In 1983, Hawken authored the best-selling book, Growing a Business, about his experiences at Smith & Hawken. The book shifted into a successful PBS show of the same title. He left the company in 1991 to devote his formidable energies to the problem of global sustainability.

Hawken's lifelong commitment to the environment manifested itself in his book The Ecology of Commerce, published in 1993. Reflecting on the burgeoning business Hawken wrote, "The recycled toner cartridges, the sustainably harvested woods, the replanted trees, the soy-based inks ... were all well and good, but basically we were in the junk mail business. All the recycling in the world would not change the fact that doing business in the latter part of the 20th century is an energy-intensive endeavor that gulps down resources."

The Ecology of Commerce continues to have a large impact on government and business, one that is disproportionate to the number of copies printed. It is used extensively as a text in university courses as disparate as biology, industrial design, and business.