The Post-Carbon Epoch
An Emerging Epoch
Civilization is on the verge of the post-carbon era, a period of profound change in which the rules of global economics will be redefined and industrialization transformed. In this emerging epoch, a strong and thriving economy will be based on:
- Information intensity rather than energy intensity
- Renewable resources rather than depletive ones
- Cyclical feedback processes rather than monotonic linear progression
This revolutionary shift is grounded in the understanding of the earth as an ecosystem and an appreciation for industrialization as a sub-system imbedded within it. In the post-carbon era, business will cease to be a threat to the ecosystem, and instead encompass systems and processes aligned with the aims of the ecosystem. In this new alignment of industrialization with the biosphere, business will prosper as never before.
Anthropogenic Climate Change
Today the primary driver of this transformation is anthropogenic climate change, and the emerging realization on the part of governments around the world—including in the U.S.—that greenhouse gases must be brought under control. At the same time, leaders in the private sector are also realizing that change is needed in global industrialization. Relying on carbon-intense energy sources, depletive raw material procurement processes, and waste producing manufacturing methods is neither sustainable nor efficient.
Corporate Renewal
carbonRational sees the problem of climate change as an opportunity for corporate renewal. Imbedded in the climate crisis is a rational message that calls for industrialization to leave behind linear practices and processes characteristic of the energy-intense carbon era, and incorporate new ways of commerce grounded in an appreciation for business as a system.
Through heightened management awareness and guidance informed by some of the most profound business thinking of the 20th century, as well as new insights from thought leaders in the 21st, carbonRational can help organizations make the transition from the old ways to the new, by aligning with the ecosystem and creating value in ways that foster sustainability while increasing global competitiveness and profitability.
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