“America’s greenest CEO” and the hero from the award-winning documentary The Corporation makes the urgent, compelling case that sustainable business pays.

His story is now legend. In 1994, after reading The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken, Ray Anderson felt a “spear in the chest”: the founder of Interface, Inc., a billion-dollar carpeting manufacturer, realized that his company was plundering the environment and he needed to steer it on a new course. Since then, Interface has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 82%, and the goal is to reach zero environmental footprint by 2020. Thoughtful and winning, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist shows how Anderson revolutionized his company, in the process bringing costs down, improving quality, making it one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” — and driving up profits.



*The publisher has aimed for sustainability in all aspects of this book’s production, from the inks and glues to the trim size. The interior paper is 100% post-consumer recycled, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and ancient-forest friendly. Instead of a jacket, the cover boards are wrapped in 100% recycled paper stock coated in a biodegradable varnish – and these are just two examples among many.

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“Part cheerleader, part scold, part dreamer … [Anderson is] the rarest of hybrids: a born-again green industrialist.”
— Fortune magazine

“The leading corporate evangelist for sustainability.”
— New York Times

“If we had a lot more businessmen like Ray Anderson, the planet would be neither bankrupt or overheated. He is a hero, and this book makes clear why!”
— Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

“Highly inspirational . . . Essential reading for anyone, whether lay, student, or practitioner, interested in business success today and in the environment."
— Library Journal (starred review)

"Fascinating, instructive, and very timely."
— Publishers Weekly

“We are in desperate need of hope in this world, but if hope is to be credible and trustworthy, it has to walk a straight line to reality.  No one does this better than Ray Anderson.”
— Paul Hawken, author of Ecology of Commerce
 
“It’s a travel diary of sorts detailing his trek up Mount Sustainability and how he made a significant profit while doing so.”
— Vancouver Sun
 
“The book presents a compelling argument for the profit incentive in going green — some food for thought for Anderson’s colleagues in various industries.”
— Azure

“Humble, inspiring and informative . . . My only hesitation is that we cannot clone Ray Anderson . . . or perhaps we can? Let’s hope that Confessions of a Radical Industrialist becomes required reading in all business, industrial design, and economics classes so that our next generation of business leaders continue in the direction that Anderson has begun.”
— Annie Leonard, author of The Story of Stuff

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Visit Ray Anderson's website

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Acknowledgments
Prologue

1. Mission Zero
2. The Power of One Good Question
3. One Small Digression and Six Lessons
4. Mountain Climbing
5. Zero Waste: The First Face of Mount Sustainability
6. Smokestacks and Other Relics
7. Plugging into the Sun
8. Round and Round They Go
9. Getting Out of the Breakdown Lane
10. The Circle of Infl uence, or Love on the Factory Floor
11. The Final Ascent
12. On Leadership, Programs, and Policies
13. Science and Skeptics
14. Awakening the Mind and the Spirit
15. The Next Ascent
16. Every Reason for Hope

Epilogue: Off the Grid in Lost Valley, North Carolina

Appendix A: LCA Comparison of Two Carpet Tile—Backing Types
Appendix B: Master Evergreen Lease and Services Agreement
Appendix C: The Interface Model
Index

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Ray Anderson is chairman and founder of Interface, Inc. He’s a sought-after speaker and adviser on environmental issues and serves on many boards, including that of the David Suzuki Foundation. In 2007 Time magazine called him a “Hero of the Environment.”

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