Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad

by Christine MacDonald

Revealing a scandalous snapshot from inside a good cause gone bad, "Green, Inc." reveals the reality of today's clubby world of conservationists. MacDonald pens a riveting account of an eco-warrior's travails at the crossroads of the nonprofit and corporate worlds.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Business

265 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2008

Reviews

[Lera · Rating 2 out of 5]

That's the second time Goodreads' Facebook application has just swallowed a review. What was I saying?

Oh yes, I lose respect rapidly for someone who has worked under Russ Mittermeier, however remotely, and is still under the delusion that lemurs are 'the world's smallest monkeys'.

The history of the US conservation movement was interesting. I should have realised what US-centric book this is when I saw the description, and I guess its fine as a scope, but whenever an author assumes her readers are all from her own nation I don't feel terribly impressed.

Some of the links between corporations and conservation NGOs are pretty depressing; other stuff feels relatively accurate about corporations but so-what about NGOs; much other stuff just feels over-egged and under-edited. That's why I gave up on this one.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had great expectations but in the end I found this to be a disappointing re-hash with little original reporting. Despite the author's alleged "undercover" work at Conservation International, her scoops and narrative tidbits were unremarkable. The book also lacked any significant drive, and I could have rearranged the pages and come away with the same experience.

[April Como · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eye-opening book about everything we don't see and hear about the Green Movement in corporate America. It will definitely make me think twice before sending a donation to a large environmental organization. It also made me feel sorry for the people who work in these organizations who really are there to make a difference - how disheartening to be surrounded by so much corruption. This book is written by someone who worked for Conservation International, and it is partly from her own perspective and experiences, and partly based on research she has done. It is well-written, and for a topic that is certain to stir emotion in most readers, it doesn't play on your sympathies - it is very straightforward, and the facts do the storytelling.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is informative, but it took forever to get through, and certainly isn't very accessible to someone who isn't already an environmental enthusiast. The bottom line is that the conservation agencies aren't doing a great job and are frequently working against their stated goals in order to pacify big business or hostile governments, or to maintain the lifestyles that have evolved for the higher ups in the agencies. AND that we all need to get better with the reduce, reuse, recycle stuff.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sounded better than it was. I was educated as to the link between certain environmental groups and big business, but something about her style made it read more slowly than it could have. Still I learned enough to question the claims of these groups.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of interesting information in this book, but it is organized poorly and goes off on too many tangents.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've worked in international conservation, and specifically conservation NGOs, for much of my career. MacDonald has some very good and pointed critiques of the tightening links between the big NGOs and their corporate donors and partners, and some excellent illustrations of notable failures by the conservation NGOs to take on challenging issues that may threaten their funding base - climate change, mining, etc. While Conservation International (where MacDonald worked) and the Nature Conservancy get the brunt of the criticism, other NGOs are also featured. Unfortunately, MacDonald is better at pointing out failures than offering suggestions. She suggests capping the salaries of conservation NGO executive leadership, restricting corporate officers from serving on conservation NGO boards, and other measures, but I'm not sure anything she suggests would really effect the kinds of change she wants to see.

Unfortunately, this came out prior to the emergence of the International Conservation Caucus Foundation, an NGO-corporate alliance that was memorably skewered in a Mother Jones expose in 2013. I'm sure MacDonald would have had fun with that one.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must-read for anyone that watched the Al Gore documentary, "Inconvenient Truth". At the end of Al Gore's movie were suggestions of how people could help prevent global warming and environmental degredation through small adjustments in their everyday routines. Ms. Macdonald's book takes these recommendations 1 step further, by exposing how many products and non-profit initiatives exploit the "environmental" brand to increase sales and revenue while actually contributing to environmental degradation.

[David R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

MacDonald whines and moans that her favorite large-scale environmental organizations have sold out and cater to the "greenwashing" needs of large corporate entities, turning themselves into dull, clueless corporate entities at the same time. How does she expects enviro-organizations to be financed? dues??. And arguably the big corporates are closer to her point of view than before the process of engagement began. I'll overlook quite a few factual mistakes she made along the way. Read it if you must.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad and disillusioning book in a lot of ways, to see how far off course a lot of environmental organizations are from their original missions and their causes. Disturbing to see how big business has taken over a lot of these organizations, definitely will not be giving money to any of the organizations talked about in this book.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting expose on how many ex-CEO's from large companies now run environmental groups and use them to greenwash their businesses. The book also highlights the companies and enviro groups that are doing right, so we can all make more informed choices.

[Corin]

This was an interesting, well-researched book. I thought she was pretty fair in her discussions of the misdirection in large environmental organizations. The book was very readable -- not terribly dense -- but someone's editor needs to do something about all of the sentences that begin with "And,"!

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like enough to even finish it...'nuff said.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very well written--repetitive and somewhat disorganized. But it's a read for anyone interested in the environmental movement in the U.S.

[Andrea]

I couldn't finish. I got tired of the ranting probably because I work in the same field and constantly hear various organizations and individuals complain about each other on a fairly regular basis.

[Jim Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

. . . breaks my heart--it changed the way I allocate charitable contributions.

There were places where I would have liked more information or documentation/sources.