From the horse's mouth

The December issue of Washington CEO magazine features Gifford Pinchot and BGI, the school he founded.

Full article here

Green Curriculum

At this visionary school where sustainability and profitability dovetail, students learn a new business ethic for the 21st century

On 9/11, Gifford Pinchot, acting as a consultant, met with an “incredible brain trust” he’d assembled. The group’s purpose was to participate in a creative session identifying promising investments for the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. Among the advisors there that day were alternative energy consultant Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and co-author of the book, Natural Capitalism; Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature; Joe Romm, a former senior Department of Energy official; renewable energy consultant Joel Makower; and Anita Burke, head of sustainability for Royal Dutch Shell.

But the group never got to its subject. Instead, it took up that morning’s traumatic terrorist attack and its implications for their lives. For Pinchot, the meaning quickly crystallized. He and his wife, Libba, had long talked about starting a school to teach social entrepreneurship. Now Pinchot, his mischievous side full throttle (could he entice them into participating?) had a captive audience for exploring the idea. “I planned for half a day with those folks,” Pinchot would later recall, “and I got four.”

The result was the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI,) a school offering a pioneering MBA in Sustainable Business. Now in its fifth year, it is an innovation lab, business incubator, and support system for eco-preneurs and change agents who want to make corporations more socially and environmentally responsible. Pinchot’s vision: transforming business education.

Why change business education? .....