BY SUSAN K. LACEFIELD, EDITOR AT LARGE
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A thoughtleaders
IT WASN’T SO LONG AGO THAT THE TERM
“environmentalist” conjured up images of starry-eyed
anti-business idealists with shaggy hair and sandals who
chained themselves to trees in protest against efforts to
cut them down. Yesterday’s senior executive might have
called them “tree huggers.”
But Jason Mathers is not your father’s environmen-
talist. As senior manager for supply chain and logistics
at the nonprofit group Environmental Defense Fund
(EDF), Mathers is dedicated to working with—rather
than against—business to solve problems related to
climate change. Because he helps companies find steps
that can both reduce their environmental impact and
save them money, you could think of him as a pragmatic
idealist.
EDF says its mission is “to protect the Earth’s resources using smart economics, practical partnerships, and
rigorous science.” Toward that end, Mathers has been
working to reduce emissions from freight movements,
which some estimates say are the source of 6 percent of
the human-generated pollution that contributes to global warming. As part of this work, he is cataloging current
best practices and developing a framework for managing
emissions generated in the supply chain.
Instead of seeing businesses as foes of the environment, Jason Mathers
of the Environmental Defense Fund believes that they—and their supply
chain organizations—are natural allies in the fight against climate change.
INTERVIEW WITH JASON MATHERS
Not your typical
“tree hugger”
