By Duncan Kinney
Sustainability is a word that has been rendered meaningless. When every new coroporate initiative is “sustainable”, nothing is. However, if businesses aim to prosper over the next 30 years it’s clear they’re going to have to operate within the Brundtlandian idea of sustainability;
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
It’s not the best definition of sustainability out there but it’s not the worst either. It’s a clean, understandable sentence and at only 23 words it’s got brevity working for it as well. By this definition there are precious few companies operating in a sustainable fashion.
Investor, venture capitalist and author Andrew Heintzman has written a solid book about Canadian companies and entrepreneurs that are nibbling at the edges of creating a sustainable economy.
For the people out there who believe that it’s either the economy or the environment, this book is a necessity. For readers who are familiar with the environmental and economic challenges facing Canada and the world and the potential solutions this book may be old hat. The book covers everything from electricity generation to forestry to the food system. It picks out entrepreneurs and innovators in each space and briefly profiles what they do. People Glenn Johnson of Glace who is developing innovative new small wind turbines or the people behind Saltworks, a Vancouver company with some very promising solar-powered desalination technology.
I’m not going to detail the profiled companies as Heintzman cuts quite a path across the landscape. Skipping across the country and across industries to show the breadth of the possibilities.
This wide-angle portrait both hurts and helps the book. By skipping from industry to industry and subject to subject the coverage of each individual story is fairly thin. Maybe I’m being greedy but I’d love a more in-depth look at some of these stories.
There are also mini-profiles of companies that really don’t fit the idea of sustainability outlined above. Carbon capture and storage is a universally terrible idea that will hopefully be obviated by companies like Day4 Energy or concepts like low-head hydro.
Regardless of those minor quibbles the people I applaud Andrew Heintzman for writing it. However, being the greedy person that I am, I just wish there was more here. Still, you should read this book and learn more about the Canadians risking their financial livelihoods in order to build a better economy for Canada.
If you want a light, inspiring read this summer you should read The New Entrepreneurs.
Category: Work
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