The Triple Bottom Line Blog

Our friend Joel Makower sends us a link to the latest issue of GreenBiz.com, one of the best online sites for sustainability news. Joel also links to stories about how diverse companies--Ford, Wal-Mart, Fiji Water, and Sierra Pacific--are all shifting their business plans in response to pressure from environmental activists. In his email, Joel then comments:

Such developments notwithstanding, my sense is that many of the environmental watchdogs have lost their bite. One reason is that while times have changed, many activists haven't. Yesterday's politics of complaint--of saying no and accepting nothing less than perfect--resonate less in a world where companies increasingly are on the march, proactively examining and addressing their impacts. With few exceptions (Environmental Defense Fund being the most prominent), NGOs haven't yet learned how to play "good cop," saying to companies the equivalent of "Thank you, now do more." It's always, "No, that's not good enough."

Still, as these stories suggest, the bad cop is still very much on the beat. This is a good thing. A healthy activist sector is much needed--and even welcomed by some corporate types. More than a few environmental professionals inside big companies have confessed to me their appreciation of activists in prodding their bosses in ways that the professionals hadn't succeeded in doing themselves. In some cases, activist campaigns justify the professionals' existence, giving them a new lease on life--or, at least, their jobs.

There's an old story about Franklin D. Roosevelt that captures some of this interplay. A group of activists met with FDR in the Oval Office to urge his support for some liberal reform (it doesn't matter what). After listening to their arguments, Roosevelt responded, "Okay, you've convinced me. Now go out and put pressure on me."

Roosevelt's point: Even a president can't always act with perfect freedom. He too faces constraints--powerful leaders in Congress, bureaucratic resistance and inertia, opposition from state and local government leaders, potential roadblocks in the courts, and so on. Sometimes a president needs "pressure" in the form of a visible, well-organized, vocal, and articulate public movement to provide him with both political cover and supportive energy that permits him to do what he really wants to do anyway.

Environmental activists can play a similar role as "friendly adversaries" for sympathetic executives inside corporate America.

Labels: environmental activism, Franklin D. Roosevelt, GreenBiz.com, Joel Makower, Personal Musings, Role of Government