“Nature is the goose that lays all the golden eggs. We don’t want to squeeze her to death…If we don’t take care of nature, we won’t have a civilization someday.”

Does that sound like a tree-hugging environmentalist? Well, it is, but it’s also the founder and chairman of a $1-billion a year carpet company. His name is Ray Anderson, he calls himself a “radical industrialist” and he has led his company, Interface, on a remarkable 15-year journey to sustainability. He’s got a lot to teach the rest of us.

One of the best things about my work is that I  get to spend time with people like Ray. He’s got a new book out—it’s called Confessions of a Radical Industrialist—and so we got together last week when he was in Washington.

With his gentle Georgia drawl and genial manner, Ray, who is 75, does not look like a radical—but he believes that business as usual is the principal agent of global destruction, and that only new industrial revolution can (more…)