Sea Change Radio Co-Hosts Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon speak with green business guru John Elkington about the new Phoenix Economy report. And Sea Change members join in the conversation with Elkington in the second half of the show for the first Sea Change Radio RoundTable. In this feature, we host a sustainability expert fielding questions from Sea Change members — this time featuring Calvert Social Funds Founding Boardmember and Ben & Jerry’s Boardmember Terry Mollner, Ener-G-Save Executive Director Karen Ribeiro, and Common Good Finance President William Spademan.

The Phoenix. In myth, this bird would build a pyre on which to burn itself and then re-emerge from its ashes. Volans, the new venture founded by John Elkington, borrows this imagery to symbolize the current economic meltdown — and potential re-incarnation into a more sustainable economic order. Today, we speak with John Elkington about the Phoenix Economy report from his offices in the UK. Elkington coined the term triple bottom line, referring to people, planet , and profits, and he founded the sustainable development consultancy and think tank SustainAbility in 1987. BusinessWeek called him the “dean of the corporate responsibility movement.” Baue started by asking him to describe the notion behind the Phoenix Economy. He later asks Elkington to distinguish between the Phoenix Economy and the Chrysalis Economy, the name of his 2001 book.

Elkington also serves on the Sea Change Advisory Board, and agreed to participate in the first Roundtable with Sea Change members posing questions of sustainability experts in the second half of the show.

Listen