What Comes Next?

Today’s entry is a weekend update of sorts, following up on some topics I’ve introduced here in recent weeks - and if it’s OK with you, I’ll get the awkward one out of the way first.

1) On more than one occasion, I’ve mentioned the intriguing story of Tellman Knudsen, who is attempting to run across the country barefoot, ostensibly to raise money for homeless youth. Since I promoted him earlier, I feel obligated now to point out that Tellman’s philanthropy may not be as sincere as advertised.

The article linked above certainly paints a shady portrait, and I’d hate for anyone to contribute to him without knowing the potential downside. I honestly don’t know where the truth in this whole saga lies, or exactly what to make of the guy; on one hand, I’m kind of cheering for him to pull off the barefoot odyssey – on the other, his eccentricity and apparent hucksterism just leave me shaking my head.


2) The next item is the polar opposite in terms of respectability: it’s the next installment of Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles video series.

Part 2 of the series is called “What Comes Next?” and it’s something of a global roundtable on ecologically responsible manufacturing. The clip is a good 12 minutes long, so I won’t bore you with a detailed recap – rather, I’ll just throw out a few bullet points as a teaser:

* Among the featured interviewees are Patagonia’s Director of Environmental Analysis and VP of Environmental Initiatives, as well as Starbucks’ VP of Global Responsibility. How many corporations even have those positions? The fact that titles like that even exist in some global companies has to be a good sign, I would hope.

* While a rapidly-increasing number of companies eagerly promote their “sustainable” manufacturing processes and green initiatives, a question worth asking is whether or not a truly sustainable business is even possible. Can any company actually contribute more to the planet than it takes away? Do societal contributions like jobs and livelihood offset the negative environmental impact – and if so, does that even matter?

* Finally, the video addresses the elephant in the room with any discussion of green enterprise: what exactly is the role the individual consumer? We live in the most consumptive era of the most consumptive culture in the history of mankind - and our collective demand for so much “stuff” is the unifying factor at the heart at every environmental problem faced by every company today. Since the essence of capitalism is for businesses to meet every imaginable consumer demand, relying on them to promote decreased consumption is something like asking the tobacco industry to sponsor anti-smoking initiatives.

So are companies really the entities most accountable for ecological stewardship? At what point do we assess our personal responsibility? And why do we value all of our stuff so much anyway? There aren’t any simple answers, but these are interesting topics of consideration in the video that follows.

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The Footprint Chronicles, Part 2: What Comes Next? (click to play):