Making the Human Economy more Tolerable: Organisations that put the Environment/ Sustainability First Nick Barter St. Andrews University Abstract This essay draws upon a recent polemic by Johnson in the September 2008 edition of SEAJ ‘Sustainability and Life: How long can the earth tolerate the human economy?’ This essay briefly reviews Johnson’s polemic and challenges his equating of a business to a natural living system. From there using Johnson’s polemic and his views as leaping off point, research findings from an exploratory study with organisations that have environmental/sustainability focused missions are presented. The findings support some of Johnson’s views regarding restraint and that a sustainable future will not be populated with publicly traded corporations. However, it also adds to them by exposing how the organisations interviewed operate to a balancing act of mission and money, with money being subservient, but a necessary means to an end. The essay closes with a view that the researched organisations represent a ‘future normal.’ Word Count: 5,300 not including references and appendix I ntroduction This essay has been prompted by a recent polemic in the Social and Environmental Accounting Journal ‘Sustainability and Life: How long can earth tolerate the human economy?’ (Johnson, September 2008) 1 . In answer to the SEAJ editors’ commentary regarding the polemic, this essay uses Johnson’s speech as a leaping off point from which to highlight research that was focused upon organisations that 1 Johnson’s polemic was actually his closing speech to a conference on business and sustainability in 2007 in Portland, Oregon.