Bronx Ecology: Blueprint for a New Environmentalism

by Allen Hershkowitz, Maya Lin (Foreword)

"The Bronx Community Paper Company teaches us that we have the power, if we muster the will, creativity, and cooperation, to recover lost pieces of America's environment, return them to good health, protect other lands and resources from being destroyed, and even create environmentally friendly jobs in the process." —President Bill Clinton In 1991, frustrated by the failure of lawmakers to produce meaningful progress on environmental issues, Allen Hershkowitz, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) opted for an innovative approach. Resolving to put market forces to work for the environment, Hershkowitz devised a plan to develop a world-scale recycled-paper mill on the site of an abandoned rail yard in the South Bronx.Created in collaboration with colleagues at NRDC, the private sector, government, unions, and community groups, and with a building designed by renowned architect and designer Maya Lin, the Bronx Community Paper Company (BCPC) was intended to put the ideas of industrial ecology to work in a project that not only avoided exacerbating environmental problems but actually remediated them. One of the primary goals of the project was to show that environmental protection, job production, social assistance, economic development, and private-sector profitability can work together in a mutually supportive fashion.Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out like that.In Bronx Ecology , Hershkowitz tells the story of the BCPC from its earliest inception to its final demise nearly ten years later. He describes the technical, economic, and competitive barriers that arose throughout the project as well as the decisive political and legal blows that doomed their efforts to secure financing, ultimately killing the project.Interwoven with the BCPC tale is Hershkowitz's vision for a new, engaged environmentalism, complete with principles for a new era of industrial development that combines social and environmental responsibility with a firm commitment to profit-making. As Hershkowitz explains, while the project was never built, its groundbreaking collaboration can hardly be considered a failure. Rather the BCPC, in the words of veteran environmental journalis.Philip Shabecoff, "can be seen as the beginning of a learning process for entrepreneurial environmentalism, a pathway to a new approach in the 21st century." Bronx Ecology offers a compelling vision of that exciting new pathway.

Genres: Ecology

200 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Danesh]

Brief slice of Bronx and NYC political history around ecological activism. Kind of repetitive and beats around the bush about how betrayed the author felt by Banana Kelly's executive team.

Essentially calls for more collaboration and for environmentalist to create profit seeking businesses by essentially being like European corporate executives rather than American executives that are volume oriented. I wouldn't call this a blueprint though, it's very specific to starting a paper-mill scaled industrial project.

[Monica Meagher]

Interesting topic. I lament that BCPC was not completed, nor have I heard of other environmental industrial projects since the author does such a good job highlighting the need for those projects. The many issues and shortcomings were well highlighted as a guide to help other but did get repetitive at times.

[Nicollette Mitchell]

This book was well written non-fictiom. I enjoyed learning more about the process of taking an idea and mobilizing to make tangible results. Sometimes the author broke his objective narrative and dished about the politics and corruption that stymied the bcpc and it read like a tabloid paper. It was hard to behoove that someone would have the guts to talk that candidly about public figures.
Itsa bit denseand sometimes towards the end of the book the author repeats himself so I skipped most of the last few chapters. Good read. If ever I do decide to get into politics and environmental issues I will use this book as a reference.