summarize
It’s not easy being green. –Kermit the Frog.1
I. INTRODUCTIONFENGAGING STUDENTS
In the Legal Environment of Business course in a traditional undergrad-
uate business curriculum, students are expected to acquire knowledge
about many areas of the law and the application of law to business, society,
and the international marketplace. Current concepts in undergraduate
business education, such as ethics and sustainability, must also be included
in our classrooms. Some texts highlight issues with landmark cases or fea-
ture articles about businesses that have experienced high-profile legal and/
or ethical dilemmas. Using high-profile cases and newsworthy business
situations are useful in stimulating discussions. However, professors often
struggle with keeping students engaged while in the classroom. Most of
our students are of Generation Y or the Millennial Generation, young
adults who expect to be entertained in the classroom. Students often find it
difficult to relate to some of the traditional cases used in the textbooks to
illustrate the legal principles relevant to their studies and the underlying
curriculum. Real-world examples in the classroom have the best pedagog-
ical value because of their appeal to traditional college students.2
r 2010 The Authors Journal compilation r 2010 Academy of Legal Studies in Business
81
Journal of Legal Studies Education Volume 27, Issue 1, 81–104, Winter/Spring 2010
nAssistant Professor of Law, Bradley University.
nnProfessor of Law, Bradley University.
1JIM HENSON, IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN: AND OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER (2005).
2See John D. Donnell, The Businessman and the Business Law Curriculum, 6 AM. BUS. L.J. 451 (1968), which basically made this point as far back as 1968.
TerraCycle, Inc. is a business that can portray many of the legal
principles taught in a Legal Environment of Business course, and this
business is interesting to students. This business and its actual litigation
with a competitor, coupled with hypothetical legal issues faced by typical
businesses, can be used as a basis for discussion for the entire semester to
illustrate many of the principles of a typical Legal Environment of Business
course. Although this semester-long case study focused on this particular
start-up business, any business of interest to students can be used.
II. THE BUSINESS: TERRACYCLE, INC.
TerraCycle, Inc. is a relatively new start-up business focusing on sustain-
ability and being green. Being green can be defined as having a positive
environmental attribute or objective3 and is currently a popular marketing
claim.4 Students are conscious of their carbon footprints and those of the
businesses around them. Empirical research shows that it pays to be
green.5
Two Princeton University college students started TerraCycle, Inc., a
socially responsible company that intends to make a profit while minimiz-
ing the waste of others. According to cofounder Tom Szaky, ‘‘we make the
world’s first product where literally every part of it is made from waste.
Our contents are garbage, and we package it directly in garbage.’’6
TerraCycle’s main product is liquefied organic plant food bottled di-
rectly in used plastic soda bottles. This product uses worms to break down
organic waste. This process is called vermicomposting and uses red wiggler
worms to produce TerraCycle’s main ingredient in their garden products,
3Businessdictionary.com, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/green.html (last vis- ited June 2, 2009).
4According to the Federal Trade Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, Sorting Out ‘Green’ Advertising Claims, April 1999, environmental marketing claims must not mislead customers. Jointly, these two federal government agencies have issued guidelines for customers, Part 260, Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, http://www.ftc.gov/ bcp/grnrule/guides980427.htm (last visited May 8, 2009).
5Stuart Hart & Guatam Ahuja, Does it Pay to Be Green? An Empirical Examination of the Rela- tionship between Emission Reduction and Firm Performance, 5 BUS. STRATEGY & THE ENV’T 30 (1996).
6Tom Szaky speaking on video embedded in their Web site at http://www.terracycle.net/ story.htm (last visited Mar. 29, 2009).
82 Vol. 27 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
worm castings, better known as worm waste. The worm castings are
steeped in water to make ‘‘worm tea’’ or liquefied organic plant food.
The worm tea is then packaged in used plastic bottles and sold as fertilizer
for home use by organic gardeners. TerraCycle collects the used plastic
bottles from schools and nonprofit organizations across the United States.
These organizations earn money as a fundraiser collecting the bottles for
TerraCycle. Since its inception, TerraCycle has increased its product line.
The media awareness of TerraCycle began when TerraCycle was in-
volved in a lawsuit. OMS Investments, Inc. and The Scotts Company
LLC,7 known for its Miracle Gro fertilizer products, filed a lawsuit in fed-
eral district court in New Jersey against TerraCycle on March 7, 2007.8
TerraCycle, still in its infancy, was forced to defend its business practices.
TerraCycle used a unique media strategy to elicit media and public sym-
pathy by writing a blog on the Internet. This blog told TerraCycle’s story.
Of course, the use of a blog is something with which our modern and
technologically savvy students are familiar, and they can relate to this com-
pany. Using active learning in the classroom and TerraCycle as a business
example, business law professors can keep students engaged and cover all
the required legal topics in the Legal Environment of Business course.
Recently, TerraCycle was followed by the National Geographic’s television show, Garbage Moguls.9
III. CLASSROOM PEDAGOGY: ACTIVE LEARNING
Over two decades ago, two educational scholars developed the Seven Prin- ciples for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education10 in an attempt to improve
7The company’s Web site can be found at http://www.scotts.com/smg/ (last visited Mar. 29, 2009).
8An opinion on a motion to dismiss in the case can be found at http://www.websupp.org/data/ DNJ/3:07-cv-01064-52-DNJ.pdf (last visited Mar. 29, 2009).
9According to the Web site for National Geographic, ‘‘Recycling gets a makeover with a quirky group of young ‘eco-capitalists’ at TerraCycle, Inc.’’ Melissa Kennedy, producer/director, Garbage Moguls, Apr. 22, 2009. See http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/garbage- moguls-4314/Overview (last visited May 10, 2009).
10Arthur W. Chickering & Zelda F. Gamson, Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, AM. ASSOC. HEALTH ED. BULL., Mar. 1987, at 3–7. See also Arthur W. Chickering & Zelda F. Gamson, Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, in NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING (1991).
2010 / It’s Not Easy Being Green 83
the classroom experience for students through educating instructors on bet-
ter classroom techniques. These seven principles indicate that good practice
encourages student–faculty contact, cooperation among students, active
learning, gives prompt feedback, emphasizes time on task, communicates
high expectations, and respects diverse talents and ways of learning.11
College students today, commonly known as Generation Y or the
Millennials,12 expect much more than the traditional lecture during their
class periods. These students were born when various forms of technology
were readily available to them from an early age. Generation Y students
have been digitally connected 24/7 to a globalized world. Their socializa-
tion has been enhanced by the continuous use of technology.13 These
Generation Y students Google, blog, tweet, text, watch or listen to pod-
casts, socially network, and use the Internet for information and enjoy-
ment. They expect instant gratification.14
The instructor must bring entertainment to the classroom in order to
keep their attention. Students that are involved in highly active and inter-
active experiential learning are more likely to be able to apply the legal
concepts to factual situations. Instructors should use technology in the
classroom to engage the students in active learning. Students must do
something in the classroom other than merely passively listening to an in-
structor’s lecture. Students must read, listen, write, discuss, and engage in
higher-order analytical tasks to solve problems.15 One method of active
learning is to provide the students with small-group exercises in which
groups of students apply legal concepts from the course to real-life situ-
ations. These groups provide for small learning communities for the stu-
dents within the classroom.
According to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Busi-
ness (AACSB) International Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards
11Id.
12Joan Catherine Bohl, Generations X and Y in Law School: Practical Strategies for Teaching the ‘‘MTV/GOOGLE’’ Generation, 54 LOY. L. REV. 775 (2008) (stating that individuals born between 1977 and 2003 are members of Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation or simply ‘‘Millennials’’).
13Susan P. Eisner, Managing Generation Y, 70(4) SAM ADVANCED MGMT. J. 4 (Autumn 2005).
14See supra note 10.
15See Charles Bonwell & James Eison, Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom, ERIC DIGEST (Sept. 1991).
84 Vol. 27 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education
for Business Accreditation,16 business law is considered a traditional business subject and part of the required business school education. As such, the
AACSB International expects individual faculty members teaching busi-
ness law courses will actively involve students in the learning process.17
Our first charge is to engage the students so they participate in the learning
process in our business law classrooms. Our second charge is to incorporate
concepts of sustainability into the classroom. AACSB International has re-
cently incorporated sustainability into the business school educational envi-
ronment.18 AACSB International believes that schools of business should
develop a new generation of ethical leaders that can support a sustainable
society. The use of one business case study throughout the entire semester
can assist the professor in reaching these AACSB goals for the classroom.
Cases are used in most business schools as a teaching tool. Business
cases discuss actual issues that were faced by a business and are utilized for
the purpose of determining ‘‘what works and what does not work.’’19 To
that end, the single business case study method is one tool to bring to the
college classroom in order to engage the students and assist them with
active learning. The use of one business for the entire semester as a single
case study in the Legal Environment of Business classroom involves active
learning by the students and promotes continuity and a ‘‘big picture’’ view
of law and its impact on business.
Preparing for a semester-long case study is not an easy task. It involves
much more than creating a syllabus by the instructor. It requires the writing
of group assignments, researching cases and statutes, and planning, as many
of the resources need to be collected well in advance of their actual use in
class. This method of actively engaging the students also causes some addi-
tional grading work of these group activities throughout the semester.
Various cases can be assigned to the students to read and brief in
addition to the assigned textbook. The cases must be edited, assembled,
16AACSB, Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation, adopted Apr. 25, 2003 (last revised Jan. 31, 2008).
17Id.
18See AACSB International’s First Annual Sustainability Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah from July 30–31, 2008; second conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 29–31, 2009; and the third upcoming Conference to be held in Denver, Colorado on June 14–15, 2010.
19Rob Atkins, Growing Greener Grass: Looking from Legal Ethics to Business Ethics, and Back, 1 U. ST. THOMAS L.J. 951, 955 (2004).
2010 / It’s Not Easy Being Green 85
and copied into a file and made available to the students electronically. The
cases can then be used as precedent to analyze TerraCycle’s real and fic-
titious legal predicaments presented to the students in the various group
exercises. This business can be used when assessing the knowledge and
analytical skills of the students in specific content areas in essay questions
on examinations. Throughout the semester, additional assigned reading
from journals and newspapers can provide the students with a greater
understanding from various perspectives about this business.20 The stu-
dents can research a wide variety of primary and secondary source mate-
rials on the Internet and examine the impact of legal events from
numerous perspectives. One of the founders of TerraCycle has recently
written a book explaining his journey from the dorm room to the board-
room of TerraCycle.21 Students can explore legal documents, read news
articles, make product comparisons, and even watch a clip from
YouTube.22
