MEANWHILE, THERE ARE FOLKS WHO REFUSE TO BE EFFICIENT JUST TO PROVE THEY BELIEVE IN THE BROKEN WINDOW THEORY:

Why Sustainability Is Winning Over CEOs: Long a cause célèbre of the eco crowd, sustainable business practices are yielding big savings at companies like PepsiCo and Wal-Mart (Duane Stanford, 3/31/11, BusinessWeek)

At many companies, being socially responsible has typically meant handing out checks to victims of natural disasters, environmental groups, or producers of green TV commercials. Now the corporate sustainability movement has a simple premise: Saving the planet can save big bucks. Executives are trying to realize meaningful cost savings by coming up with innovative ways to go easier on the environment.

Recent volatile price swings in plastic packaging, fuel, cotton, food ingredients such as corn, and a host of other raw materials have added urgency to businesses' efforts to shave costs to keep prices competitive and protect margins.

How fully companies adopt sustainability efforts in this decade could have a real impact on their shareholder value, says Daniel C. Esty, an environmental policy professor at Yale Law School. Esty thinks sustainability will become as transformative for business as the earlier quality and information technology revolutions, once more top executives recognize the huge potential to trim costs.

"Sustainability has emerged as a factor in determining which companies win in the marketplace, and smart CEOs are investing in a more rigorous approach to the environment," says Esty, on leave from Yale to run Connecticut's Environmental Protection Dept., which will have additional energy responsibilities pending approval from the legislature. "A good number of companies begin to see the upside opportunity. The very best companies see the brand and corporate identity opportunity."

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