Ray Anderson on the business logic of sustainability

By admin on August 20, 2010, 2:19 am


www.ted.com At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take make / waste” industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the “Sixth Sense” wearable tech, and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at www.ted.com

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25 Responses to “Ray Anderson on the business logic of sustainability”

  1. bobian81 says:

    just found out rays got cancer,god bless him

  2. johnbambammorgan says:

    At the MAIN PLANET in Georgia, they have a MASSIVE, MASSIVE Machine actually built by the German Scientists nick named, The White Coats that consumes ALL OTHER manufacturing polluted carpets and goes through this amazing process and on the other end comes this sustainable NEW Material. They make the BEST carpet on the planet.

  3. docbrown1471 says:

    This guy is a genius light years ahead of the rest, it’s a shame no other major corporation can follow his example.

  4. TurtugaBlanku says:

    Great and inspiring presentation!

    Cheers,

    Turtuga Blanku

    *Solar Power Music*

  5. blularkspur says:

    What?? Have you ever been part of a real poor community? TED is about removing conventional thought, and these ‘wake up things can’t be different’ attitude is like totally missing the point..

  6. cordawgydawg says:

    As wind, wave, solar, and geo thermal power are all element based sources of renewable energy, there are also man made sources… you could probably manufacture an oil hybrid in a factory without to much hassle, but THAT, is counterproductive to the goals of the earth (not like half the industry heads care anyway) hemp can be grown in small areas and seed very easily, be harvested in 4-6 months or less, and more can be planted in the same areas without any additives to the earth besides water

  7. cordawgydawg says:

    people will never stop using paper products… trees are not really a renewable resource because they take 50-200 years to grow, and take up much more room… hemp however is only an answer to half the problem… thats when the engineers have to find non petroleum based and low polluting ways of milling the products

  8. cordawgydawg says:

    holy fuck! wow, what a wise old man… but tomorrows child i think, is quite a long way away… it’s still good to know atleast some people of his stature are thinking about it

  9. aarondkeogh says:

    Live simply so others can simply live.

  10. pcq19947 says:

    This dude is well ahead of the curve. Even if you don’t get it yet this is how we are going to be doing business and living life in the future. That is if we don’t poison the World before the future child is born.

    I really hope that more people follow this man’s wisdom.

    I’m going to look the guy up and send him an email to thank him on behalf of my unborn future children.

  11. BallinTrollin says:

    because in and of itself hemp is sustainable….no fertilizers needed no pesticides, it’s a healthy & cheap source of protein and omega 3 and 6. it can be made into plastic that’s biodegradable. i could name more but ultimately hemp is a threat to many corporations that continue to propagate unsuitable activities because of blind pursuit of profit. Male & female cannabis=better world *oversimplified but nevertheless cannabis **female** is a definite counter to dumb drugs like tobacco and beer.

  12. sunrisewalker says:

    I agree that Hemp is a useful product, but am going to ask you how adding another product, or switching to another product is the answer to our problems, when our problems stem from over production and over consumption as much as they do wrong consumption and wrong production?

  13. lyolik777 says:

    Dude check your grammar, I did not understand what you wrote about your studies.

    And I don’t see how I or anybody else prefers to be part of the problem. I am against removing money from the economy, that’s all.

  14. jimmshorts says:

    the cynic believes and perpetuates scarcity. Hubris, greed, avarice restricts abundance to a priviledged few. My studies and observations say that more accurately reflects the sentiment of those in poverty, in hunger, in disease. To work with the Earth, wth social responsibility is an invitation to live in solution. Perhaps you prefer to be part of the problem.

  15. lyolik777 says:

    wake up to the fact that most people don’t think that, especially people in poverty

  16. jimmshorts says:

    we ALL own this Earth. Wake up to the uber / macro view.

  17. resourcebasedeconomY says:

    THE VENUS PROJECT. COM

  18. abram730 says:

    it every “waste” is seen as a “resource”,, then sustainability and growth can exist together.

  19. astara091 says:

    I have to remind at this point that the Nordic model (which is in place in all Nordic countries, not just Sweden, hence the name) is not some magical eco-communist way of government and has little to do with protecting the enviroment by itself.

    Nordic countries, like all “western”
    industrialized countries, spend and waste huge amount of resources.

  20. branboom says:

    i think that if an old man that made his fortune at the expense of the earth can so completely reevaluate the way he does business, we all can. We just have to want to.

  21. lyolik777 says:

    buddy. If only you guys were the first ones with this idea. People are not ready for that, capitalism is about ownership, and unless nobody wants to own anything eradicating capitalism will not really work. May be a sophisticated socialism system like in Sweden is possible.

    Abolishing money? Money is for trading? You ever studied economics, and why money exists? Wake up!

  22. laxhockfiendmb says:

    powerful poem

  23. frederickfarrell says:

    fantastic, what a great man

  24. Dayvit78 says:

    very humble speaker

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