EVOLVING ETHICALLY INTO THE ANTHROPOCENE: GEOSCIENCE AND THE 'BENEFIT CORPORATION' TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABILITY PROGRESS

Geoscientists are uniquely suited to understand the risks humans pose to the environment, and the stewardship necessary to protect it for the future, into the Anthropocene. Social science facets of a key geoscience foundation, evolutionary theory, have been suggested to be a better basis of capitalism than economic theory (Stoelhorst 2017); the latter being commonly implicated in the Anthropocene problem, to which sustainability is an opposing reaction. The evolutionary theory (naturalistic) view incorporates evolved human cooperation in addition to competition, the former more supportive of sustainability. Because geoscientists are intellectually armed to embrace this naturalistic capitalism turn, their “movement” involvement could advance sustainability. They are, like other professions, ethically bound to serve the public interest, i.e., society. Therefore, geoscientists not only have great potential to contribute to sustainability progress based upon their intellectual foundation, they also have a duty to promote societal wellbeing.

For-profit sector organizations have the most employment and economic activity, representing large potential for sustainability. A new class of for-profit corporation, the Benefit Corporation (BenCorp), has emerged, in part a reaction to recent economic and societal woes (Hiller 2013). BenCorps adopt a stakeholder philosophy, which requires cooperation and balancing of stakeholder interests, resembling the turn to naturalistic capitalism. BenCorps are legally bound to serve their owner’s pecuniary (profit) interests and to pursue sustainability, e.g., through a “triple bottom line” stakeholder approach, whereas regular for-profit firms are bound only to the former. The BenCorp makes social responsibility a legal obligation, beyond more malleable voluntary policies. A case study illustrates how the BenCorp promotes and obligates sustainability in an environmental firm whose employees are two thirds earth and environmental scientists (Kurland 2017). Similarly composed firms, with their imbedded knowledge of Anthropocene risks and evolution as well as associated professional ethics, are ideal for BenCorp conversion - promising to advance the movement, benefit society, and fuel firms with responsibility-minded, ethically-driven employees.