Even leading capitalists admit that capitalism is broken. Green Swans is a manifesto for system change designed to serve people, planet, and prosperity. In his twentieth book, John Elkington—dubbed the “Godfather of Sustainability”—explores new forms of capitalism fit for the twenty-first century.
If Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “Black Swans” are problems that take us exponentially toward breakdown, then “Green Swans” are solutions that take us exponentially toward breakthrough. The success—and survival—of humanity now depends on how we rein in the first and accelerate the second.

Tim Smit, the co-founder of The Eden Project and The Lost Gardens of Heligan is not a run-of-the mill chief executive. As a capitalist Tim has been searching for mechanisms that enable business to be a genuine driver of wealth through nesting a wide range of stakeholders’ interests alongside our own in a circular system. Today there are 20 ‘New Edens’ being built worldwide, all with the same mission–to restore wild sites, nurture communities and bring once dilapidated environments back to life.