If the goal is to solve (or avert) the problems of business as usual, then it is going to take more than band aids to do it. That is a simple lesson that I teach my students every semester, and one that requires them to go through a series of exercises to identify the root [...]

There can be fewer examples of an “open secret” in China than the worsening air quality levels in China’s major cities. For a period, this “open secret” was one that was acceptable by all because of the promise of better days, but following the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai EXPO the air has only grown worse [...]

Over the last 2-3 years, one of the more interesting developments in China’s philanthropic landscape has been the explosion of foundations that have come onto the scene. Interesting because as the number of foundations, and the number of celebrities/ CEOs opening their own foundation, grew there was a general belief that this would improve the [...]

Last night, and this afternoon, I had a bit of a scare. A donor to one of the organizations I have been working with, a long time friend, sent me a message that she was pulling her donation because of an error I had made.  It was a simple error in failing to recognize her [...]

If the first step towards recovery is admitting that you have a problem, then readers will agree that Apple taking the time to meet with several of China’s most prominent Green NGOs was a first step for Apple. Particularly given the fact that Apple was largely unwilling to address the numerous labor and environmental failures [...]

Last month while being interviewed for the New York Times piece China’s City of the Future Rises on a Wasteland, I was asked about the importance of China’s eco-city planning… What should be the goal of an eco-city and why are they important to China? To me, this was perhaps one of the more important [...]

There was a time where China could legitimately stand up and say that they were “cleaner” than everyone else, and use a per capita statistic to back that information up. Over the years though, it has grown tougher because the audience (1) began adjusting for the fact that China had hundreds of millions of farmers [...]

When working with my students on the issues of sustainability, one of the fundamental facts that I am trying to impress upon them is that ultimately there is no “away”. That ultimately, the wastes that we are creating through the economic models we have developed will at some point grow so large that they cannot [...]

With the conversations around systems and sustainability still largely a moving a target that bounces between emotional polar bears and destructive weather systems, I honestly cannot think of a better time for a focus on understanding the systems that exist in our economy, the impact of our economy on our environmental systems, and taking steps [...]

When thinking of the issues we face environmentally, and the recent links to climate change, we often speak about issues on a global level without considering the local issues/ impact of those discussions.  A condition I think about often as the discussions around climate change and environmental protection continue to be hobbled by issues of [...]