Ecological intelligence

“Ecological refers to the understanding of organisms and their ecosystems, and intelligence implies the capacity to learn from experience and deal effectively with one’s environment.” Ecological intelligence allows us to apply what we learn about the ways human activity affects ecosystems to do less damage and live sustainably again in our own corner – and today that’s the entire planet.

Current threats require us to sharpen a new sensibility, that is, the capacity to recognize the hidden network of connections between human activity and natural systems and the subtle complexities of their intersections. That awakening to new possibilities must lead to a collective eye-opening, that is, to a change in our most basic assumptions and perceptions, one that will initiate changes in commerce and industry, as well as in our individual actions and behavior.

Just as social and emotional intelligence build on the capacity to see other people’s perspectives, empathize with them, and express concern, ecological intelligence extends that capacity to all natural systems. To harness that intelligence, we must move beyond thinking that places the human species outside of nature; the fact is that we live intertwined in ecological systems and that we influence them, either positively or negatively – just as they influence us. We need to discover and share among ourselves all the ways in which this intimate interconnectedness works, to see the hidden patterns that connect human activities with the higher movement of nature, to understand our true influence on it and to learn how to do more good.”

In this provocative book, Daniel Goleman shows us that everything about what and why we buy will change. To this day, he argues, our thinking about problems such as the environment, health hazards or child exploitation has remained one-dimensional, focused only on individual problems in isolation from all others. Our ‘green’ consciousness is so superficial that we often do more harm than good by ignoring the limits of the danger caused by our actions and the products we buy.

Ecological intelligence brings a large number of warning and painful facts about the objects that we and our children use every day and shows us how the phenomenon of radical transparency – the availability of complete information about all aspects of a product – will soon begin to change the power of consumers and the fate of business. Companies will no longer be able to control their own reputation. For the first time, what they say will be far less important than what they actually do. They will become truly responsible.

Packed with practical instructions, this book becomes an essential handbook for understanding the anticipated, imminent information revolution!