One of the best ways to get to know The Natural Step is to hear from people who know the organization well and have experienced our work. The following list includes statements made by clients, donors, partners, high-tech advisors, corporate leaders, researchers, scientists, sustainability pioneers and educators and event participants. Find out what they have to say.

"Working with the team from The Natural Step has been extremely helpful in our effort to sharpen our focus and reach a broader internal audience -- a critical step toward fulfilling our goals to integrate more sustainable business practices."

-- Ben Packard, Director of Environmental Affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company

"The Natural Step has some unique characteristics: It's based on science. It's also based on collaboration and cooperation. I have found in my career that many NGO's are more committed to making a point, maybe pontificating, than making a difference. This is not the case with The Natural Step."

-- Mats Lederheusen, President, Business Development Group, McDonald's Corporation

"Several years ago we engaged with The Natural Step, and it was very worthwhile. We have great plans going forward…I think sustainability is smart, and should be the mainstream. This is not the fringe anymore."

-- Jonathan Roseman, Home Depot

"The Natural Step adds a refreshing, invigorating and needed set of tools, thinking and passion to our team at McDonald's. The Natural Step has become an integral part of McDonald's sustainability work because we desire to engage with the best, independent, science-based leaders in sustainability--and that's The Natural Step."

-- Bob Langert, Senior Director, Social Responsibility, McDonald’s Corporation

"Our partnership with The Natural Step originates from our mutual desire to establish new standards and approaches for sustainable product development. We expect this effort to lead to a new generation of products and services that demonstrate the economic, social, and environmental viability of sustainable design."

-- Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO

"The Natural Step provides a concrete model - a compass - pointing the way to sustainability for all participants of an organization. Interface is using this compass to guide us on our journey up the mountain higher than Everest- the one named "sustainability."

-- Ray Anderson, Chairman, Founder and CEO, Interface, Inc., Former Co-Chair, President’s Council on Sustainable Development

"The Garfield Foundation embraces The Natural Step's sustainability principles and believes that adapting them is an imperative step toward sustainable existence on earth. While the vision is an ambitious one, the Garfield Foundation believes that The Natural Step’s team has the creativity, talent, commitment and perseverance to make real change in the world."

-- Jennie McCann, Program Director, The Garfield Foundation

"I am proud to support The Natural Step.  When asked what separates this group from the other great organizations working for sustainability, the best answer I can give is that it is more than just a firm grounding in science, business sense, or passion, work ethic, or acumen - although it has these in awe-inspiring abundance.  It is that The Natural Step ‘gets it’ and is actually able to change things."

-- Matt Klein, Executive Director, The Kwyjibo Charitable Foundation, CEO, Verdant Power

"Ted and I invest in The Natural Step because we don’t know any other organization that is making such a difference in the world environmentally! It gives us hope for the future."

-- Phyllis and Ted Swindells, Philanthropists

"I believe The Natural Step is going to make a difference in the survival of life on our planet. At the age of 94 I have been saying that I am ready to make the transition into the next dimension of life. After learning about The Natural Step, however, I have decided to stay a while longer to watch the change and do everything I can to support this organization."

-- Eleanor Wasson, age 95, former board member Earthsave, environmentalist, activist and philanthropist

"How can we enlighten those institutions so enormous that they wield the power to sustain or destroy our magnificent planet and all the life it holds? By supporting the programs of The Natural Step, so that we all may live."

-- Eleanor Wasson, age 95, former board member Earthsave, environmentalist, activist and philanthropist

"The Natural Step should stand as a beacon to us to understand what is really going on in the world and to begin to take steps to correct it. There is no human effort going on now which is in closer touch with reality, which is more necessary for us or which affords better hope for our common future."

-- Dr. Peter Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden, Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences, Board Member, World Resources Institute

"The Natural Step is already a major player in the movement by corporations and other organizations to make "sustainability" their ultimate brand."

-- Harlan Cleveland, President Emeritus, World Academy of Art and Science

"The Natural Step is a lucid, science-based way to marry sustainability with value. Now we have practical examples of how leading businesses are using its principles to create exceptional competitive advantage."

-- Amory B. Lovins, Director of Research, Rocky Mountain Institute

"The Natural Step offers an exceptional framework for sustainability which can be used to guide and assess green building programs and rating systems, leading us beyond "green" toward restorative and regenerative building approaches."

-- David Eisenberg, Director, Development Center for Appropriate Technology

"It is very refreshing to be able to work with an organization that truly, genuinely wants to help you."

-- Sarah Severn, Director of Corporate Responsibility Development, Nike

"The Natural Step is a clear voice in the commotion."

-- Leif Johansson, CEO, Volvo

"When we where introduced to The Natural Step, we realized we had found our framework."

-- Tachi Kiuchi, CEO, Mitsubishi Electric America

"The Natural Step principles give confidence to entrepreneurs—that what their common sense tells them, for example using cycles and closing the loop in industries, is the right direction. Also, The Natural Step’s sustainability framework legitimizes some of the most cutting edge business practices."

-- Daniel Robin, Managing Director and Founder, Integrated Investments International (In3)

"What The Natural Step is attempting to do serves our earth, our economy, and our cultures in ways we will feel for generations."

-- Andrew Beebe, Chairman, Bigstep

"The Natural Step’s framework approaches sustainability in a way that it is easy to understand. It instantly compelled me to think about how the technology sector could be involved in the solution—by incorporating sustainable business practices and by designing the systems that support the transition to sustainable business models."

-- Maya Draisin, ED, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences

"The Natural Step pedagogy has proven itself to be among the most effective ways in the world to establish a foundation for the mind-set shift needed for twenty-first century enterprises to work."

-- Peter Senge, Author, The Fifth Discipline, Chairman, Society for Organizational Learning

"The Natural Step holds the potential to radically transform the way investors understand their responsibility and their role in promoting entrepreneurship that can accelerate the transition to sustainability."

-- Woody Tasch, Chairman and CEO, Investors' Circle

"The Natural Step is one of the most creative, high-leverage educational efforts to rapidly move society onto an environmentally just and sustainable path since the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970."

-- Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, Chair, The Natural Step, former President, Second Nature, former Tufts University Dean of Environmental Programs, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

"The Natural Step provides an elegant framework, a compass, to guide us on the road ahead and is a powerful tool for all seeking a new mental model to move their businesses into a sustainable future."

-- Maurice Strong, Secretary-General, 1992 UN Earth Summit

"Having been a presenter and participant at past Natural Step conferences, I would recommend them to anyone doing sustainability work. They draw a spectacular network of people and provide cutting-edge information and tools. I always come away from the experience with a renewed sense of hope, new friends and many interesting ideas."

-- Mathis Wackernagel, Co-Author, Our Ecological Footprint, Director, National Indicator’s Program, Redefining Progress

"I loved the high quality of the conference. A lot of good was done for Earth in those five days and continues today as the ripples spread. Ripples can become sunamis, you know."

-- Ray Anderson, Chairman, Founder and CEO, Interface, Inc., Co-Chair, President’s Council on Sustainable Development