"Most businesses still operate according to a worldview that has not changed since the start of the industrial revolution. Then natural resources were abundant and labour was the limiting factor of production. Now there is a surplus of people whilst natural capital - natural resources and the ecological systems that provide vital life support services - is in decline. The next industrial revolution, like the first one will be a response to changing patterns of scarcity. It will create upheaval, but more importantly it will create new opportunities. Business must adjust to these new realities. Innovative businesses are already doing that"
Hawken, Lovins and Lovins, Natural Capitalism, 1999, p.19, taken from "Digital Eco-Sense: Sustainability and ICT - A New Terrain for Innovation" by Chris Ryan.
This isn't the first time my reading has taken me past Ryan's work; I like what he says and although this isn't probably his best quote, it is one that grabs me right now...
A "... new focus on innovation and sustainable development (has created) a growing conviction that ICT will provide the technological basis for a transition to a sustainable future... we are seeing the 'co-evolution' of information technology and sustainable development, where new technical capacities are appearing just at the moment in history when they will be needed to support structural change for a sustainable existence." p.10
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