Scenic America is the only national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated solely to preserving and enhancing the visual character of America’s communities and countryside.”

As I read the article, a bigger thought occurred to me . . . These Scenic America people are really just environmentalists! Not the standard sort of environmentalist, of course, but how can they not be included in the greater movement? The environment itself is much more than wilderness, clean air, pristine beaches, and thriving biodiversity - it is fundamentally the space in which we live. If that is true, we would be smart to include aesthetics (and more) in our definition of environment.

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Tata announced its new Nano car, a one lakh (100,000 rupees) car. This car, measuring 5′ by 10′, will be the cheapest car in the world. And probably one of the smallest. It is only a little bigger than the two person smart car. The Nano is designed with Indian families in mind and I cannot help but wonder if only children would fit in the back seat.

The Nano, also called the People’s Car, represents an engineering achievement and the attainment of Tata’s vision of making car ownership accessible to millions, starting in India. Rural Indians will no longer be at the mercy of long-delayed buses to reach urban centers. Couples or families piled on a motorcyle can switch to safer transport. Demand for this car will extend far beyond India.

So what’s not to applaud? Well, the public health and environmental impact for starters.

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Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. By Paul Hawken.

I read a lot of books dealing with the intersection of business, the environment, and sustainability. Overall, this emerging genre leaves me excited yet apprehensive about our future. There are scores of brilliant people doing truly amazing things, yet our problems are titanic and time seems to be growing short. I brought this apprehension into Blessed Unrest and Paul Hawken managed to erase it, leaving behind a newfound hope. If you have any interest in human rights or the environment there are many books you should read, this is one you need to read.

As a foundation for his thesis, Hawken writes a short history of the environmental and social justice movements. There will be nothing groundbreaking here for anyone who has followed these fields, although I enjoyed the refresher and was impressed with his research. What is groundbreaking is how Hawken adds it all up. He sees the emergence of a giant web of individual forces for change, often unaware of each other, working toward the same goals in a fashion similar to the human immune system.  Hey PosiPeople, how does it feel to be a big ol’ white blood cell? This is a powerfully hopeful book, bound to become a classic.

Most of the book is made up of an appendix where he begins to define and categorize the seemingly endless movements and organizations that make up “the largest movement in the world”.  In fact, this book has come directly from Hawken’s work at the Natural Capital Institute, which in turn has created the WISER project, which in turn has a website. Click through and you’ll get the idea.

Five PosiPeople apples out of five, I couldn’t recommend it more. And of course, the Amazon link.