In the Media | Environmental Debt

Can Amazon’s new ‘dream team’ fix the company’s sustainability reputation?

Yet Amazon Prime, a subscription service that offers free shipping and has helped drive the company’s rapid growth, remains a problem according to some environmental advocates. “Free shipping means people don’t think about the consequences of shipping,” says Amy Larkin, a former Greenpeace executive and author of Environmental Debt: The Hidden Costs of a Changing Global Economy. In reality, she notes, shipping isn’t “free” – it requires packaging, generates carbon emissions and may create waste – and a sustainable economy would account for those costs.

THEGUARDIAN.COM

November 2014: Amy participated as Vice Chair in the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change in Dubai.

July 2014: Amy has been appointed the new Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change.

June 2014: Amy spoke about environmental debt on Science for the People radio.

April 2014: Amy’s latest article in the Guardian on accelerated depreciation has some engineers talking about an accounting solution for safe energy, technology and systems.

Amy’s column “How West’s throwaway culture destroys basic freedoms in China” was listed as one of the Top 5 social impact stories of 2013 by the Guardian Sustainable Business. See all of Amy’s contributions to the Guardian here.

Reviews:

For anyone interested in environmental and economic policy, this is a fascinating, provocative book. Brisk, bold and blunt, Larkin is a devastating critic of current business practices, but she wants to inspire, not scold. – Publishers Weekly

Vanity Fair Hot Type List: Best Summer Reads – Elissa Schappell

Best books of June 2013: Business and Investing – Amazon