The concept of a “business decision” is fast becoming a cliché. Even outside of traditional corporate settings, the term has come to represent the more straightforward option when faced with difficult choices in which fiscal considerations trump all else. Think layoffs, store closures or any strategic initiative that might call into question one’s values.
For Steve McDougal, CEO of 3Degrees, the seeds of his calling to take action on climate change were planted in the most unlikely of spots: the municipal recycling bins in his hometown of Evanston, Illinois. Back in the early 1970s, McDougal recalls, recycling had not yet gone mainstream, but his environmentally conscious mother could not imagine trashing all their household waste.