Paul Gerard Hawken was born on February 8, 1946. He is an American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, economist, and activist.
Biography
Paul Hawken was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. His father worked at UC Berkeley in the field of library sciences. Hawken studied at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University. His work includes starting businesses focused on ecology, writing about how commerce affects living systems, and advising corporations and governments on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.
Hawken helped start and led Project Drawdown, a non-profit organization that explains ways to reverse global warming.
He took part in the civil rights movement. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Career
Paul Hawken has written many books, articles, and papers. Some of his books include The Next Economy (1983), Growing a Business (1987), The Ecology of Commerce (1993), and Blessed Unrest (2007). The Ecology of Commerce was chosen as the top college textbook on business and the environment by professors at 67 business schools. Ray Anderson, a businessman and environmentalist, said reading The Ecology of Commerce changed his life. He described the experience as feeling like a "spear in the chest," which inspired him to work to reduce waste and carbon emissions.
Hawken co-authored Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution with Amory Lovins. This book explains the concept of natural capital and the importance of accounting for ecosystem services. It has been translated into 14 languages. Together with The Ecology of Commerce, these books are considered some of the first to guide efforts toward a sustainable global economy.
Blessed Unrest (2007) describes a growing movement involving environmental, social justice, and indigenous rights groups. Hawken believes this movement forms not through shared beliefs but by identifying what is and is not humane. He compares it to humanity’s collective immune system.
Growing a Business became the basis for a 17-part PBS series hosted and produced by Hawken. The series explored challenges in starting and running socially responsible companies. It was broadcast in 115 countries and reached over 100 million people.
In 2013, Hawken co-created Project Drawdown with Amanda Joy Ravenhill. He also co-authored Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (2017). This book involved 200 researchers and advisors who studied solutions to reduce global warming.
In 2021, Hawken published Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, which became a New York Times bestseller. His books have been published in more than 50 countries and 30 languages.
Hawken founded several companies. In 1967, he took over a small retail store in Boston called Erewhon and turned it into Erewhon Trading Company, a natural-foods wholesaler that used sustainable farming methods. By the 1970s, the company had contracts for over 30,000 acres of organically grown food. In 1979, he co-founded Smith & Hawken, a garden supply company. In 2009, he started OneSun, an energy company focused on low-cost solar technology.
From 1994 to 1998, Hawken led The Natural Step USA. From 1996 to 1998, he was co-chairman of The Natural Step International. The Natural Step was created in 1989 by Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish scientist, to help organizations understand sustainable development. It teaches environmental systems thinking in businesses, cities, and governments.
In 1998, Hawken founded the Natural Capital Institute in Sausalito, California. The institute focused on wiser.org, an open-source database of activists and organizations working on environmental and social justice issues.
Hawken previously led Project Drawdown, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change.
In 1965, Hawken worked with Martin Luther King Jr.’s staff in Selma, Alabama, preparing for the Selma to Montgomery marches. He registered press members, gave updates, and acted as a marshal during the final march. That same year, he worked in New Orleans as a photographer for the Congress of Racial Equality, focusing on voter registration efforts and documenting the Ku Klux Klan. In Meridian, Mississippi, he was attacked by KKK members but escaped due to FBI intervention.
As a speaker, Hawken has given hundreds of talks, including keynote addresses to major organizations and universities. His university commencement speeches have included addresses at the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Portland (2009, titled “You Are Brilliant and the Earth Is Hiring”); the Urban Land Institute; and Yale University.
Recognition
Hawken has received six honorary doctorates. He also received the Green Cross Millennium Award for Environmental Leadership, which was presented by Mikhail Gorbachev in 2003.