Catherine Thiel

Dr. Marx

English 134-16

1 November 2004

Long Live the Next Industrial Revolution!

Each word in the title of the book Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution carries powerful undertones. For example “industrial revolution” carries a negative connotation for me; I picture smoke stacks pouring out pollution and darkening the cities and six year old children working fourteen hours a day in factories for little pay. I simultaneously recognize the remarkable amount of inventions and technologies that were developed during and following the Industrial Revolution and its vast impact on the world and on the United States, which places great value on the idea of capitalism. Considering my preconceptions simply based on the words of the title of the book, I was intrigued to read the first chapter of the book and to see what could be environmentally “natural” about capitalism and what a new industrial revolution would involve. Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins, the authors of Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, offer a persuasive and powerful outlook on the state of our world currently and in the future through intertwining logical arguments, emotional appeals, and establishments of personal credibility.

The chapter opens with an appeal to emotions. The book describes a scene to imagine - a more peaceful and world with more parks, cleaner air and water, societal harmony, better quality of life, and lack of income taxes (1). This beginning passage is an effective way to draw readers into the book because it intrigues them and causes them to desire the world to which they are being introduced. The opening prepares the readers to be more receptive to learning how this wonderful world can come to be. Additionally, the authors conclude the paragraph with the assurance that the world-changing trends are already in place and are within reach (2).

In the following paragraphs, the authors describe the immediate necessity of making changes by providing historical information about the industrial revolution of the mid 1700s and its effects on the world (2-5). They support their environmental concerns logically with facts. For example, statistics of losses in topsoil, corral reefs, freshwater ecosystems, and forests are given. Throughout the descriptions of the destruction of the world, appeals to emotion are employed, such as speaking about “stripped rainforests” and “mountains of “toxic tailings spilling into rivers” (3).

The description of the condition of the earth today is woven into the framework of the central claims and points of the chapter. A major focus of the chapter, valuing natural capital (capital that includes not only resources like oil, coal, and trees but living systems), is stressed (2). Further, the authors argue that the value of living systems, such as the services they provide, is not taken into account (3), and business operations fail to calculate the costs to the environment that occur through their actions, partly because the supreme value of natural capital that has been used is not known exactly (5).

The rest of the chapter discusses how to change values in order to value living systems more. Four strategies are introduced: resource productivity, biommicry, service and flow economy, and investing in natural capital (10-11). Resource productivity means slowing use of natural resources by being more industrially efficient. Biommicry concerns learning from nature how to produce things. A service and flow economy focuses more on selling and purchasing services rather than products and makes manufacturers more responsible. Finally investing in natural capital involves working together globally to accomplish the superordinate environmental goals.

The four strategies suggested are supported by logical evidence which established more credibility. For example, the authors discuss organizations such as Factor Ten (pertaining to resource productivity) and the principle of Intelligent Product Systems in Europe (regarding a service and flow economy). These and the other examples given in the chapter demonstrate to the reader that changes for the better are possible and have been already taking place and yielding results.

I feel that Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution is persuasive and well-written. The progression from a fantasy to how to achieve that fantasy specifically is effective. The use of emotional appeals to back up the logical claims and arguments were balanced and placed in good places. I am persuaded to learn more about how the ideals of this book are being played out in the world, and I want to support proponents of valuing natural capital in their efforts.

Works Cited

Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revoution. : Little Brown and Company, 1999.