69
4.4 Corporate Origins of Environmental LCA
In order to convince those belonging to “the greatest generation” to behave differently and bring up their children as consumers, who would support the economy
and spur new growth each year, new media outlets spread a message designed to
entice, to seduce, and to build a sense of entitlement and want. Twenty-five years
after the end of World War II, according to this new code of conduct, Americans
were largely dissuaded from anything we would recognize now as the practice of
reducing, reusing, or recycling on an industrial scale.
The cultural turmoil of the 1960s introduced deep questioning of established
practices and societal norms especially around consumption that bolstered post-war
consumerism. Thinkers and social activists articulated alternative behavioral principles of the US countercultural revolution and spurred people to act. The ensuing
protests reached a crescendo during the Vietnam War. Greed and the violence it
engendered was blamed on the establishment. The overconsumption and resulting
increase in pollution prepared the way for the modern environmental movement.
By 1970, the environmental crisis was evident to a much larger proportion of the
consuming population. The US mass media began to reflect new trends. Pollution
that was easily seen, smelled, and felt in the smog that blanketed most cities and
industrial towns, rivers that caught fire due to floating industrial sludge, and massive, open garbage dumps close to many rural and urban communities around the
country were the constant target of popular criticism. Once people made the direct
connection back to commerce and industrial output, elected political leaders as well
as corporations could not ignore the public outcry. They had to act in response to
growing pressure to address the problems of a deepening environmental crisis.
4.4.1 The Coca-Cola REPA
Ten years after the introduction of the “life cycle” concept into the federal budgeting
process for military weapon systems procurement and maintenance, the world’s
largest soft drink corporation developed the conceptual prototype for environmental
life cycle modeling. The approach does not seem to be directly inspired from
governmental life cycle budgeting practices but does share its origins in general
systems theory.
In 1961, industrial engineer Harry E. Teasley, Jr. joined the Coca-Cola Company
as a senior engineer in the Technical Research and Development Department. By
1969 he was managing Coca-Cola’s packaging functions
12
(Plastics Institute of
America 1991). Teasley’s innovative contribution grew out of a desire to understand
how Coca-Cola’s containers broadly impacted the environment. Beyond
2 By 1987 Teasley would lead Coca-Cola Foods, a division of the Coca-Cola Company, as President
and CEO.
4.4 Corporate Origins of Environmental LCA
4.4 Corporate Origins of Environmental LCA
In order to convince those belonging to “the greatest generation” to behave differently and bring up their children as consumers, who would support the economy
and spur new growth each year, new media outlets spread a message designed to
entice, to seduce, and to build a sense of entitlement and want. Twenty-five years
after the end of World War II, according to this new code of conduct, Americans
were largely dissuaded from anything we would recognize now as the practice of
reducing, reusing, or recycling on an industrial scale.
The cultural turmoil of the 1960s introduced deep questioning of established
practices and societal norms especially around consumption that bolstered post-war
consumerism. Thinkers and social activists articulated alternative behavioral principles of the US countercultural revolution and spurred people to act. The ensuing
protests reached a crescendo during the Vietnam War. Greed and the violence it
engendered was blamed on the establishment. The overconsumption and resulting
increase in pollution prepared the way for the modern environmental movement.
By 1970, the environmental crisis was evident to a much larger proportion of the
consuming population. The US mass media began to reflect new trends. Pollution
that was easily seen, smelled, and felt in the smog that blanketed most cities and
industrial towns, rivers that caught fire due to floating industrial sludge, and massive, open garbage dumps close to many rural and urban communities around the
country were the constant target of popular criticism. Once people made the direct
connection back to commerce and industrial output, elected political leaders as well
as corporations could not ignore the public outcry. They had to act in response to
growing pressure to address the problems of a deepening environmental crisis.
4.4.1 The Coca-Cola REPA
Ten years after the introduction of the “life cycle” concept into the federal budgeting
process for military weapon systems procurement and maintenance, the world’s
largest soft drink corporation developed the conceptual prototype for environmental
life cycle modeling. The approach does not seem to be directly inspired from
governmental life cycle budgeting practices but does share its origins in general
systems theory.
In 1961, industrial engineer Harry E. Teasley, Jr. joined the Coca-Cola Company
as a senior engineer in the Technical Research and Development Department. By
1969 he was managing Coca-Cola’s packaging functions
12
(Plastics Institute of
America 1991). Teasley’s innovative contribution grew out of a desire to understand
how Coca-Cola’s containers broadly impacted the environment. Beyond
2 By 1987 Teasley would lead Coca-Cola Foods, a division of the Coca-Cola Company, as President
and CEO.
4.4 Corporate Origins of Environmental LCA