Positive Action

RMI's Positive Approach Doesn't Alienate Business

We don't lobby, litigate, or harass those with whom we disagree. Rather than focusing on problems and assigning blame, we find better ways of meeting human needs that turn snowballing costs and problems into cascading savings and solutions.

The reasoning behind our positive approach is simple. Environmental damage arises from an effort, usually sincere, to meet human needs. Environmentalists opposed to inappropriate means can be too easily cast as being opposed to the goal as well.

The benefits of a positive approach are many. It avoids alienating those who share our ends but have so far chosen different means. It broadens our constituency. And by focusing on what we are for rather than against, it inspires and energizes our staff—and often enlists unexpected allies.

We believe in respecting other people's values, if not always their conclusions. In this spirit, our staff have helped coordinate the "greening" of the Pentagon; encouraged major automakers to adopt a fundamentally new type of car; consulted for multinational oil companies on how they can make more money selling efficiency than oil; advised agrichemical manufacturers on what to market instead of pesticides and fertilizers; and helped turn dam-builders into water-savers.

We help institutions that may feel threatened by change, or fearful of obsolescence, to adapt and flourish as vehicles of the transition to a sustainable society.