Outside the Green Box

Book excerpt: Today, businesses are trapped in the green box of sustainable development. Academics, government leaders, public opinion, and thousands of laws and regulations demand the adoption of sustainability. In response, companies spend billions on renewable energy, carbon credits, biofuels, and other green policies in an effort to counter the coming environmental apocalypse. But a look at data and trends shows that the ideology of environmental sustainable development is based on false concepts. Population growth is slowing, nations continue to reduce air and water pollution, climate change is dominated by natural factors, with the effects from human greenhouse emissions are negligible, and societal access to resources continues to grow. Society and business should adopt a policy that is sensibly green, continuing to reduce air and water pollution, but at other policies aimed at stopping global warming and halting hydrocarbon use. These policies do little for Earth's environment. Outside the Green Box is a well-illustrated and amusing look and society's quest to be sustainable, and the resulting misguided policies that provide little benefit for the environment.