Why Entrepreneurial Earth?


Old slides scanned on Aug 21045The word, “Entrepreneurial,” is most often associated with business, but is actually a wonderful synonym for creativity in general. Working with author and business educator, Larry Robertson, Martin Ogle coined the term “Entrepreneurial Earth” to reflect the realization that the human mind is an extension of Earth itself and to help tap into the power of this viewpoint.

In the book “A Deliberate Pause: Entrepreneurship and its moment in human progress,” (Link) Robertson expresses that “the power of entrepreneurship isn’t limited to the few – every one of us has the opportunity to tap it.” He quotes Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus as saying that entrepreneurship is “in every human being and in everything human.”

Whether human entrepreneurship is ultimately harmful or helpful to human society and the Earth systems upon which we depend is really up to us – how will we choose to use our creativity? As long as we are here, we human beings will always be doing something. Viewing what we do as an extension of Earth herself gives us an entirely different perspective than if we see ourselves as separate.

From the perspective of the business community, the E.E. mindset transcends “Natural Capitalism” by addressing how we think and what motivates us, thus opening up a new paradigm of business. E.E. reminds environmentalists that business (or, the human enterprise) is not inherently “unsustainable.” Viewing business and entrepreneurship as simply one face of Earth’s living system allows us to engage our innate human creativity to envision and implement sustainable ways of living that are consistent with human nature and Nature as a whole.