The Triple Bottom Line

Yesterday I was listening to my local NPR station and the guest brought up something she called the “Triple Bottom Line.”  She was referring to businesses that focus on three elements of success:

            Financial
            Social
            Environmental

It was good to hear someone put something that I’ve been thinking about into legible, concise terminology.  My new company – Greenlite Heavy Industries – definitely has a triple bottom line.

The art of business is to stay in business, and thus positive cash flow should be the primary goal, but it shouldn’t be the only goal.  Making money is a suitable goal, but it doesn’t have to be the mission of a company.  I started Greenlite with the mission of getting more people to lead more active lives.  Human beings were designed to be active, without daily activity our minds and our bodies atrophy; stagnant minds and bodies are ripe pickings for the drug companies.  Drugs neither make us healthier nor happier.  Stimulation of mind and body is the social goal of Greenlite Heavy Industries.

I see the automobile as a scourge.  It is the root of all of America’s recent, current and pending wars.  Why was Bin Laden pissed at the U.S?  He was very clear on this point: he was fighting against American troops on Saudi soil, what he in his religiosity considered heathens on sacred soil.  Why were American troops there?  To guard American oil interests.  It’s not complicated.  Oil is the source of unimaginable environmental destruction – 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico how do you get your mind wrapped around that?  The energy industry (i.e. oil companies) have almost unrivaled political power in this nation.  Making any significant strides in alternative energy is impossible due to the political power of big oil.  The automobile has made the United States of America stagnant, sad, stupid slaves.  Without the internal combustion engine we are powerless.

The best alternative energy source available to mankind is food.  Why is the assumption that in order to get from here to there one should exert no physical effort so prevalent?  Cars should be used for long trips, walking or bicycles should be used for short trips.  The environmental goal of Greenlite is to get more people out of their cars and onto their feet and onto their pedals.

I want Greenlite Heavy Industries to be a force for good in my community, in my nation and in my world.  In order to do this I think that I have to write down and continually reflect upon my purpose in starting this endeavor.