Finding the balance and protection for the future

CATHARINE COOPER

The spring evening settles into the palest of melon colors sandwiched

between a darkening sky and a deep blue ocean. Venus rises in the

distance and contrails of yet another transport line the sky. What

amazing creatures we are to have developed wings! Not quite the

finesse of our fellow feathered friends, and certainly fraught with

pollution and fossil fuel issues, but never the less, we have

achieved loft and it has given us vision.

This vision and distance has allowed us to see the earth’s oceans,

her landmasses, polar caps and fragile atmosphere in one glimpse.

From this vantage, we are able to see the interconnectivity her

vastly diverse ecosystem. Hopefully, this broad holistic view

continues to fuel our understanding of the need to protect the

resource we call home.

Can businesses work to the benefit of the environment? Robert

Sullivan, the founding Dean of the new Rady School of Business at

University of California, San Diego believes this to be true. As the

newest business school on the West Coast, and the first business

school to open at a top-tier research university since 1970, the

school’s focus is to educate tomorrow’s business leaders in

technology, medicine and science. Based on the free-market system,

with an underlying principle of the sustainability of the planet

earth, Sullivan’s dream of a new way of manifesting business

education is taking form.

The school recruits not only the best and the brightest, but also

those with a passion for implementing change. A recent forum,

“Managing the Earth’s Future,” explored some of the possibilities.

While naysayers wait in the wings, company’s such as British

Petroleum prove to the world, that balance and protection can not

only be good for the planet, but they can be good business as well.

By viewing the Kyoto accord as an opportunity and challenge, BP

reduced their emissions to beyond the Kyoto standards on a global

basis.

Sullivan states, that businesses can be developed based on the

triple bottom line of “ ... taking care of shareholders, the

environment and the community.” What if, GM et. al discovered it made

more financially sense to develop hybrid or hydrogen fueled vehicles

instead of oversize gas-guzzling emission-belching Hummers? What if

our government, instead of offering $25,000 tax credits for vehicles

more than 6,000 pounds, worked in reverse? These scenarios are

imminently plausible, but they require forward thinkers, versed not

only in technology, but fueled by the knowledge of the need for

sustainability.

The earth’s resources are not unlimited. Certainly, the recent

shock at the price of gasoline should make it abundantly clear, that

it is not more drilling that answers our transportation problems (the

resource is dwindling and not is not self-regenerating), but a

solution that does not require fossil fuels.

Sullivan speaks of providing his students with the “ ... freedom

to be extraordinary.” Programs provide for students to work at their

own pace, sometimes in an on-line situation, and to waive the intern

requirement in most business schools, since the UCSD model includes

many who already own their own businesses or are uniquely in

positions of top management.

UCSD has long remained the hidden jewel of the University system,

quietly producing six Nobel Laureates and maturing into one of the

top research universities in the country. One of the great assets to

the school is the opportunity to offer joint degrees, i.e., a

graduate degree in computer or marine science, coupled with a

master’s in business. Opportunities abound in the field of coupling

medical research with business design. The school’s mission statement

includes building a “collaborative learning community that encourages

imagination and discovery ... and collaborations ... that result in

enlightened thinking with global impacts.” Partnerships with

pre-eminent global universities are one of the program’s goals.

The sky has darkened on my pondering. The contrails of yet another

John Wayne “escapee” drape white fluffy lines in the blue-black sky.

I can’t help but dream, along with Sullivan and his developing cadre

of bright minds, how that same transport might be powered so that

instead of consuming nonrenewable resources, it might contribute to a

healthier earth system.

It is the dreamers that set the world to change, and each of us

has a place. In each moment, we have the opportunity to choose the

course of our actions. If sustainability stands as our underlying

purpose, than life on earth cannot help but become a very different

place.

* CATHARINE COOPER loves wild places. She can be reached at

ccooper@cooperdesign.net.