Ecofair 2003 - Natural Capitalism


		Natural Capitalism: A presentation by Amory Lovins Lovins uses practical examples to explain how applying natural capitalism principles can make business not just sustainable but also more profitable by applying the four principles of natural capitalism: 1. Radically improving resource productivity, 2. Shifting to biologically inspired production, 3. Shifting from making and selling things to providing services in a way that rewards the first two steps, and 4. Reinvesting in natural and human capital. This high quality VHS video outlines how the productivity of natural capital can be and is being increased. Lovins, co-founder and CEO of RMI, explains that before the Industrial Revolution made humans vastly more productive, low worker output and a relative scarcity of people were the main limits to exploiting a seemingly boundless natural world. Today the situation is reversed. Labor is abundant and productivity is high. But modern businesses are liquidating a huge and essential part of their own natural capital. That's because only two of the four kinds of capital, financial capital and manufactured capital, are correctly valued on today's balance sheets. The other two kinds, natural capital and human capital (labor, intelligence, and culture), are undervalued. "Natural Capitalism: A Presentation by Amory Lovins" shows how and where we might improve the way we do things. When we use power plants and light bulbs to turn coal into light, for example, up to 97 percent of the energy consumed in the process is wasted. Even worse, using a modern car to move a person from point A to point B is only about one percent efficient. What is needed is a radical increase in the productivity of natural capital, the resources, living systems, and ecosystem services that modern business takes for granted. Filmed while speaking before an audience, Lovins reveals that applying natural capitalism can make businesses sustainable, but it can make them vastly more profitable, too. Live shots alternate with text and graphics to help organize the presentation.