Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken has had many accomplishments throughout his lifetime. He has been called an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist and author. From the time he was twenty years old he has spent his life trying to change the relationship between business and the environment. Paul Hawken has spent over a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and becoming more socially responsible. This goal had led him to start and run a very successful ecological business, write and teach about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consult governments and corporations about economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.

Hawken has authored and co-authored books such as The Next Economy published in 1983, Growing a Business published in 1987, The Ecology of Commerce published in 1993, and Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution published in 1999. These books have influenced many people all across the world and been commented on by people such as Bill Clinton. Currently he is working on a book entitled Blessed Unrest. Along with these books, Hawken has written dozens of articles, op-eds, and other papers concerning the responsibility of business to the natural environment, and our social and ethical obligations to others around the world. Hawken is a man who wants to share his thoughts with the world in hopes that it will make people aware of many of the things which he feels so strongly about.

He has co-founded a software company called Metacode where he worked until 2000. Metacode specialized in propriety content management tools. He also started a company called Groxis, a graphic information delivery provider used by search engines, libraries, scientific repositories, and databases. Groxis can rapidly guide the user to landscapes or islands of data that are relevant to their purpose or task, or it can simply retrieve specific information more quickly. One of his more well known companies, Smith and Hawken, is a garden and catalog retailer specializing in horticultural products. Currently he is the head of PaxIT, PaxTurbine, and PaxFan, three companies associated with Pax Scientific. Pax Scientific is a California-based research and development corporation focused on proprietary technologies involving fluid dynamics, convection, flow form geometry, propulsion, and thermodynamics. Pax designs provide the information technology sector with patented fan technologies that greatly reduce noise and energy while dramatically improving system and component cooling. He also heads the Natural Capital Institute, a research group located in Sausalito, California. Natural Capital Institute (NCI) conducts research in diverse areas including socially responsible investing (SRI), global civil society, environmental funding, and water.

Hawken has been a brilliant guest speaker. He has given keynote addresses to the Liberal Party of Canada, King of Sweden at his inaugural Environmental Seminar, American Bookseller’s Association and Prime Minister of New Zealand’s Conference on Natural Capitalism, US Department of Commerce, Australian Business Council, Ministry of Agriculture France, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Solar Energy Association, Apple Computer, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Cleveland City Club, Conference Board, U.S. Forest Service,

Ontario Hydro, Environment Canada, and the EPA. He has also addressed such institutes as Urban Land Institute, SRI International, Harvard University, Stanford University, Wharton, Cornell, Yale, Australian Business Council, University of California, Cambridge University, Institute of Architects,