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Books about sustainable business

Here is a list of some books that contributed to shaping the thinking on sustainability. Book titles are linked to further information and ordering details at Amazon.ca. Going directly from here to Amazon and ordering a book will result in Epic Management Inc. receiving a small commission. Any money that EMI receives via Amazon will be donated to support a student from a developing country to study for a two-year diploma in environmental science and technology at Greenview College, Vancouver, B.C.

	Anita Roddick Business As Unusual 2000 A call for business to tackle the big issues of life alongside the pursuit of profits, with heart, soul and conscience.
	Ray Anderson Mid-Course Correction 1998 Mid-Course Correction is a business book about the environment that's written from a personal perspective. With passion and pride, Ray Anderson, Founder, Chairman and CEO of one of the world's largest interior furnishings companies, recounts his awakening to the importance of environmental issues and outlines the steps his petroleum-dependent company, Atlanta-based Interface, Inc., is taking in its quest to become a sustainable enterprise.
	Richard Barrett Liberating the Corporate Soul: Building a Visionary Organization Butterworth-Heinemann 1998 A process blueprint for building a visionary organization with a values-driven approach, this book provides leaders with the tools they need to develop, implement, and monitor a values-driven corporate culture.
	Janine Benyus Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature 1997 Benyus introduces us to pioneering engineers making technological breakthroughs by uncovering and copying nature's hidden marvels.
	Peter L. Bernstein Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk 1996 A comprehensive history of man's efforts to understand risk and probability, beginning with early gamblers in ancient Greece, continuing through the 17th-century French mathematicians Pascal and Fermat and up to modern chaos theory.
	Emma Bircham and John Charlton Anti-Capitalism: A Guide to the Movement 2001 Straightforward and informative, this is a compilation of chapters contributed by those involved in the anti-capitalist movement. The contributors include some veteran NGO campaigners like Barry Coates of the World Development Movement and Kevin Watkins of Oxfam. The chapters seek to paint the broader picture of the movement, from the points of view of issues, regions and actors involved.
	Stewart Brand The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility 1999 Brand argues that our chaotic lives have grown increasingly complex and hurried in this century. In the amped-up rush of "Internet time," we often fail to consider anything beyond the immediate now and think of the present in terms of today, this week, this product cycle. Brand would like to extend our thinking to the next 10,000 years.
	David Brower The Life and Times of David Brower 1990 The autobiography of one of the foremost environmental activists of the century.
	Lester R. Brown, Christopher Flavin and Hilary French State of the World 2003 2003 In State of the World 2003, the Worldwatch Institute's award-winning research team provides concerned citizens and national leaders with comprehensive analysis of the global environmental problems we face, together with detailed descriptions of practical, innovative solutions, like charting the most environmentally sound path to a hydrogen-fueled economy, or accelerating the rapidly growing conversion of farmers worldwide to organic farming and sustainable agriculture. Written in clear and concise language, with easy-to-read charts and tables, State of the World presents a view of our changing world that we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore. Book Info The Worldwatch Institute's award-winning research team provides concerned citizens and national leaders with comprehensive analysis of the global environmental problems we face, together with detailed descriptions of practical, innovative solutions. Softcover.
	Stephen L Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan The Forgotten Pollinators 1996 Two researchers delve into the little-known and fascinating world of pollination.
	Julia ‘Butterfly’ Hill The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods 2000 A young woman named Julia Butterfly Hill climbed a 200-foot redwood in December 1997. She didn't come down for 738 days.
	Frances Cairncross Green, Inc: A Guide to Business and the Environment 1995 A thought-provoking analysis of the complex relationship between government, business and the environment.
	Rachel Carson Silent Spring 1962 Written over the years 1958 to 1962, it took a hard look at the effects of insecticides and pesticides on songbird populations throughout the United States, whose declining numbers yielded the silence to which her title attests.
	Manuel Castells The Power of Identity : The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture 1996-1998 Castells trilogy, The Information Age, was written in the late 20th century but it is really the first sociology classic of the 21st.
	Clayton M. Christensen The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail 1997 Christensen writes that even the best-managed companies, in spite of their attention to customers and continual investment in new technology, are susceptible to failure no matter what the industry, be it hard drives or consumer retailing.
	Theo Colborn, John Peterson Myers and Dianne Dumanoski Our Stolen Future: How Man-Made Chemicals are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival 1996 Identifies the various ways in which chemical pollutants in the environment are disrupting human reproductive patterns and causing such problems as birth defects, sexual abnormalities, and reproductive failure.
	James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies 1994 Built to Last identifies 18 "visionary" companies and sets out to determine what's special about them.
	Hernando de Soto The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else 2000 In this book, the renowned Peruvian economist and adviser to presidents and prime ministers Hernando de Soto proposes and argues that it's not that poor, postcommunist countries don't have the assets to make capitalism flourish.
	Alan Thein Durning How Much Is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth 1992 In this book, Alan Durning of the Worldwatch Institute explores the roots of the consumer society.
	John Elkington The Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and Corporations and Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation 2001 From SustainAbility Chairman, John Elkington, this book looks over the shoulders of business leaders and boards as they build the values-based platforms essential for sustainable value creation.
	John Elkington Cannibals With Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business (out-of-print) 1998 John Elkington's book identifies the seven dimensions of - or revolutions leading to - a sustainable future.
	Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan Creative Destruction: Why companies that are built to last underperform the market ?and how to successfully transform them 2001 This provocative book by a senior partner and an innovation specialist from McKinsey & Co argues that companies that assume continuity set themselves up for disaster. A real risk for built-to-last companies is that they begin to suffer from ?ultural lock-in? with the result that change becomes progressively more difficult. A must-read for anyone trying to engineer change in the corporate world. (At the time of writing 45 pages of this book were available to read on Amazon.com - please follow the link above)
	Francis Fukuyama Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity 1995 An assessment of the emerging global economic order, this book explains the social principles of economic life and tells us what we need to know to win the coming struggle for world dominance.
	Buckminster Fuller Utopia or Oblivion 1969 Less is more...doing more with less. The design science revolution. A must read if you are interested in urban planning, and making a difference.
	Claude Fussler with Peter James Driving Eco-Innovation: A Breakthrough Discipline for Innovation and Sustainability 1996 Explains how eco-efficiency can enhance business operations, contribute to a better environment and improve quality of life.
	Jane Goodall, with Phillip Berman Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey 1999 At the age of 60, Jane Goodall continues to break the mould of scientist by revealing how her research and worldwide conservation institutes spring from her childhood callings and adult spiritual convictions.
	Al Gore Earth in the Balance: Forging a New Common Purpose 1992
	Rob Gray with Jan Bebbington and Diane Walters Accounting for the Environment 1993 The principle thesis of this text is that traditional accounting practices do not properly allocate environmental quality or compliance costs.
	David Grayson and Adrian Hodges Everybody? Business 2001 Everybody? Business is a handbook for managerial action. On more than 300 pages, facts and figures are presented in the form of an attractive textbook. The most attractive feature of this book is the way it looks at the issues from different managerial functions: in a standard format per topic, managers in human resources, purchasing, marketing, production or public relations can see how an issue affects their jobs. The Financial Times wrote: "This handbook should help more managers to get it right more of the time."
	William Greider One World, Ready Or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism 1997 Greider looks at the impact of the global revolution in terms of human struggle. While huge amounts of wealth are being generated, there is a downside, too: social dislocation; economic uncertainty; and the oldest, rawest form of exploitation--that of the weak by the strong.
	Andrew S. Grove Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points that Challenge Every Company and Career 1996 Andy Grove, Intel CEO, shares his passion for business leadership and presents his ideas for business success.
	Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad Competing for the Future: Breakthrough Strategies for Seizing Control of Your Industry and Creating the Markets of Tomorrow 1994 The authors urge companies to create their own futures, envision new markets, and reinvent themselves.
	Allen Hammond, Which World? Scenarios for the 21st Century 1998 Hammond does give us plenty of sober and well-informed analysis, drawing our attention to potentially telling trends.
	Charles Hampden-Turner and Fons Trompenaars The Seven Cultures of Capitalism 1993 A look at capitalism compares America's ambitions, ideals, and strategies with those of France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, arguing that feelings about money are as influential as balance sheets.
	Paul Hawken and Amory & Hunter Lovins Natural Capitalism 2000 Three top strategists show how leading-edge companies are practising "a new type of industrialism" that is more efficient and profitable while saving the environment and creating jobs.
	Paul Hawken The Ecology of Commerce 1994 Proposes a culture of business in which the natural world, is allowed to flourish and in which the planet's needs are addressed.
	Marcel Jeucken Sustainable Finance & Banking: The Financial Sector and the Future of the Planet 2001 Marcel Jeucken, senior economist at the Rabobank Group in the Netherlands, starts with a generic overview of the sector, to help non-bankers get a clear understanding of the field. He then addresses the sustainability implications of the sector, thankfully focussing more on products and services, where the real impacts lie, than on in-house management issues such as paper and energy use.
	Kevin Kelly New Rules for the New Economy 1999 A thought-provoking look at the behaviour of networks and their effect on our economic lives. At the root of this network revolution is communication.
	Kevin Kelly Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines 1994 An explanation of why the coming years will probably be the Age of Biology - particularly evolution and ethology - and what this will mean to most every aspect of our society.
	Allan Kennedy The End of Shareholder Value 2000 After two decades of taking the money and running, it's time for corporate managers to seek to make a difference as well as a buck.
	Art Kleiner The Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws, and the Forerunners of Corporate Change 1996 Art Kleiner shows that a powerful group of progressive thinkers existed within the realm of traditional business during the tumultuous 1960s.
	Naomi Klein No Logo 2000 Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well.
	David C. Korten When Corporations Rule the World 1995 A concise description of the workings and history of the global economy.
	Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 1962 A paradigmatic work in the history of science.
	James Lovelock Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth 1979 James Lovelock created a powerful argument that will keep scientists busy for centuries. He states that there is an ability for the Earth to maintain relatively constant conditions in temperature, atmosphere, salinity and pH of the oceans, and reductions in pollutants that defies the simple observations of what "should" happen. From this, he concludes that there is a complex of physical, chemical and biological interrelationships that work like a living organism, which he defines as the Gaia Hypothesis.
	Dudley Lynch and Paul L Kordis Strategy of the Dolphin: Winning Elegantly by Coping Powerfully in a World of Turbulent Change 1990 The dolphin personality -- flexible, responsive, accepting -- represents precisely the attitude that successful managers must adopt.
	William McDonough and Michael Braungart Cradle to Cradle 2001 William McDonough and Michael Braungart challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world.
	Malcolm McIntosh, Deborah Leipziger, Keith Jones and Gill Coleman Corporate Citizenship: Successful Strategies for Responsible Companies 1998 Provides innovative and visionary solutions to issues including Human Rights, Fair Trade, Social and Ethical Auditing, Environmental Policy, Stakeholder Relations, Global Codes of Conduct and Corporate Governance.
	Edited by Malcolm McIntosh and J?g Andriof Perspectives on Corporate Citizenship 2001 Corporate responsibility has come to prominence in many corporate boardrooms. The aim and scope of this book is to help capture emerging trends in one concise volume, with contributions from leading thinkers from around the world.
	J.R. McNeill Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World 2000 The environmental changes of the last century, McNeill closes by saying, are on an unprecedented scale, so much so that we can scarcely begin to fathom their implications.
	Edited by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith The Case Against the Global Economy : And for a Turn Toward the Local 1997 The 43 essays in this collection comprise a point-by-point analysis of globalization and its consequences that demonstrates that the future may not be as bright as business leaders tell us.
	Donnella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows and J?gen Randers Beyond the Limits: Global Collapse or a Sustainable Future 1992
	James F. Moore The Death of Competition: Leadership and Strategy in the Age of Business Ecosystems 1996 James F. Moore argues that the complex, interdependent nature of today's business relationships is best understood as a form of ecosystem.
	David Packard The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company 1995 Packard chalks up success to many things, including government contracts during wartime, but mostly to the company's management outlook ("The HP Way"), which champions openness, honesty, and flexibility throughout the organization.
	Victor Papanek The Green Imperative 1995 Papanek introduced the idea of an ethics of design. 25 environmentally irresponsible years later, he reiterates his plea for ecologically sound design of everything from food packaging to buildings.
	Jonathon Porritt Playing Safe: Science and the Environment 2000 Really provocative book looking at corporate capture of the scientific establishment and how industry has re-shaped research programmes to suit their own agendas rather than that of society.
	Jonathan Power Like Water on a Stone: The Story of Amnesty International 2001 Amnesty International "has been the catalyst that has transformed, invigorated and even transfigured the debate" over human rights.
	Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson The Cultural Creatives 2000 Cultural Creative is a term coined by Ray and Anderson to describe people whose values embrace a curiosity and concern for the world, its ecosystem, and its peoples.
	Jeremy Rifkin The Biotech Century 1999 An attempt to prod society into formulating an ethical response to biotechnology -- and a means of interpreting and controlling the scientific endeavours.
	Jeremy Rifkin The Age of Access 2000 Another thoughtful book from Rifkin in which he explores the growing influence of media companies in shaping the opportunities society has to access knowledge, information, creativity and communication.
	Tom Rose Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Greatest Non-Event 1999 Tom Rose demonstrates an unexpected empathy not just toward these sea creatures but also toward the oil company executives, Greenpeace activists, Eskimos, businessmen, and military officers who heroically worked to save the whales, and the journalists who brought the story to the world's attention.
	Andrew Rowell Green Backlash: Global Subversion of the Environment Movement 1996 An account of the growing anti-environmental(ist) movement. It reveals the harsher realities of environmental life.
	Lorinda R. Rowledge, Russell S. Barton and Kevin S. Brady Mapping the Journey: Case Studies in Strategy and Action Towards Sustainable Development 1999
	Ric Scarce Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement 1990 It may be hard for many to understand those who are willing to risk their lives in defence of the planet, but this book explains who they are and what motivates them.
	Stephan Schmidheiny with the Business Council for Sustainable Development Changing Course: A Global Business Perspective on development and the Environment 1992 Changing Course provides an extensive guide to ways in which the business community can adapt and contribute to the crucial goal of sustainable development.
	E.F. Schumacher Small Is Beautiful The classic of common-sense economics.
	Joseph Schumpeter Business Cycles 1939 Schumpeter's ideas and theories with practical applications. His 'creative destruction' theory is well documented and explained.
	Peter Schwartz The Art of the Long View: Scenario Planning – Protecting Your Company Against an Uncertain World 1991 Developing strategic vision in business and in life, a guide for managers, entrepreneurs, and investors explains how to apply creative and intuitive skills to corporate practices.
	Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization 1993 Introduction to Senge's carefully integrated corporate framework, which is structured around "personal mastery," "mental models," "shared vision," and "team learning."
	Edward Tenner Why Things Bite Back: New Technology and the Revenge Effect 1996 Tenner examines what he deems the "unintended consequences" of technological innovation, drawing examples from everyday objects and situations.
	Martyn Turner and Brian O’Connell The Whole World’s Watching: Decarbonizing the Economy and Saving the World 2001 A look at the global warming debate going on all over the world, offering a set of solutions for the decarbonization of the Earth.
	John Vidal McLibel 1997 An account of the food fight that became the longest trial in British history. When a flyer entitled ``What's Wrong with McDonald's'' circulated around London, the burger giant took umbrage and sued.
	Ernst Ulrich von Weis?ker, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use 1997 The authors suggest how markets can be organised to eliminate perverse incentives and reward efficiency, thus wealth can grow while consumption does not.
	Richard Welford Corporate Environmental Management 1 Corporate Environmental Management 2 - Culture and Organisations 1997 Prof Welford brings together a number of authors working in the fields of cultural change and organisational behaviour to consider how to develop an 'environmental culture' in organisations.
	Jan-Olaf Willums with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development The Sustainable Business Challenge: A Briefing for Tomorrow’s Business Leaders 1998 A comprehensive primer on issues of corporate sustainability and on environmental issues that affect business.
	World Commission on Environment and Development (the ‘Brundtland Commission’) Our Common Future 1987 Offers an agenda advocating the growth of economies based on policies that do not harm, and can even enhance, the environment.