We ourselves as a species are threatened. It's a funeral march to the grave, he warned the crowd of conservative local officials, unless we begin to turn things around, begin to place ecological wisdom at the forefront of all our social decisions. No, these weren't the words of some Green Party candidate for higher office. This was a successful but thoughtful capitalist business man. You see, once a person gets the picture, that person can't stand by.
Denial is seductive, but once one understands what's at stake, conscience demands action.
Having read Paul Hawken'sThe Ecology of Commerce, Anderson experienced a revelation like a spear in his chest, the kind of epiphany that Paul talks about in the New Testament. The Industrial Revolution was based on a series of mistakes, Anderson realized. Mistakes like imagining that the earth had an infinite supply of resources. Mistakes like assuming that the earth was a limitless sink for commercial waste products. Mistakes like believing that technology is omnipotent and the invisible hand of the market is wise.