Ecological Intelligence: Knowing The Hidden Impacts Of What We Buy;
By Daniel Goleman; Penguin Books;
Pages: 288; Price: £16.99
Buy Borrow Avoid
Daniel Goleman in Ecological Intelligence shatters the "green bubble" people have built around themselves about doing enough for the environment, and tries to shake them out of their complacency. He brings to fore the intractability of the paper-versus-plastic debate by showing that producing paper articles, actually, uses more wood, 36 times more electricity and causes more water pollution than its synthetic counterpart. Moreover, the production of plastic produces ozone; one of its more positive contributions. So, the process involved in creating a 'green product' may not necessarily be as green as one would like to believe.
The author's singular achievement in the book lies in his ability to interconnect a trip to the supermarket with the vast depletion of the sociosphere, and the biosphere, in a relationship that does not seem contrived.
A conspicuous instance is the narrative of a branded organic cotton T-shirt the author cites to reveal how the inordinately excessive amounts of water required to grow cotton for one T-shirt can lead to the aridity of a water body (as in the case of the Aral Sea). Additionally, the deceptive green colour of the garment results from concentrated amounts of chromium, chlorine and formaldehyde. The consumer's ignorance of the matter could be attributed to the company's policy of pre-meditated non-disclosure or simply lack of knowledge. The author suggests that more often than less it is the latter.
Following a course of continued interaction with a number of industrial ecologists and the instruments of research this relatively new science employs, Goleman reveals numerous exhibits that reveal the damages a lot of 'green' products inflict. Herbal shampoos that comprise mainly of strong colours, soya ink which contains only 8 per cent soya or how sunscreen washed off the bodies of swimmers potentially destroys aquatic life.
 Daniel Goleman is an author, psychologist and science journalist. He extensively reported on brain and behavioural sciences for The New York Times for 12 years. He was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He was also awarded the American Psychological Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, and is currently a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. |
Dispelling the comfort of simplistic substitutions, Goleman emphasises how often alternative measures aimed at environmental conservation can lead to greater problems. How utilising solar energy is ineffectual, since it increases one's dependence on other resources and is, therefore, tantamount to more harm than preservation. Goleman debunks the "virtuosity" of recycling by claiming that through the process we essentially "recycle our toxins".
Of course, one does not expect the author or his team of experts to dispense ready solutions as many issues need time and technology to be resolved. Given the present scenario and the limitations that define it, Goleman (probably inadvertently) comes across as rather pessimistic about the efforts made towards alleviating lurking environmental dangers.
Championing the cause of "radical transparency" and "full ecological disclosure", Goleman believes that the availability of "complete information about all aspects of a product's history" to the buyer will unleash an ecologically empowered consumerist revolution. The concept of ecological intelligence stems from the idea of analysing industrial ecosystems. As the name suggests, the terminology is derived from an understanding that a product manufactured in a certain industrial unit is influenced by the conditions around it and, moreover, the product itself has significant implications on the environment around it.
Thus, industrial ecosystems function and alter the natural ecosystems they invariably interact with, and endorsing practices and products that contribute positively to the natural environment is the crux of ecological intelligence.
Being a psychologist, the author (expectedly) deliberates on ideas such as consumer mindset while talking about the projective mechanism at work when the blame for all things bad is solely placed on nefarious corporations. Goleman talks about the principles of market economics overriding environmental concerns, despite the increasing attention to the latter, which is both demanded of and realised by industries nowadays. Yet ironically, he seems to believe that complete ecological awareness will overpower the forces of demand and supply in the market. It is hoped that this somewhat illogical optimism can defy rational speculations.
This review was published in the Businessworld Issue Dated 02-08 June 2009
Book Reviews 
