Paul Hawken was launching natural foods and organic gardening businesses long before either industry was established or popular. Although his best-known business, Smith & Hawken, has changed its colors since Hawken left more than 15 years ago, “from an organic company to a company that pushes herbicides and pesticides for people’s lawns,” as he puts it, Hawken has been an activist since his 20s, and continues to champion environmental causes. His books — including “Natural Capitalism,” which he co-wrote with Amory Lovins [see “Amory Lovins,” Sustainable Industries, Aug. 2007], and “The Ecology of Commerce” — have been credited with putting many a company and politician on the path toward environmental responsibility.

Hawken’s most recent book, “Blessed Unrest,” was inspired by the numerous groups and people Hawken has met at various speaking engagements and rallies and by his experience at the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. The book tracks the origins and growth of what Hawken calls a massive global movement with no name and no leader that is dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice.

In 2002, Hawken also founded the Natural Capital Institute, a research group that focuses on socially responsible investing, global civil society and environmental funding opportunities. And Hawken is still a businessman, heading up PaxIT, PaxTurbine and PaxFan, three companies associated with Pax Scientific, a California-based company using natural models to design technologies for moving air and water [see “Natural Selection,” Sustainable Industries, June 2006].

In the midst of promoting the recently released “Blessed Unrest,” Hawken is busy working on the re-release of “The Ecology of Commerce.”

“‘The Ecology of Commerce,’ when published, was a pariah book,” Hawken explained in an email. “Writers at Forbes, BusinessWeek and other publications reviewed it, but editors killed the reviews. Although the business press reviewed my previous books, ‘The Next Economy’ and ‘Growing a Business,’ ‘The Ecology of Commerce’ was shunned. Nevertheless, it became a best seller. To give some measure of the change in the attitude of business, HarperCollins is now reprinting it as a Classic.”

Hawken hasn’t finished the rewrite but says he may only update the facts and leave the thesis alone: It still stands.