A List
4/7/08

SLU Speaker: Businesses' Environmental Responsibility Is Increasing Profit

CANTON - A talk titled "The Environmental Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits" will be given by Pierre Desrochers, assistant professor of geography at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, on Wednesday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Hepburn Hall at St. Lawrence University. The event, part of the economics department's visiting speakers series in political economy, is also in the University's Contemporary Issues Forum, and is open to the public, free of charge.

Frequently, it is thought that doing "business as usual" is environmentally unsustainable. Building on historical evidence that long predates the modern environmental movement, Desrochers will argue in his talk that the interplay of voluntary exchange, private property rights and self-interest has generally resulted in achieving all three of the so-called "triple bottom line" of economic, social and environmental benefits through the more efficient use of materials and the continual creation of higher quality resources.

Desrochers' research and teaching activities focus primarily on economic development, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, international trade, business-environment and business-university interactions. His other areas of expertise include intellectual property and urban and housing policy.

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