I began this book with a look back to the midpoint of the 1800s. Despite my focus on a century and a half of modern industrial life, it is but a small slice of the global human experience. All long-lived civilizations, from the Native American tribes to the continuously occupied cities of Beirut, Damascus, and Beijing, have one thing in common: they managed to maintain some semblance of balance with the environment and society for an extended period of time. Some communities, such as the Aksumite Empire of Ethiopia, lasted for more than one thousand years. The Carthaginian Empire lasted for more than four hundred years, and the kingdoms of ancient Egypt lasted for over five hundred years. What can these civilizations teach us in our search for a more sustainable world?

I recently returned from a trip to Vietnam, which has several excellent examples of long-lived communities. The Tan Le Commune in Thai Binh Province has been making straw mats for five hundred years, and more than 80 percent of the households are still involved in the straw mat trade today. Similarly, near present-day Hanoi is the village of Cu Da, a time capsule of preserved architecture that is also the center of traditional glass noodle manufacturing and has been for over seventy years. Today, the villagers typically sell fifteen to eighteen tons of noodles per day. In both cases, the businesses of straw mats and glass noodles cannot be separated from the communities where they are produced. The education process of teaching future generations, the social and economic value that accrues to the communities, and the community commitment to sustain the traditions offer us an example of how daily business challenges are handled in support of larger community interests.

Ancient Practices

Let's step back and consider what it would be like to live in such a community. Imagine you are a member of a Native American tribe called the Ho-Chunk in what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the United States. It is a warm evening in the summer of 1450 and you are meeting with a tribal elder to resolve a problem.