The environment is among some of the top issues to be looked upon by the human population in the world today. Sustainability is a word often times used when speaking of this subject. This is a concept represented in the articles “Sustainability” by Christian R. Weisser and “Attention Whole Foods
“The challenge of sustainability-that is, of integrating human well-being and natural integrity-is such that we can't go on as before. Business as usual or, more to the point fashion as usual, is not an option” (Fletcher.K., 2008).
The environment is important to protect considering that people live and breathe in the atmosphere it provides. Investing time in activities that protect the environment hasn’t always been a priority, but as greenhouse gas emissions, the use of energy, and other harmful impacts on the environment increased, individuals began to speak up on what should be done. As the world’s population continues to grow exponentially, the impacts society produces will in turn continue to increase unless something is done about it. Although the idea of an environmentally sustainable community has remained on the minds of the concerned public throughout the past decade, as companies and universities became more invested in the idea, new ways of taking action and implementing policies were developed and pursued.
Sustainability from a strategic business perspective is the potential for the long-term well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities, as mutually beneficial interactions among nature and individuals, organizations, and business strategies. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). Business sustainably is often defined as managing the triple bottom line – a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. (Business sustainability definition from financial times lexicon, no date). This essay will discuss the idea of sustainability being an important element within a businesses and its core strategies and the importance of it within different businesses. Secondly, this study will look at how different stakeholders are affected and influenced by sustainability as this could be seen as a catalyst to improving the environment as a whole and. Then this study will look at how businesses not focusing
Nicholas Dawson 9/14/2015 University of Southern Queensland Student Number: W0025726 The definition of sustainability varies widely depending on the context in which the concept of sustainability is used. As Herman Daly (1996) put it, “Sustainable development is a term that everyone likes, but nobody is sure of what it means. The term rose to the prominence of a mantra after the publication of the UN sponsored Brundtland Commission report entitled, Our Common Future.” The Brudndtland Commision (1987) that Daly was referring to defined the term as “development that meets the needs of the present
For me sustainability is like a family house. Since I was a baby I have known that I have to take care of it, that I have to keep it alive, just like I have to take care of the community and its surroundings. To some extent, over the years
Is Sustainability Enough? Stop pretending you are sustainable. In fact, stop pretending you even know what the word “sustainable” means. In a world where we are inundated with social media feeds, slogans, buzzwords, flashy ads, and media coverage, it can be difficult to weed out the truth from the fluff. When it comes to environmental issues, that’s where things start to get dangerous. If we allow fads, marketing, and social pressure to lead us around blindly, we will be forced to tout empty symbols and gestures of what mob rule considers sustainable. Even worse, we will be taking up mind share and resources that could be spent on something we are truly passionate about, where real meaningful change can begin. Elizabeth Scharpf argues that we need to bring clarity to the now ambiguous term “sustainability” in her article “Why sustainability should be more than a meaningless buzzword.” The problem is that the word sustainability is so overused and thus too far gone to have any hope of being revived or made into a cornerstone of an environmental movement. While I agree that “sustainability” should be more than a meaningless buzzword, it has been so saturated that it is now not only meaningless, it’s dangerous. When we are left to fend for ourselves regarding sustainability’s true meaning, we are in danger of allowing social pressure to blindly lead us down the path of what it deems “sustainable” at the moment.
To solve these problems and the detriment to the environment that stems from them, the authors call for a complete paradigm shift in our current way of living. To start off that shift they interpret the definition of sustainability as being too limiting. They instead introduce the term of sustainability-as-flourishing. This is basically a state in which an individual feels a sense of
Robbins Elementary, an urban school located in a large city in Texas, has defied the odds by attaining and sustaining high academic success rates for an approximate twenty-year time period. As Okilwa and Barnett (2017) noted, Robbins Elementary had grown to become homogeneous in race (majority Hispanic) and
Sustainability is a topic that has become very important in recent years. Sustainability is defined as, “the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely.” ("Finding and Resolving the Root Causes of the Sustainability Problem", 2014)
Sustainability is the ability for a system or process to endure over time without compromising future generations and their abilities to fulfill these processes. In America when we think of sustainability we most often just consider environmental and ecological sustainability. It was evident that sustainability means something completely different in Paris as well as Germany. The European wholesome view at sustainability takes many aspects into light including ecological and environmental as well as political and cultural. The governments and businesses set up sustainable living practices that are embraced by society to help society move forward into a sustainable future. Society also embraces innovation much differently with more collaboration and less worry of intellectual property ideas can flow much more smoothly. To encourage advances in sustainability and innovation european firms and the government 's focus on maximizing the potential of the 3 Ps, people, planet and profits, with profits being last for a reason.
Sustainability is not just something Xavier Universtiy is focuing on. Many other universities across the country as well as individuals are contributing to the sustainability movement. In the International Journal for Sustainabiliyt in Higher Education, contributer B. Chalkley stated that, “education for sustainability must seek outcomes that involve not only knowledge and skills but also the values that underpin sustainable behaviour by businesses, government and socieety,” (Shephard). This minset is on par with the required coursework emcompassed in Xavier’s Enviornmental Studies minor program.
Triple Bottom Line Over the Past 30 years many steps have been taken to further understand, and develop our sustainability and the impact it has on us, our communities, economy, social lives and future. As our understanding and knowledge continues to grow, we continue to see just how important and closely tied our environment is to us. There have been policies made by governments all around the world in order to achieve a sustainable living style, as well as many smaller organizations in comparison to larger meetings by world governments to come up with ideas such as the Kyoto protocol. One such concept that has arisen is the “Triple Bottom Line” which is considered an accounting frame work that takes into consideration Social,
3- The Coast is Not Clear The marine environmentalist who heads NOAA, says that the Gulf 's water and the coast have been experiencing a progression of changes affirm the year that have dynamically bargained the heath of more of the framework. Hotter bay water is helpful for spread of insatiable lionfish, a run of the mill pacific fish with harmful talked that dislodge local species and the similarly forceful Chinese tallow tree, which has contaminated inlet bogs. Ecological science gave the suppositions to more genuine and perils that are proceeds with loss of wetland, the effect of worldwide atmospheres and the Gulf 's adjusting with manure that streams down the Mississippi River from Midwestern homesteads. As per Larry McKinney, chief of the Harte exploration organization at the bay front Corpus Christi grounds of Texas University, The spill in minor think about of those risks.
What is sustainability? There is a Native American proverb which says: ‘When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money’. Defining sustainability is a challenge itself, achieving it is even more arduous but