Fast 50

One can't help but wonder about the power we could wield if the Fast 50 winners (March) worked together. Consider housing. The construction of one large housing development produces the same 18,000 tons of CO₂ that the Dave Matthews Band has produced in its 15 years of touring. If developers like Mark Edlen (No. 17) work with innovators such as Italcementi (No. 32), we'd get that much closer to achieving the goals of Governor Schwarzenegger (No. 1) in reducing emissions.

Mel Kimsey
Danville, California

I applaud Fast Company for bringing publicity to companies that are making strides toward a more sustainable future for our planet. I also tend to agree that it will take for-profit organizations, in concert with governments and nonprofits, for humanity to achieve its continuation. What you fail to note is that it is the human psyche--its fears, motivations, feelings, and beliefs--that got us to where we are today. Greed is the element that has wrought the most damage. To suggest that "greed is good," and that it will get us out of the predicament we find ourselves in, is downright irresponsible.

Andrew Zolli deftly points out that as people move up the economic ladder, they plunder more of the Earth's valuable resources. Entrepreneurs motivated to become "trillionaires" will do more harm than good. Greedy creatives and opportunists may come up with new profitable ways of doing things that are more sustainable. But real change will not occur until we are able to get beyond those basic human instincts that got us into trouble in the first place. What we truly need is a paradigm shift in our motivations. We must not be motivated by greed, as you suggest, but by the authentic desire to make things better for the generations that follow, regardless of the potential for financial gain.

David M. Carter
Portland, Oregon

The Germinator

Challenge: Making business sound "fun" when preparing a keynote speech to a high school business workshop. Solution: Quote the governor of California from the cover of your March issue. Thank you, FC. Thank you, Terminator.

Tim Flatley
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

In your full interview with Governor Schwarzenegger at FastCompany.com, he says, "You can be the greatest painter, but if you don't know how to market your work and showcase it in the right frame and the right gallery, how successful can you be?" What an American comment. Winners and losers. Successful people and unsuccessful people. We are truly toddlers intellectually, as Europeans have commented time and time again. Perhaps the greatest painter's goal is not to be the most successful painter. And art metaphors should not be used to communicate business ideals.

V. Knutsen
Minneapolis, Minnesota