Q4b 2005

Of the many books out there on globalization, probably the one that has had the most widespread influence, at least in the US, is Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

Towards the end of his book, Friedman tells the following story: He is walking through the streets of Hanoi when he almost bumps into an elderly Vietnamese woman crouched on the sidewalk with a bathroom scale. She is offering to weigh people for a small fee. Friedman’s gloss on this moment is this: “Whatever you’ve got, no matter how big or small – sell it, trade it, barter it, leverage it, rent it, but do something with it to turn a profit, improve your standard of living and get into the game” (348).

The challenge for the sustainability movement as a whole is framed by this story: the challenge of getting into the game and the challenge of figuring out what exactly to put out on the sidewalk.

Just framing the question in this way probably will set a good many people’s teeth on edge. After all, it’s the many attributes of globalism per se that seem to be sending us ever further along the road of overshooting the planet’s carrying capacity. There’s the constant emphasis on speed, doing things ever faster; there’s the economist Schumpeter’s trumpeting of “creative destruction,” emphasizing continual innovation over tradition; there’s the insistent emphasis on ever-ratcheted competition where the winner takes all and losers are left behind in a dust heap; there’s the global tendency toward cultural homogenization, where every locale aspires to have the wherewithal to take their family to a McDonald’s and where a once rich diversity of spoken languages has been whittled down to a practical 300; there’s a growing empahsis on individual flexibility and entrepreneurship such that the foundations of society and community begin to erode. And so on.

Watching the movie Koyanisquatsi, we see a world moving ever faster toward chaos, anomie. If this is globalization, who wants it? Why would the sustainability movement even aspire to get into this game, much less ask itself what products it has to offer on globalism’s street corner?

Because, Friedman would say, it’s the only game in town. To which we might add: because if we don’t, it’s game over. Big time.

OK, so if we’re gonna commit to this crazy, up-tempo, go-go-go growth game, something that looks like NBA all-stars playing street ball on speed, then what’s our strategy?

Friedman, himself an interesting proponent of sustainability ( (“without environment there’s no sustainable culture and without sustainable culture there’s no sustainable globalization”), makes 3 suggestions: act as envrionmental entrepreneurs, work with businesses to demonstrate this it’s all about managing their bottom line through risk management and reducing waste/costs, and “glocalize” (take the best bits of globalization and filter them through the values of individual cultures).

Actually, a more fruitful approach might come from reading between the lines of Friedman’s book, by learning to “do as the Globalizers are doing.” Friedman singles out two qualities that are emblematic of globalist practices. For one, you cannot compete on a global basis without alliances. Secondly, the power of globalism rests on the fact that it has a pull strategy not a push strategy.

This is a mixed blessing for the Sustainability Movement. On the one hand, there is probably no other segment of our culture that is better trained at and experienced in the art of alliance-building. With over a million non-profits worldwide devoted exclusively to issues of sustainability, there is a wealth of talent and resources that simply understand better than anyone how alliances are built, nurtured, and made effective. The problem, however, is that all of this experience has largely been directed at tilting at the windmills of the status quo, tyring to push change. Somehow, if our sustainable movement is to reach a tipping point of widespread adoption, it needs to be something that businesses and governments and people are asking for. Clamoring for.

Creating a pull strategy for the sustainable movment. You’d think it would be the easiest thing in the world for us to pull for things that will ensure a better life for their kids. You’d think.

Martin Melaver

CEO