Ray C. Anderson: An Attempt at Sustainable Development
"I had a revelation about what industry is doing to our
planet. I stood convicted as a plunderer of the earth. In the
future, people like me will go to jail."
Biography
Ray Anderson has been called a "born-again
environmentalist". He is an industrial engineer by
training and is the founder, chairman, and chief operating
officer of Interface, Inc., the largest commercial carpet
manufacturer in the world. Anderson relates that he had never
really been concerned about the environment or sustainability
until he read Paul Hawken's The Ecology of
Commerce in 1994 and had what he calls an "ecological
epiphany," literally crying while reading the book.
Since then, Anderson has taken steps to make Interface a
sustainable corporation. Currently, it practices in-house
recycling, makes carpet from recycled soda bottles, and even
recycles discarded carpet from other manufacturers. However,
unlike some corporations with "green" programs, Anderson admits
that these steps are not enough. He hopes to attain
"closed-loop recycling," in which there will be no waste
products or pollution produced.
Anderson has quickly become a world-renowned advocate for
sustainable industry. In 1997, he was named co-chair of the
President's Council on Sustainable Development. In 1999, he
published a book, Mid-Course Correction: Toward a
Sustainable Enterprise -- The Interface Model, about his
conversion to sustainability. He now travels the world,
spreading the "gospel" of sustainability with an energy and
dedication reminiscent of the Baptist preachers of his Georgia
childhood.
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Notable Statements
I have challenged the people of Interface to make our
company the first industrial company in the whole world to
attain environmental sustainability, and then to become
restorative. To me, being restorative means to put back more
than we take, and to do good to the Earth, not just no
harm. (From Mid-Course Correction.)
If I were talking to all of you in person, I'd ask you
to stand for a minute and give the person next to you a hug. I
always start out my speeches that way because it's symbolic of
where we are. Fellow astronauts on Spaceship Earth, we are all
in this together. We all play a part in what happens to our
Earth. (His statement on Amazon.com for Mid-Course
Correction.)
I had a revelation about what industry is doing to our
planet. I stood convicted as a plunderer of the earth...In the
future, people like me will go to jail.
(Fortune, May 24, 1999. Quoted from a speech at
the U.S. Embassy in London)
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Articles, Speeches, and Interviews
- Building Greenworks Video
- A 29-minute video from Pennsylvania's GreenWorks TV of
Anderson discussing his environmental goals and the efforts
at Interface to incorporate green building principles into
their new structures.
- Sustainable Carpet Tiles
- A transcript of a 1999 radio interview with Anderson on
the Australia Radio National program
Earthbeat.
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Articles and Information about Interface
- Sustainable Growth - Interface, Inc.
- An April 1998 article from FastCompany
magazine. Includes some technical information about the
engineering side of Interface and discusses the company's
efforts toward social and environmental responsibility.
- Harnessing the Sun's Rays to Make
Carpet
- A 1999 press release from Bentley Mills, a subsidiary of
Interface, describing its photovoltaic power system. Features
comments by Mr. Anderson and a high-quality photo of the
solar array