Beyond doomsday ecology: What if engaging with business were the answer for ecological science

Background/Question/Methods

Thousands of professional ecologists make their living as consultants and preparers of environmental impact assessments.  This endeavor is largely seen as pedestrian by the academic elite, and rarely is discussed in any undergraduate ecology course.  This is a mistake. The decisions and activities of global corporations may well be the most important drivers of today’s ecological processes and patterns. Given this we need an ecology that becomes part of the fabric of business decisions, and we need an ecology that can proactively influence the strategic planning of global corporations as opposed to passing judgment one project at a time on “impact”.   We report on our first steps towards an ecology for the global corporation – blending geography, ecosystem services, and resilience thinking.  Over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies issue sustainability reports.  It is time to put some real ecology into those reports, as opposed to simply energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.

Results/Conclusions

We present a list of major corproations with which to engage across several sectors that impact global ecology, and show how one can map their acitvities against ecological value. We then also present the types of analyses one can use to guide corporate decisions--focusing on water, storm protection and pollution mitigation.  Finally we examine the interplay of sustainable practices and corporate performance.