AnimalsMagazine

Advocacy isn’t the only way to advance new ideas or have an idea added to the public agenda. There’s also business. After all, there are few platforms as powerful as the capital markets.

Why?

Entrepreneur Libby Garg explains, “What I think business and the markets are good at is identifying values and allowing for the individual to vote for what they value (with their wallet and daily actions).”

And when we vote in the marketplace, our impact can be significant.

In fact, innovator and young entrepreneur Zeel Patel believes our actions in the market can force government to act faster than they normally would, creating a short-cut to the policy change society wants or needs.

“If we can get more people to come to this realization and be more involved, I think that’s how you can really progress that change. The reality of it is, is that the government is always two steps behind. You’d expect the government to be a jet ski and you’re, like, skiing in the back. But in reality, you’re the one driving the jet ski and it’s the government skiing in the back.”

Good metaphor and very true. But can business really drive change?

Well, like politics, we often assume businesses don’t listen to the average consumer; we assume they never change – can’t change or don’t want to change. Not so, says financial executive Mohnish Kamat.

“Individual choices are actually being listened to in the corporate world. Now, obviously not a single consumer alone will make the corporation change. But that single consumer’s actions, multiplied by millions, will start to ripple through.”

After all, explains Mohnish, “Think about a corporation as just a collection of people – people who are investors, people who are employees and people who are consumers. And each of those people have an impact on how a corporation behaves.”

That’s why, Mohnish argues, we need to realize this: “Corporations are always going to be working off of incentives. So, if the right incentives are in place, corporations can do immense good. If the wrong incentives are in place, then corporations end up (creating problems). Incentives are determined by individuals. Corporations don’t dream up incentives, they just follow incentives.”

To incent businesses – or consumers – to change their habits, Mohnish says first we must remember this:

“If you’re not clear on what you want changed, and if you’re widespread in terms of where you want impact or you’re asking for too much, it’s not easy to change – not for the corporation, not for the individual. So, I think the engagement is important, the focus is important and then the dialogue is important. If you add all those three things together, then you will eventually make an impact.”

So, is business the best way to advance a better balance between people and nature?

“I don’t know if it’s either harder or easier. There’s certainly a challenge there and it depends on the circumstance.”

Hal Kvisle is the former CEO of one of Canada’s biggest energy corporations – TransCanada Pipelines, now known as TC Energy – and remains one of Canada’s most prominent business leaders.

“In my experience in the upstream oil and gas industry, I’m amazed at the great progress we’ve made.”

As an example?

“Whether it’s drilling wells, producing oil and gas, flaring off excess sour gas, flaring off waste volumes, what to do with dirty produced water? Some of those problems weren’t well handled in 1970. All of those problems are extremely well handled today. And I think we can still make more progress.”

Those changes, Hal says, have been made possible because of the resources businesses are able to marshal – and quickly.

“What we of course want to do in the resource industry is development that is highly economic and that has minimal environmental impact. Or if it has an environmental impact, it’s one that 10-20 years down the road, we remediate and fix up.”

Resource companies striving for environmental good? Hal argues that companies have an incentive to do good.

“The public, and particularly young people, don’t understand how decisions are made in corporate offices, in corporate boardrooms. Most of those managers, vice presidents, and directors of these companies actually share their concerns about the environment. A corporation won’t be in business today if they’re seen as being an environmental culprit.”

That said, Hal tells us, “It’s impossible for the president of any company to sit there by himself and come to the correct conclusion. Is this risky or not risky? Damaging or not damaging?”

Reaching the right decision is only possible when different stakeholders seek to partner with businesses in solution-making. When that happens? Hal believes change can happen faster than through other approaches, like policy-making or advocacy.

“Those kinds of things are possible when the lines of communication are open and the environmental activist organizations are actually engaged in talking to the companies and trying to come up with the best outcome.”

Don’t believe Hal? Well, think of this debate through a different lens:

“Energy has been a great elevator of quality of life for people in North America and Europe, and certainly most parts of the developed world.”

Now, Hal says, just imagine that same focus – the innovative capability and speed of scaling – is applied to advancing better solutions for people and nature moving forward.

“I think industry has a lot of capability to get the job done, to do it well, to create great jobs for people, to generate economic value for shareholders and to protect the environment as it all happens.”

Indeed, it’s the power of business that gives Hal hope for the future,

“I’m hopeful for the future for the environment, despite our growing population, despite industrial development, despite a richer economy. I’m a big believer in technology. I’m not talking about iPads and cell phones. I’m talking about the kind of technologies that improve our ability to mitigate environmental impact, to deliver and produce the energy resources that we need from a much smaller surface footprint today than was the case when I started my career as a young engineer.”

That hope, however, can only be realized if we all remember this reality, Hal argues:

“We’re all the marketplace.”

And when we understand this reality? When we understand the power and potential of the markets? When we understand how corporations can to do right by people and nature? Hal says, “What I understand now is that the sky really is the limit. If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, immerse yourself, pursue the opportunity aggressively and get to where you want to go? You don’t have to just go with the flow, you can accomplish what you want to.”

Maybe you agree with Hal Kvisle, or maybe you don’t. Maybe you align more with Harvey Locke, or maybe you don’t. Maybe you want to follow in the footsteps of Mike Farnworth and Sam Sullivan and run for office. Or maybe you’d prefer to help the policymaking process from behind the scenes, like Donn Lovett or . Or not.

But here’s the thing: There’s no one, right path – no one perfect process – to follow when it comes to advancing good ideas, just as there is no one, right position to take if the goal is balancing the needs of people and nature.

Every approach matters. Every idea matters.

After all, change isn’t just about the ideas or choices of one person, but rather how our different ideas and styles and processes converge in the messy, complex democracy that is Canada.