????一位公司高管竭力勸說客戶不要購買本公司的產品？這聽起來未免太荒唐了，但這正是伊馮?喬伊納德喜歡做的事情。素以直言不諱、破除傳統觀念著稱的喬伊納德是高端戶外服飾和設備制造商Patagonia公司的創始人。他認為，資本主義正走在一條不可持續發展的道路上。在制造和銷售的過程中，我們使用太多的資源，購買低質量商品，然后迅速地將其扔掉。喬伊納德最近與Patagonia公司高管文森特?士丹利合作撰寫了一本頗具挑釁意味的新書《負責任的公司》（The Responsible Company）。喬伊納德在書中辯稱，我們必須邁向一個商品皆為高質量、可回收且可修復的“后消費主義經濟”時代。正如這位熱衷登山運動的企業家所言，現在，“我們生產、銷售的大多數東西都是臭狗屎。”

????他現在給出的解決方案非常簡單：如果Patagonia滑雪服的手臂上裂了個口子，不要把它扔掉，然后再去買一套新的。請把它寄回來，Patagonia公司會給你縫好。你的帳篷已經無法修復了？請把它寄回來，Patagonia公司將回收這些材料。

????我們幾乎可以聽到沃爾瑪公司（Wal-Mart，財富500強企業）的高管們從位于阿肯色州本頓維爾市的公司總部中發出的喘息。但Patagonia公司的做法或許不無道理。這家年銷售額高達4億美元的私營公司報告稱，盡管它鼓勵顧客減少消費，它也依然賺到了真金白銀。至少從某種意義上說，Patagonia公司已經贏得了沃爾瑪的支持。2008年，Patagonia與這家巨型零售商合作，共同發起一個名為“可持續服裝聯盟（Sustainable Apparel Coalition）”的組織。該組織成員生產的服裝現在占全球服裝總銷量的30%以上。這個聯盟目標是研發工具，測量、監控并減少服裝產業對環境造成的影響。這并不是一件容易完成的任務。比如，追蹤一件襯衫的原材料的來源可能會費盡百般周折而不能如愿。你或許聽說某家中國服裝制造商正在使出渾身解數堅守環保標準，但為它提供染料的公司是什么情況呢？

????喬伊納德的批評者指出，他自己當然“玩得起”激進的環保策略，原因是，作為一家私營小公司的老板，他無需面對季度收益惡化引發的公眾怒火，進而可以從長遠的角度考慮問題。但他反駁說，減少一家公司對環境的影響對股東同樣有利。下一代消費者（包括數百萬使用有機食物，穿有機服飾的千禧一代）是不會善待污染者的。如今，社交媒體無所不在，污染環境可能會產生非常嚴重的后果。此外，喬伊納德還認為，由于人口不斷增長，需求增加，勢必提升石油、鋼材、水和其他原材料的價格，那些使用更少資源制造產品的公司有望降低成本，并由此占據更有利的競爭地位。

????眼看著中國、印度和其他發展中國家的經濟毫無拘束地增長，看到數十億人正在競相追逐美式生活，我們很難想象喬伊納德所夢想的那個消費更少，污染更少，商品質量更高的烏托邦世界將會一統天下（他并沒有解釋低收入消費者怎樣才能負擔高質量的產品）。喬伊納德深知挑戰之嚴峻。他指出，生產一件使用有機棉制成的Patagonia馬球衫需要耗費相當于900個人一天飲用水的水資源，產生30倍于其自身重量的二氧化碳，以及3倍于其自身重量的垃圾。這稱得上可持續嗎？沒有什么經濟活動是可持續的，但喬伊納德正在引領我們實現這個夢想。

????譯者：任文科

????An executive who tries to talk his customers out of buying his products? It sounds nuts, but that's just what Yvon Chouinard loves to do. The outspoken, iconoclastic founder of Patagonia, maker of high-end outdoor clothing and equipment, believes that capitalism is on an unsustainable path. In the process of making and selling, we use too many resources and buy low-quality goods that we quickly throw away. In his new, provocative book, The Responsible Company, written with Patagonia executive Vincent Stanley, Chouinard contends that we must move toward a "post-consumerist economy" where goods are high quality, recyclable, and repairable. Today, as the mountain-climber entrepreneur puts it, "most of what we produce to sell each other is crap."

????His solution, for now, is simple: Have a Patagonia ski parka with a rip in the arm? Don't throw it away and buy a new one. Send it back, and the company will sew it up. Is your tent beyond repair? Send it back, and Patagonia will recycle the material.

????You can almost hear Wal-Mart's executives gasping all the way from Bentonville, Ark. But Patagonia may be onto something. The private company, with annual sales of $400 million, reports that it makes money even while encouraging its customers to consume less. And in at least one sense, it has won overWal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500). In 2008, Patagonia joined with the big-box store to launch the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, whose members now produce more than 30% of all clothing sold globally. The goal is to develop the tools to measure, monitor, and reduce the impact the apparel industry has on the environment. It is no easy task. Tracing the origins of, say, a shirt's raw materials can be devilish. You might know that a Chinese maker of the cloth is doing her best to uphold environmental standards, but what about the company that supplied the dye?

????Chouinard's critics point out that he can afford to go radically green because, as the owner of a small private company, he can think long-term without the pressure of public outrage at quarterly earnings. Reducing a corporation's impact on the environment is good for shareholders, he counters. The next generation of consumers -- including millions of millennials who eat and wear organic -- do not take kindly to polluters. The consequences in this age of social media can be severe. Chouinard also says he believes that companies that make their products with fewer resources will lower their costs and be in a better competitive position as the prices of oil, steel, water, and other raw materials inevitably rise due to increased demand from growing populations.

????When one looks at the unbridled growth in China, India, and other parts of the developing world, where billions are vying for an American lifestyle, it's hard to imagine that Chouinard's utopian world of less consumption, less waste, and higher-quality goods will prevail. (How low-income consumers will afford high-quality products, he doesn't say.) He does understand the challenge, pointing out that a Patagonia polo shirt, made of organic cotton, consumes in the making enough daily drinking water for 900 people and produces 30 times its weight in CO2 and three times its weight in waste. Sustainable? No economic activity is yet sustainable, but Chouinard is leading the charge to get us there.