Conversation 1

Ray Anderson describes to Paula Gordon and Bill Russell awakening to a vision of Interface, Inc. -- the petrochemical-intensive carpet manufacturing company Anderson founded and heads -- leading the Next Industrial Revolution. Customers were key to driving Anderson’s and Interface’s change of direction in a company that spans 110 countries. Led by Anderson, sales, manufacturing and research and development people are working together to create a working model of sustainability, with an eye toward being restorative.

6:49

Conversation 2

Interface has a two-part definition of sustainability: take nothing from the earth that is not renewable; do no harm to the biosphere. Mr. Anderson explains how sustainability applies in his $1.5billion publicly held company’s entire supply chain -- from mines and well-heads to customers worldwide. Anderson describes the world-wide task force which works to get more value for less, the essence of the next industrial revolution on this very finite earth. He describes the current rapid state of decline of all our life support systems -- rivers, oceans, wetlands, lakes, forests, farmlands, range lands, aquifers, the air -- caused by man-made stresses to the biosystem. Anderson recalls learning from Paul Hawkins’ book The Ecology of Commerce that he and business and industry generally are the biggest culprits of environmental degradation . Anderson also learned that only industry and business are large, powerful, wealthy and persuasive enough to lead the earth away from the abyss toward which we are hurtling. Anderson describes “nature” as the model for what industrial systems ought to look like.

9:43

Conversation 3

Achieving sustainability begins with eliminating waste, says Mr. Anderson. That stance has allowed Interface to pay for their future with “Eco-Sense,” which is saving the corporation millions of dollars. Interface’s QUEST - Quality Utilizing Employees’ Suggestions and Teamwork -- institutionalizes sustainability, starting with people’s paychecks. Mr. Anderson directly links these environmental efforts to Interface’s inclusion as one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies in America to Work For. He personifies Interface’s efforts in “tomorrow’s child,” certain that humankind is now at a critical moment for solving our enormous environmental challenges. Mr. Anderson describes Interface’s entirely new manufacturing paradigm, starting with a complete redesign of their products and processes, focused on sustainability.

10:51

Conversation 4

Interface is making money from new approaches which Mr. Anderson describes, creating new technologies which reduce the impact of humans, moving from abusive, linear “take-make-waste” processes to cyclical processes powered by renewable energies. There are fortunes to be made in getting to that state, says Mr. Anderson, as well as policies to be formulated, taxation and incentives to be developed and investments to be made. He credits Rachel Carson for starting this next Industrial Revolution with her 1962 book _Silent Spring_. Anderson explains the work of the President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development (which Anderson co-Chairs,) focused on balancing the competing factors of social equity, the environment and the economy. He describes the “National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America” (Detroit, Michigan, May 2-5, 1999), spearheaded by General Motors, intent on drawing together 50 million Americans and 50,000 organizations focused on sustainability.

11:27

Conversation 5

Mr. Anderson describes the next Industrial Revolution as a mountain with seven “faces” to be scaled: 1.) reduce waste (which pays for all the rest;) 2.) permit only benign emissions and cyclical processes throughout the supply chain; 3.) close the loop on recycling/reclaim molecules now in landfills; 4.) drive all processes with renewable energy; 5.) use the most resource efficient transportation possible while planting trees to offset the inevitable carbon transportation creates (Interface plants a tree for every 4,000 passenger miles its people fly on commercial jets); 6.) sensitize us all to little things we can all do to inch toward sustainability, including leveraging influence with manufacturers’ suppliers; 7.) re-invent commerce so that we buy a product’s service (With Interface’s “evergreen lease,” when a customer is ready for new carpet, they return the old to Interface which the recycles it.)

10:31

Conversation 6

Ray Anderson explains his goal of moving beyond sustainable to “restorative,” from “do no harm to the earth” to “do good for the earth.” He describes how Interface can show other companies how to move toward environmentally responsible practices, eager for other industries and businesses to move further and faster than Interface has. Doing so will start with knowledge intersecting with action, using the limitless power of influence to surmount barriers, he believes. Mr. Anderson reiterates that only business and industry are big enough, powerful enough, pervasive enough to lead us into a sustainable future and reminds us that if industry and business do not lead, our society as we know it will not survive.

6:08