Ray Anderson, Atlanta carpet company CEO turned sustainability hero, has died
'Radical industrialist' and Georgia Tech grad who went from polluter to environmental advocate succumbed to cancer
Ray Anderson, the carpet company CEO who showed that corporations could make money without plundering the Earth, died yesterday in his Atlanta home after a battle with cancer. He was 77.
In 1994, Anderson, the chairman of Interface, the world's largest modular carpet company which he found in the 1970s, was struck after reading a book that noted how large corporations hurt — and could help — the environment. The Georgia Tech graduate realized that industries didn't have to contaminate waterways, clear-cut forests, and suck up every last drop of oil. So Interface embarked on "Mission Zero" with a goal to have no negative impact on the environment by 2020 — while still making a profit. As Anderson said in 1997 shortly after kicking off the intiative:
“If we’re successful, we’ll spend the rest of our days harvesting yester-year’s carpets and other petrochemically derived products, and recycling them into new materials; and converting sunlight into energy; with zero scrap going to the landfill and zero emissions into the ecosystem. And we’ll be doing well ... very well ... by doing good. That’s the vision.”
The self-proclaimed "radical industrialist" eventually moved away from Interface's day-to-day operations to focus on environmental issues. He became a celebrity among environmentalists, gave more than 1,500 speeches advocating sustainable business practices, and worked with eco-advocacy boards, including the Georgia Conservancy. On Friday he was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater.
Two years ago Anderson told Grist the company's goal to have zero environmental impact was halfway complete. Below is a video of Anderson presenting at that year's TED Conference. (H/T Grist)
Green Building Chronicle's Ken Edelstein — who's published a solid write-up about Anderson — points us to several online videos of the "radical industrialist." Among them: A YouTube clip he recorded for Interface's employees in which he frankly discusses his illness.