[2] Ecological Intelligence: Daniel Goleman - 100 pages - Blurb

Oh what a great joy it is to come to a book like this after suffering the last one. Daniel Goleman's Ecological Intelligence is so far a peek into the future of our economic decision making and what it could mean for the sustainability and resilience of the planet. It reads easy. Goleman shows an ability to take complicated swaths of data, not arduously depicted, and boil it down into goals that align with human habits.

Certain vocab words get focused on consistently. One is the idea of radical transparency. One day it won't be possible for your favorite brand to say one thing and be doing another. What is the impact of the "green" things you buy? Is it enough to say that certain chemicals weren't used or that X% less was consumed in the making of a product? Goleman shows that this is a resounding NO and often a distraction. You may have already know this, but Goleman echoes the ideas Donella Meadows in expanding our awareness to how the overall ecological system works.

Take a cotton shirt. Not only is the cotton sprayed with pesticides, that run off and end up in soil and water, it is also a water intensive crop. The dyes used are tied to increases in leukemia in plant workers who use them. The soil can take 5 years before earthworms return. The toxins released when you throw the shirt out are still semi-barely understood.

This is an awareness book. The ideas are too important and they speak to the kind of invigorating radical change that make the world feel less suffocating and complacent. It beats into the idea that what you don't know matters. You're connected, and decision making needs to come from the bottom up. Goleman shows how this can be done without pretending humans are going to change without appealing to their basic tendencies.

Also, in line with the kind of data engine I hope to work on or build, I learned of GoodGuide. A labeling and food information app that draws from hundreds of databases to see how your choices stack up against others. Not just simple comparisons; it takes the idea of the entire process, from how the product is manufactured to what happens to it in a landfill, and the vehicles used to move it along, and boils it down into a rating.

My only slight tick comes from the refrain. The point is to become more informed and primed to understand the inter-connectivity. This often get's stated over and over in slightly different ways. Not the worst, but I get it.