Speaking with noted author and business advisor Andrew Winston leaves one with a strange mix of hope and despair. On the one hand, Winston’s compelling new book, The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World, clearly and powerfully articulates a sustainable path forward for business and industry. On the other hand, you get the sense we’re not moving close to fast enough to achieve the scale of change needed to head off the worst impacts of climate change.

So which side wins out? Ensia recently caught up with Winston at the 2014 Fortune Brainstorm Green conference to talk about this and much more.