Paper Title: “Green capitalism”: transitioning from an environmental Crisis to sustainability.
Author: Debra L. Ogden
Email: OEDEB@aol.com
Quote: “I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to the planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially.”--E.B. White

       “Our world is in the midst of an environmental crisis; we are living in a contemporary Pandora’s box of plagues. It is no longer acceptable to sit back and close our eyes and hope for the best. Whether or not one believes in a sudden apocalypse or gradual global warming, our world is evolving and it is happening in the birthing room of America – the boardroom. The days when the boardroom was the only problem are over; more and more it seems that we must look to the boardroom for our solutions. There is a revolution unfolding in corporate America with a strong focus on the study of future environmental prospects for a new green prototype of capitalism. Specifically, “green capitalism” proposes to find a new niche in the environmental movement that differs from the historical reputation of capitalism with its motivation toward growth at any cost to humans and the environment. More importantly, literature plays an integral role in this revolution as one of the driving forces toward change in which society removes its blindfold and enters a new green consciousness.
       My historical uncovering of the effects of capitalism examines the following authors in an effort to uncover how literature ignites the evolution of change in a capitalist society. This essay explores Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer, and will compare them to proposals of green solutions in Hawken/Lovins’ Natural Capitalism.”