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The New Economy of Nature
The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable
by Gretchen Daily and Katherine Ellison

      The value of an intact, living ecosystem is priceless, and most people would agree that it should stay that way--that we shouldn't put a dollar value on things like abundant wildlife, clean water, and rich native flora. But anything that is priceless is effectively worthless to the market economy: if nature has no value, then there is no incentive to protect it.

      In recent years pioneering ecologist-economists have put forth the bold and controversial idea that we could preserve living ecosystems by placing a dollar figure on the value of the services provided by them.       In The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable, ecologist Gretchen Daily teams up with journalist Katherine Ellison to examine projects around the world that are achieving conservation goals in part by placing a dollar value on the services provided by nature.

      The authors introduce readers to a diverse group of people who are pioneering new approaches to conservation. Meet Adam Davis, an American business executive who dreams of establishing a market for buying and selling "ecosystem service units;" and John Wamsley, a former math professor in Australia who has found a way to play the stock market and protect native species at the same time. Learn about Costa Rica's biologist Dan Janzen's efforts to sell a conservation area's natural waste-disposal services to a local orange juice producer. Readers also visit the Catskill Mountains, where the city of New York purchased undeveloped land instead of building an expensive new water treatment facility; and King County, Washington, where county executive Ron Sims has dedicated himself to finding ways of "making the market move" to protect the county's remaining open space.

      Daily and Ellison describe the dynamic interplay of science, economics, business, and politics that is involved in establishing these new approaches and examine what will be needed to create successful models and lasting institutions for conservation. 260 pages. 2003.

The New Economy of Nature

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The Natural Step for Business
Wealth, Ecology and the Evolutionary Corporation
By Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare

      The Natural Step for Business examines how four very successful "evolutionary" corporations in Sweden and the United States - including IKEA and Scandic Hotels in Sweden, and Collins Pine and Interface in the U.S. - are positioning themselves for long-term competitiveness using The Natural Step as a central part of their corporate strategy. Nattrass and Altomare puncture the myth that a company must choose between profitability and care for the natural environment, and present a timely and practical application of this exciting model for global sustainability.

      Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare are co-founders of The Natural Step/Canada. Brian Nattrass is a corporate lawyer, has served as CEO of a Canadian public company and as Chairman of Earth Day International, and consults to corporations throughout North America. Mary Altomare is Vice-President of Innovation Strategies, Inc. where she specializes in organizational development, and serves as an advisor to many environmental organizations, including Earth Day and Green Seal. Both live in Gibsons Landing, British Columbia. 240 pages. 1999.

The Natural Step for Business

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The Natural Step for Communities
How Cities and Towns can Change to Sustainable Practices
by Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti

      Sustainability may seem like one more buzzword, and cities and towns like the last places to change, but The Natural Step for Communities provides inspiring examples of communities that have made dramatic changes toward sustainability, and explains how others can emulate their success.

      Chronicled in the book are towns like Övertorneå, whose government operations recently became 100 per cent fossil fuel-free, demonstrating that unsustainable municipal practices really can be overhauled. Arguing that the process of introducing change -- whether converting to renewable energy or designing compact development -- is critical to success, the authors outline why well-intentioned proposals often fail to win community approval, and why an integrated approach -- not "single-issue" initiatives -- can surmount challenges of conflicting priorities, scarce resources, and turf battles.

      The book first clarifies the concept of sustainability, offering guiding principles -- the Natural Step framework -- that help identify sustainable action in any area. It then introduces the sixty-plus eco-municipalities of Sweden that have adopted changes to sustainable practices throughout municipal policies and operations. The third section explains how they did it, and outlines how other communities in North America and elsewhere can do the same. Key to success is a democratic "bottom-up" change process, and clear guiding sustainability principles such as the Natural Step framework.

      The book will appeal to both general readers wishing to understand better what sustainability means and practitioners interested in introducing or expanding sustainable development in their communities.

      Sarah James is the principal of a city and town planning consulting firm specializing in participatory planning methods. She co-authored the American Planning Association's Planning for Sustainability Policy guide, and has published articles and given workshops throughout the United States on this subject.

      Torbjörn Lahti is the project director for Sustainable Robertsfors, a five-year sustainable community demonstration project. He was the project planner for Sweden's first eco-municipality, Övertorneå, and was instrumental in the formation of SeKom, the Swedish national association of eco-municipalities. 304 pages. April 2004.

The Natural Step for Communities

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Dancing with the Tiger
Learning Sustainability Step by Natural Step
By Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare

      Making social and ecological change happen is not easy. At both the planetary and organizational levels, it is a dance that is fraught with danger for both the change agents themselves and their organizations. It is like dancing with a tiger.

      For corporations, communities and other organizations, the choreography of the dance toward sustainability has been systematized by The Natural Step: a framework that provides the science, analysis, methodologies and tools to use in the quest for sustainability. Dancing with the Tiger presents the stories of individuals, teams and organizations learning about change and sustainability, and then acting on that learning. Case studies include some of the most successful companies and communities in North America:

- Nike: its struggles, victories and setbacks on the road to sustainability
- Starbucks: the tension of modeling corporate responsibility with alarming growth
- CH2MHill: its gradual evolution from environmental to sustainability engineering
- Whistler: grappling with the paradox of sustainability in a high profile resort town
- as well as Home Depot, Norm Thomson Outfitters, the municipalities of Seattle and Santa Monica, and others.

      Following on the success of The Natural Step for Business, this book takes a deeper look at the real business impacts of sustainability. It will be of special interest to business people, government officials, and students of business, organizational development and the environment.

      Brian Nattrass: lawyer, CEO, Chairman of Earth Day International, and author of a book on corporate finance. Mary Altomare: academic administrator at Yale and Duke universities, and consultant with the World Bank and US AID. Both are now practice leaders for The Natural Step in North America. Hardcover. 288 pages. April 2002.

Dancing with the Tiger

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Ripples from the Zambezi
Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies
By Ernesto Sirolli

      After six years of economic development work in Africa, Ernesto Sirolli witnessed how little most foreign aid programs were actually doing for the people they hoped to help-from creating a communal tomato field on the banks of the Zambezi river (only to be demolished by the river's hippos at harvest time) to donating snow-plows to African nations! However well intentioned, Sirolli points out, inappropriate development often creates more problems than it solves.

      Thus was the genesis of this exciting and unique alternative to traditional economic development termed "Enterprise Facilitation"- where depressed communities can build hope and prosperity by first helping individuals to recognize their talents and business passion, and then providing the skills to transform their dreams into meaningful and rewarding work.

      Ernesto Sirolli is the recipient of the Silver Jubilee Award for the Best Job Creating Project in Australia. He has six years experience working for local self-reliance in African countries and twelve years implementing Enterprise Facilitation programs in the U.S. and other countries. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ripples from the Zambezi

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ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference
Environmental Work for a Sustainable World
by The Environmental Careers Organization

      How can you make a real difference in the world and make a good living at the same time? The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference: Environmental Work for a Sustainable World provides the answer.

      Developed by the Environmental Careers Organization, this guide is unlike any careers book you've seen before. Reaching far beyond job titles and resume tips, The ECO Guide immerses you in the strategies and tactics that leading edge professionals are using to tackle pressing problems and create innovative solutions.

      To bring you definitive information from the real world of environmental problem-solving, The ECO Guide has engaged some of the nation's most respected experts to explain the issues and describe what's being done about them today. You'll explore:

* Global climate change with Eileen Claussen, Pew Center for Global Climate Change;
* Biodiversity loss with Stuart Pimm, Nicholas School for the Environment at Duke University;
* Green Business with Stuart Hart, Kenan-Flager Business School at University of North Carolina;
* Ecotourism with Martha Honey, The International Ecotourism Society;
* Environmental Justice with Robert Bullard, Environmental Justice Center at Clark Atlanta University;
* Alternative Energy with Seth Dunn, Worldwatch Institute;
* Water Quality with Sandra Postel, Global Water Policy Project;
* Green Architecture with William McDonough, McDonough + Partners;
* and twelve other critical issues.

      To demonstrate even more clearly what eco-work feels like on the ground, The ECO Guide offers vivid "Career Snapshots" of selected employers and the professionals that work there. You'll visit government agencies like the USDA Forest Service, nonprofit organizations like Conservation International and Project Wild, and local advocates like Alternatives for Community and Environment. You'll go inside environmental businesses like Wildland Adventures and Stonyfield Farms. And you'll learn from academic institutions like the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.

      ECO also identifies and describes forty specific jobs that are representative of environmental career opportunities in the twenty-first century. It provides dozens of the best Internet resources. The Environmental Careers Organization is a national, nonprofit organization, with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle, devoted to protecting and enhancing the environment through the development of diverse leaders, the promotion of careers, and the inspiration of individual action. 352 pages. November 2004.

ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference

$19.00

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