Monthly Archives: November 2008

While watching a speech that President-elect Barack Obama gave a few days before the election, I was struck by two things that he said: First, that while his administration would develop a comprehensive renewable energy policy, we as individuals need to reduce our own energy consumption. And while the Obama administration will work to improve our educational system, he said, we parents have an obligation to shut off the television and help our children do their homework. And so began my rumination on the politics of personal responsibility and its relationship to sustainability.

As consultants whose mission is to promote sustainability, we often chide companies for dragging their feet—as if they somehow exist apart from their management and employees. In truth, it is up to employees at all levels of the organization to move their employer toward greater sustainability. In order to do so, it has to be personal.

An example:… More >