Getting Green Done by Auden Schendler

Booklist Reviews 2009 February #2


Kermit the Frog said it best: It s not easy being green. If it were, amends Schendler, we d already be doing it—as he has been, and in the most unlikely of places. As director of Community and Environmental Responsibility for the Aspen Skiing Company, Schendler was challenged with bringing green practices to a place where the clientele were more interested in the sustainability of their perfect tans than of the planet. The concept of renewable energy and the reality of climate change were anathema to a hospitality corporation that spared no expense when it came to guest comfort; even compact fluorescent bulbs were a hard sell. But if the paradigm can be shifted in Aspen, it can be changed in Altoona. Frankly chronicling how an internationally renowned resort found both innovative and pragmatic ways to make recycling, biofuels, and other earth-friendly applications profitable, Schendler frames his environmentally sound arguments in practical terms every business executive, home owner, and government official can relate to. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

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Prius drivers and recyclers take note: according to debut author Schendler, your efforts to be environmentally correct are admirable, but are hardly the kind of urgent, unified action we need to really make an impact on global climate change. In fact, he says, by focusing on small individual actions, you may be actually harming the environmental movement. A pioneer in the sustainability movement, Schendler points out that "there is a hangover from the 1970s that continues to hamper the environmental movement today." Using examples from his own consulting work as the executive director of Community and Environmental Responsibility at Aspen Skiing Company, he asserts that real change can only come from tough decisions by big businesses and through legislation. Rather than sacrificing ROI to integrate green practices, Schendler says that companies must make profit-driven decisions that complement their business models in order to carry out meaningful and lasting environmental change. By challenging status quo thinking about sustainability and taking the point of view of the business executive and the worker in the field, Schendler offers a perspective that is refreshingly realistic and pragmatic. (Mar.)