Currently Reading: Green, Inc.

I'm only half-way through Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad by Christine MacDonald, and I can confidently say it is a must read for anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the conservation biz.

MacDonald, former member of the global communications division of Conservation International (CI), arrived at one of the world’s largest environmental groups with no small dose of idealism. Ready to dedicate herself to the fight for the planet’s remaining forest lands and endangered species, she quickly grows disillusioned by what she interprets as questionable liaisons with environmentally hostile corporations; the six-figure salaries of its leaders; and an alleged lack of environmental ethos exhibited by her colleagues at their stylish Washington offices.

But MacDonald doesn't reserve her criticism to CI alone. She takes on the day-to-day practices of the Big International NGOs (BINGOs): CI, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, and others. Green, Inc. is a snapshot from inside the global environmental movement. Some of the main characters include Russell Train, former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and longtime World Wildlife Fund leader; the Nature Conservancy president Steven J. McCormick and his efforts to build closer ties between the Conservancy and corporate America; and CI’s millionaire founder, chief executive and chairman Peter Seligmann, who spends most of his time in the book globetrotting with celebrities aboard gas-guzzling private jets to some of the most breathtakingly exotic and pristine spots on earth.

Thirty-pages into Green, Inc. and you get the impression that being a CEO or Executive for a conservation BINGO today means you go scuba diving with rock stars and corporate scions, hobnob with remote indigenous tribes, and party with big donors and celebrity journalists aboard private jets, yachts, and land Rovers. While at times it seems MacDonald is almost amused over the colorful lifestyles of big conservation's leadership, she holds back not a scintilla of outrage over conservation organizations routinely accepting donations from oil, lumber and mining industries and corporate behemoths such as Wal-Mart without holding them accountable for ongoing pollution practices.

Green, Inc. has been generating quite a buzz in its short time on the book stands. I'll reserve my own commentary until I finish. But I hope a few of my conservation colleagues also give it a read as it would be great to have a blog discussion on its merits and drawbacks.