Excerpt
2024, Book Chapter: "This chapter examines the history of business and the natural environment in Latin America. During the first global economy, considerable was created from the exploitation of natural resources for the land-owning elite in Latin America, but at the cost of large-scale ecological destruction. During the Great Reversal in the mid-twentieth century, public policies aimed at “catching up” resulted in the proliferation of hydro-electric schemes and resulting co-creation of ecological damage by firms and governments. In the second global economy after 1980, renewed economic growth and consumerism resulted in mountains of waste in increasingly polluted mega-cities. However, the ecological horror stories also created opportunities for a surprising cohort of greener businesses across sectors ranging from beauty and health to eco-tourism."