Interviews - BioWeb Natural Capitalism A Conversation with Paul Hawken Paul Hawken is a businessman, environmentalist, and author of several books, including Growing a Business, The Ecology of Commerce, Seven Tomorrows, and The Next Economy. Hawken also produced and hosted a 17-part PBS TV series, now shown in more than 115 countries, based on Growing a Business. He currently serves as chairman of The Natural Step, an educational foundation that assists world government and business leaders in achieving long-term competitive advantage through environmental sustainability. Prices, costs, and other economic indicators change dramatically when natural capital is included as an integral part of the production process, not as a free amenity or as a putative infinite supply.
Industries destroy natural capital because they have historically benefited from doing so.
Everyone is familiar with the traditional definition of capital as accumulated wealth in the form of investments, factories, and equipment. Although we usually think of renewable resources in terms of desired materials, such as wood, their most important value lies in the services they provide. They are not pulpwood but forest cover, not food but topsoil. Living systems feed us, protect us, heal us, clean the nest, and let us breathe. There are trillions of dollars of critical ecosystem services received annually by commerce.