This term, I’m taking a course in my MBA program called Strategy for a Sustainable World. I’m three weeks in, and It’s been fascinating. In the course, we discuss how businesses are (and can and should be) operating with the environment in mind. Not so that the environment is an after-thought or embedded in a random policy that is tack on to an annual report, but that the environment plays a central role in how businesses are formed and how they operate.
In a recent lecture, we were introduced to the photographic work of Chris Jordan. He depicts the effects of consumerism (and other issues in America) in his works. Have a look:
Office Paper: “Depicts 30,000 reams of office paper, or 15 million sheets, equal to the amount of office paper used in the US every five minutes.”
Cigarettes: “Depicts 65,000 cigarettes, equal to the number of American teenagers under age eighteen who become addicted to cigarettes every month.”
Paper Cups: “Depicts 410,000 paper cups, equal to the number of disposable hot-beverage paper cups used in the US every fifteen minutes.”
Silent Spring: “Depicts 183,000 birds, equal to the estimated number of birds that die in the United States every day from exposure to agricultural pesticides.”
Pain Killers: “Depicts 213,000 Vicodin pills, equal to the number of emergency room visits yearly in the US related to misuse or abuse of prescription pain killers.”
I encourage you to click each one of the links so that you can zoom-in/zoom-out on the photographs.
Images and descriptions from Chris Jordan.
