Ray Anderson was 35 years old when the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970--the same year he founded the modular carpet company Interface, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFSIA). But it would be another 21 years before he set the company on track to become a leader in sustainable business practices.
Sustainability: The Journal of Record features an editorial this month by the self-proclaimed "radical industrialist" in which he states that business and industry "are waking up to the same sense of urgency that must have created that very first Earth Day."
He also lays out a four-point business case for sustainability, as experienced by Interface. In pusuing the company's goal of zero environmental footprint by 2020, he says costs have gone down (not up), products have improved, morale has improved, and the marketplace has responded.
The full editorial is available as a pdf at the link below.
