Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Author:Daniel Goleman [Goleman, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Technology & Engineering, Business & Economics, Reference, Nature, Industries, Industries - Environmental aspects, Environmentalism, Consumer Behavior, Green Business, Environmental, Sustainable living, Environmental responsibility, Environmental aspects, Environmentalism - Economic aspects, Environmental responsibility - Economic aspects, Natural Resources, Consumer behavior - Environmental aspects, Environmental Conservation & Protection, Consumer Guides, House & Home, Economic aspects
ISBN: 9780385527828
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2009-04-21T18:55:02+00:00

11

THE CHEMICAL STEW

Conventional wisdom posits a potential bonanza for companies that go green not merely in direct savings on energy costs, but also from the smarter products and processes they innovate that solve ecological problems. But looked at through another lens, the current tide of activity focused on global warming is just the first in a series of such waves likely to wash over businesses in coming years.

Most products marketed today are based on twentieth-century industrial chemistry. The twenty-first century will inevitably bring a more fine-grained understanding of how commonly used ingredients interact with human biology. Given the inexorable advance of science, eventually some of those substances will be implicated in processes that lead to disease of one kind or another.

The widespread fears about the heating of the planet are driven by a steady drumbeat of scientific findings, each hitting the media with a new wave of alarm. But just behind the current surge of fears about global warming, the next wave of dread to wash over us can be seen gathering a bit farther offshore. One inexorable force that stirs these waves is backwash from fast-moving scientific advances. Another is the ever-increasing zones of transparency created by the availability of information.

Put radical transparency together with, for example, medical findings about industrial chemicals, and we can see that one likely wave will be alarms about toxins: more compounds that are today routine ingredients in consumer products will become suspect. These anxieties may spread to seemingly innocuous industrial chemicals, simply because tomorrow's standards for toxicity will likely be more demanding than today's, as more information is spread more widely and the public's perception of danger becomes greater.

Another reason this may be the next major wave: While alarms about global warming and other planetary dangers have filled the news, they can seem to operate on too massive a scale and over too long a time frame to affect most people's everyday lives. But when it comes to protecting our own health and that of our loved ones, people pay far closer attention.

Consider a box of microwavable, butter-flavored popcorn. The label assures buyers that it has zero grams of trans fat and zero mg cholesterol. But the ingredients list fails to mention that the savory butter taste and mouthwatering aroma come courtesy of diacetyl, a flavoring long known by pulmonary specialists to cause bronchiolitis obliterans, a disease in which the small airways in the lungs become swollen, scarred, and, eventually, obliterated.

Victims can breathe in deeply but have severe difficulty exhaling. More commonly known as “popcorn worker's lung,” the disease has sometimes led to the death of those who labor in popcorn factories or plants that produce candy and pastries, and even dog food, where diacetyl is used as a flavoring.

A canary in the coal mine for the rest of us was Wayne Watson of Centennial, Colorado. When Watson was diagnosed with popcorn worker's lung, his physicians alerted federal agencies that the threat had leapt beyond factory walls to consumers' homes. The resulting public alarm swiftly led the four largest U.

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