positive change. I am sure you have your own personal stories and a rich mixture of reasons for considering all or part of the paradigm shift presented in the chapters of this book. Nature is filled with rich diversity and countless inter-relationships among all members, and the sustainable business revolution is taking shape in a similar fashion. A variety of people in many parts of the world are independently beginning to redesign businesses and to find remedies for many of the existing core problems of commerce.
1See Jacobs and Gerson (2001) for an elaboration of these trends.
About the Author
Matthew Tueth was born and raised in the quiet Mississippi River town of Alton, IL. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Studies from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Early in his career, he worked for two decades for the U.S. Forest Service and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Later in academia, he designed the world’s first Bachelor of Science Degree in Sustainable Business for Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI (2002) and served as Program Director until 2015. Tueth consults with organizations on sustainable business and has given keynote presentations throughout the U.S. and Japan. Tueth has also led college field courses in resource management of national parks for 12 summers, which had provided him with the opportunity to travel six times to Denali, Wrangell–St. Elias, and Kenai Fjords National Parks in Alaska. Tueth is married and has two daughters and now lives on the Oregon Coast.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks
The Steelcase Foundation for its gracious and generous support of this project.
Former Aquinas College President C. Edward Balog for his continuous leadership, support, and confidence.
Student worker Mariel Borgman for her assistance during the completion of this work.
His longtime friend Jim for inspiration in the earliest stages of this project.
His wife, Maggie, for her patience and support during the many months of work that spilled into their private time and for her countless hours of editing and advisement.
Contents
Chapter 1Houston, We Have a Problem
1.1Our Early Approach to Mounting Problems
1.3Early Visionaries and the Resistance to Change
1.4Do Current Free-Market Mechanisms Help?
1.6Are the Results Worth the Effort?
Chapter 2Selecting a Design Consultant
2.1The Problem with Stewardship
2.2Naturally Our Best Foot Forward
2.3Pernicious Material Processes
2.4Nature’s Path of Production
2.7Following Nature’s Energy Path
2.8Other Sun-Powered Opportunities
2.9Envision a Sun-Powered Human Society
2.10Cutting Our Nuclear Power Losses
2.11The Advantages of Local Energy Production
2.13Innovations Solving Multiple Problems
