The Orthogonal Economy:
Approaching Business and Sustainability from a Different Angle


"The Orthogonal Economy is that sector of mainstream and Main Street business activity where owners accept marginal profitability as a trade-off for maintaining personal, community and environmental well-being, because market-based solutions don't always work."

After 25 years of working on sustainability, from the "grassroots" level to global policy-making, we at ECOLOGIA have come to the realization that market-based solutions such as Corporate Social Responsibility and the triple bottom line "win-win", while helpful, are not sufficient by themselves to drive a movement toward global environmental sustainability and social fairness.

Our discovery and conceptualization of this phenomenon are still in their infancy. For the first fruits of our analysis, see the eight-page article, "The Orthogonal Economy: Approaching Business and Sustainability from a Different Angle"