Beyond Zero

Nathan Havey (2020, U.S., 82 min.) + post-film discussion

For Ray Anderson, it was supposed to be just another routine speech. The CEO of Interface, a major carpet manufacturing company, had been asked to give a speech about the company’s commitment to sustainability. So he asked his subordinates what he was supposed to say, thinking it would be a pro forma talk. But when they gave him Paul Hawken’s Ecology of Commerce to read, a book which laid bare all the environmental impacts big business has had and an argument that business is best positioned to make positive change, Ray had a near-religious epiphany. He had to change Interface’s business model. Rather than corporate greenwashing, he wanted to assemble a “Mission Zero” team to assess every aspect of the company and prove that you could ethically reduce your impacts to a point of zero harm and then even creating positive good, while still being profitable. And despite disbelief from his team, for the last 30 years Interface has proven that just such a mission is possible.

Nathan Havey’s Beyond Zero takes you inside the company to hear from the people who have made this extraordinary transformation possible. It will leave you asking why every business hasn’t yet accepted this ethical mission to do good, even while making a profit!

(Shown in collaboration with the Smeal College of Business)