Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/57462
From the Editors Joining the Green Revolution It is hard to remember a time when the sight of a plastic shopping bag didn't send shivers up my spine. It was a time when I took long showers with selfish abandon. I left lights on in empty rooms and kept computers humming long after I'd finished working. I drank bottled water and blithely took my restaurant leftovers home in throwaway Styrofoam contain- ers likely to outlast the next Ice Age. I made one-sided copies. I gave no thought to the environmental impact of asphalt parking lots, airline travel, or air conditioning. I had never heard of the term "carbon footprint." And I was blissfully unaware that, very soon, the whole world was about to change. So, too, were many business leaders. But today, no company can escape the "green- ing" of business. Organizations in all industries are under increasing pressure to quan- tify and control the effect their operations have on the planet. In addition, the "green" movement is quickly giving way to a culture of "sustainability," where it's not enough that businesses reduce their carbon footprints. They also must enlarge their role in lifting the world's poorest citizens above the poverty line and helping them build prosperous, sustainable communities. As we find in this issue, business schools, too, are being called on to influence the global transition. In our cover interview, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for more business schools to join the 100 that have already signed on to support the Principles for Responsible Management Education. In his article, "Sustainable Innovation," David Cooperrider, professor of social entrepreneur- ship at Case Western Reserve University, urges business schools to help businesses solve big problems like global warming, poverty, and the energy crisis. And in "The Socially Responsible Curriculum," we highlight what some business faculty and students are doing to effect positive, long-term social change, not just in companies, but in their own communities. I must admit, I sometimes long for the days when I didn't know the meaning of "green"—when I wasn't aware of the impact my daily choices made on the planet. Things were quicker, easier, more convenient. But in those days, I didn't feel such a sense of connection to the broader community. Never have I felt such a collective enthusiasm among people to work toward positive change as I do today. For my part, I now reduce, reuse, and recycle. I take shorter show- ers, drink from the tap, and unplug the laptop at night. No longer weighed down by "grocery bag guilt," I bring my own reusable bags to the supermarket. More and more, I'm finding that others are doing the same. As Cooperrider argues, now is an exciting time to be alive; it's more exciting, perhaps, to be in business school. Today's business students are in an enviable position. They won't just see change happen—they'll make it happen. ■ z 6 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2008 BILL BASCOM