Photo by Gillian Christie. Concord, MA. August 16, 2019
“It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience: but a corporation of conscious [people] is a corporation with a conscience.” Henry David Thoreau. Civil Disobedience 1849.
In the 1800’s in a unique cultural center of the universe called Concord, Massachusetts, forward thinkers Emerson, Thoreau, and a few other disrupters described through their missives, Nature and Walden, that there can and must be a harmony among all life forms, with feet, paws, fins or roots.
A mere mile from Walden Pond, on the outskirts of Concord, stand both the homes of Emerson and Thoreau as well as the original 1938 home of the founder of the Bauhaus design movement, Walter Gropius, my father’s mentor at Harvard’s School of Architecture. Like his earlier neighbors, Gropius saw that form, function, forests and foliage could co-exist. Gropius used East-facing windows for light and warmth. He designed North-facing entry walls to shield winter winds, reducing additional demand for heat.
Recently, 25 miles away in Cambridge, was the celebration of Massachusetts’ first net-zero emissions 273,000 sq.ft LEED certified school, public library, public pool and community center, with our forward-thinking client, Eemax the title sponsor, whose tankless water heaters throughout the structures provide hot water on demand – no wasted water – no wasted energy. The coordinated efforts of many at this new facility reinforce the power of nature-inspired design and eco-functionality, from the geo-thermal heat pump system providing radiant heating and cooling, to solar shades and the impressive roof top array, to rainwater water reclamation, proved both Thoreau and Gropius right. We can work in harmony with each other and WITH nature toward compatible survival on all dynamics.
It also proves that business can be the change factor for good. Since Christie & Co started 26 years ago promoting this thesis, concepts like transparency, conscious consumerism, sustainability, regeneration, impact investing, fair trade, have become part of the conversation.
Our recent 2019 Annual adVenturesAcademy Investment Camp white water rafting in the wilderness of Buena Vista, Colorado again proved the success of this thesis. We CAN all get along and together build ethical businesses that improve life in all spheres – even beyond our comfort zones. Perhaps especially beyond our comfort zones.
If you are part of this surge, be proud! If you are just jumping into this fast-moving and exciting current, we are here for you to lend a paddle, give direction and ride this river with you. Together, we can build a better world through business.
-Gillian Christie