...Sustainable Development Definition Artem Kurganskiy Schiller International University Abstract The paper talks about the ways of reaching sustainability all over the world and not just looking at particular countries but at the whole planes as one system. Also information on the major challenges that sustainable development is faced are discussed. And the last but not least an example of one already existing agreement on sustainability is discussed. “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The idea of sustainable development is to be able to continue developing while keeping in mind the environment. In order to achieve sustainability globally, countries should not look just at their particular country and the ways to develop sustainability there, but rather think of our planet as one system and try to find solutions to develop it all over the world. Because sustainability problems are interrelated among countries, e.g. pollution from the US can affect the environment in Canada, Mexico. Therefore all the countries should be considering switching to being more “green” in order for the future generations to meet their own needs and also to increase their efficiency nowadays. While looking at the ways of achieving sustainability three factors should be considered: economic, environmental and social. All the three factors should be considered at the same time since they all very interrelated...
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...Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Emerald Article: Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend? Roger L. Burritt, Stefan Schaltegger Article information: To cite this document: Roger L. Burritt, Stefan Schaltegger, (2010),"Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend?", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 23 Iss: 7 pp. 829 - 846 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513571011080144 Downloaded on: 04-11-2012 References: This document contains references to 57 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 12 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 5947 times since 2010. * Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA TERENGGANU For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services...
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...Critically asses the relevance of sustainability as a concept of understanding urban development Introduction Sustainability is the ability to maintain and retain a particular process in an existing system (Pieterse, 2004). The word sustainability has been used since in 1980s. Its application has been mainly on the human sustainability on earth, which has resulted in the term sustainability that forms part of the sustainable development concept. The term sustainable development means a kind of development that satisfies the requirement of the present generation without compromising the capability of the future generation to be able to meet their needs. There are three main sustainable development goals. These goals are also known as the pillars of sustainability. They include environmental protection, social development and economic development. These three pillars of sustainability have served on common grounds for several sustainability standards as well as certification systems in the past and even today. These three pillars can be illustrated in details as follows: 1. Environmental protection: this is the capability of an environment to provide a given environmental quality and also natural resource extraction rate indefinitely. 2. Social development: this is the capability of a social system like a country or an organization to function at a particular level of social well-being and in harmony. 3. Economic development: this is the indefinite capability of an...
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...sustainable development of mankind: a system dynamics perspective B. GIRIDHAR KAMATH, VASANTH VASUDEVA PANDUBETTU KAMATH, LEWLYN L.R RODRIGUES Department of Humanities and Management, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India Email: giridharbk@yahoo.com, kamath.vasanth@manipal.edu, rodrigusr@gmail.com Abstract: Human beings depend on the ecosystems for material and energy sources. Human-ecosystem interaction is closely related with the growing demands placed by people on ecosystems. Human activities have always had an impact on the ecosystem as a whole and over a period of time, this has had an irreversible impact on the ecosystem and the imbalance caused in the ecosystem have started to take its toll on the flora and fauna. The challenge now ahead of mankind is to focus on sustainable development and fight against issues like global warming and delayed rainfalls. Both the renewable and nonrenewable resources are under the threat of depletion. Issues like growing human population, deforestation, acute fuel shortage, and food production crisis drives our attention to sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development is making rounds ever since its inception in 1987. This paper proposes to build a conceptual model that relates social system and ecosystem with social, economic and environmental factors so as to build a System Dynamics model highlighting sustainable development. Keywords: Social Sustainability, Ecological Sustainability, Economic Sustainability, Environmental...
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...Bring Back The Dinosaurs: What Is Involved For Human Sustainability Kevin Lindsey Communication 215 8/7/2013 Nicholas Courtright Definition of sustainability is: to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability for humans is a question they been trying to solve for years, since they don’t want to become extinct. The fear for humans is that they will not be the most powerful and smartest creatures on the planet. There have been some ideas on how they can sustain as humans, but the big question is how they do it without compromising other species or creatures. Humans also need to improve their quality of life while living within the capacity of the Earth’s eco-systems and stabilize the relationship between human culture and the living world. Finally there is the ethical issue of sustaining human life while preserving other species that will balance out the ecosystems. Human sustainability is just as important as the sustainability of all species and every creature plays its part in preserving life and the natural resources. The difficulties with taking on sustainable issues are lack of leadership, economic and efforts to work together. It seems no one wants to take a firm stand and lead the movement to making more drastic measures of sustainability and let new ideas be brought to government to start holding people accountable. If some lawmaker was to take a more proactive stand there are...
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...In this study the multi-dimensional processes of organizational learning and change towards sustainability, the Global Organization Learning and Development Network (GOLDEN) research program will focus on the key functional aspects that characterize the activities of the firm, both line functions and staff functions, thus moving beyond the specialized functions often created to deal with sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues. One of the key conceptual contributions of the proposed program, therefore, consists of the development and testing of new theory and managerial wisdom about the development of new types of dynamic capabilities aimed at the adaptation of strategies, processes and culture to meet sustainability requirements. The key departure from the standard way of analyzing stakeholder engagement in prior research consists in viewing the role of stakeholders as primary facilitators of internal change processes aimed at sustainability, rather than solely as counterparts of externally oriented social development initiatives. At the finer level of detail, GOLDEN intent to tackle the problem of identifying the most effective ways to enact specific change initiatives, given contextual, organizational and individual/group level conditions The case conversation in this issue consists of eight cases that there are some different approaches to sustainability integrity. Ma’ria and Devuyst examine the challenges of prioritizing stakeholder interests in...
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...Business and Sustainability Write an essay on the following topic: Based on your personal definition of sustainability, how committed are organisations to sustainability practices? What changes in corporate strategy and policy are necessary in the journey to sustainable business? Illustrate your answer with examples. Introduction Conducting business in the global economy, enterprises are under more communities’ scrutiny on their operations (Dey & Sircar, 2012). Moreover, sustainability is considered as the focal point of enterprises in creating shareholder value, performing management practices (Epstein, 2008), instrumental to survival in an increased competitive environment (Eweje, 2011), and achieving competitive advantages (Galbreath, 2011). As a result, this issue draws much attention from a broad base of stakeholders, comprising of customers, communities, employees, governments, and shareholders (Hess & Warren, 2008; Eweje, 2011). However, how to employ sustainability has remained a challenge for business leaders (Epstein & Buhovac, 2010). Accordingly, sustainability is commonly executed “more coincidentally than with a clear strategy” (Baumgartner & Ebner, 2010, p. 77). To obtain a deeper understanding of the topic, this essay begins with exploring the definition of sustainability. Followed by which is the investigation of how committed organisations are. Thereafter, the way to incorporate sustainability in companies is examined. Finally...
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...assist with determining how environmental problems occur and also assist with generating solutions to minimize problems from arising. The concept of environmental sustainability surrounds itself with sustainable and unsustainable human interactions dealing with the environment, each of which have affected and also affects natural resources both past and present. Environmental Science Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study that focuses on the manner in which humans interact with the environment. The study also focuses on combining information from many other disciplines to include biology, chemistry, and economics as it is concerned with conditions that may have an effect on the environment and also organisms living within the environment. In addition, environmental science attempts to establish necessary principles that outline and determine how the natural world functions. These principles are used to create practical solutions to issues impacting the environment. Problems concerning the environment are typically very complex hence providing scientific explanations and making scientific evaluations helps make possible recommendations to solve problems or to otherwise make conclusions based on probabilities (Berg, 2007). Science and Technology Principles of science and technology are applied to environmental problems and solutions in a number of ways. Each provides applications in regard to sustainable development issues and can be related for the purpose of...
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...the condition prevails. (We exclude from consideration, in applying this definition, the depletion of available energy from the sun on a time scale of several billion years!) Such a definition may be logically appealing, but it is hardly sufficient for addressing the meaning of sustainability in the context of practical choices about how to maintain or improve the well-being of humans on this planet. What kinds of processes and conditions need to be sustained in the interest of maintaining or improving well-being? What are the sources and dimensions of the main threats to the sustainability of these? What places should be investigated and what should be measured to find out? Can sustainability be made compatible with -- or traded off against -- other desiderata relating to policy choices? (Consider, for example, sustainable development versus rapid development). The proposition that particular human practices would prove unsustainable has cropped up in literature going all the way back to the ancient Greeks and somewhat more frequently and sweepingly in the two hundred years since the work of Malthus, above all in the period since World War II. Only in the past five years, however, has sustainability become a catchword capable of capturing the attention not only of environmental scientists and activists but also of (some) mainstream economists, other social scientists, and policymakers. This enhanced salience presumably resulted from a suite of coincident factors. For one, the...
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...UNESCO EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION I. WHAT IS ‘SUSTAINABILITY’? * BEHIND THE HEADLINES * Population * Poverty * Environmental degradation * Democracy, human rights and peace * Development * Interdependence * NORTH-SOUTH DIFFERENCES * TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABILITY * A dynamic balance * An emerging vision * EDUCATION: THE FORCE OF THE FUTURE II. PUBLIC AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING: THE FUEL FOR CHANGE * THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION * CONFRONTING VESTED INTERESTS * COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES * COMPLEX MESSAGES * THE MESSENGERS * REASON FOR OPTIMISM III. REORIENTING EDUCATION TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABILITY * IMPORTANCE OF BASIC EDUCATION * WHAT CHANGES DOES SUSTAINABILITY REQUIRE? * Curriculum reform * Structural reform * EDUCATIONAL REFORM: A CASE STUDY * REFORM AT DIFFERENT SCALES * CONTRIBUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION * INTERDISCIPLINARITY IV. SHIFTING TO SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES: CHANGING CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION PATTERNS * INDIVIDUAL CHOICES AND LIFESTYLES * COLLECTIVE DECISION-MAKING V. ETHICS, CULTURE AND EQUITY: SUSTAINABILITY AS A MORAL IMPERATIVE * SOME ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY * The ’ethic of time’ * Complexity as an ethical issue * Continuity: the ethical link between past, present, and future * CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY * TOWARDS A COMMON ETHIC * EDUCATION, ETHICS...
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...MIT Portugal Program on Sustainable Energy Systems – Energy, Environment and Sustainability, 2011-2012 1 ENERGY & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Cristina I. F. Andrade FEUP University of Porto Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n 4200-465, Porto, Portugal. Phone: +351225081895, Fax: +351225081503 Summary: In this paper it's done an approach of the different kind of concerns of developing and developed countries to lead to sustainable development. It has a first chapter about the roles for development, after one about sustainable development with an analysis of a triangle of sustainable development and indicators. It‟s also talked the main utilizations of the energy, about the points where we can act and another chapter about energy on households on developing and developed countries. In the end there are presented some proposals and case studies about energy on households. 1. INTRODUCTION Being energy one of the most important cornerstones of the world development, through energy we can determine the development state of each country. Sustainable development would be the greatest goal to achieve on the global world, but we have some setbacks to understand, in one hand we have social concerns to resolve on the developing countries, that need energy supply to develop their economies and provide better lifestyle and on another hand we have environmental problems on developed countries due to the big demand of energy, consequently less clean energy. Due to social behaviors, the inequalities...
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...SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which has ecological, economic, political and cultural dimensions. Sustainability requires the reconciliation of environmental, social equity and economic demands - also referred to as the "three pillars" of sustainability or (the 3 Es). Healthy ecosystems and environments are necessary to the survival and flourishing of humans and other organisms. There are a number of major ways of reducing negative human impact. The first of these is environmental management. This approach is based largely on information gained from earth science, environmental science and conservation biology. The second approach is management of human consumption of resources, which is based largely on information gained from economics. A third more recent approach adds cultural and political concerns into the sustainability matrix. Sustainability interfaces with economics through the social and environmental consequences of economic activity. Sustainability economics involves ecological economics where social aspects including cultural, health-related and monetary/financial aspects are integrated. Moving towards sustainability is also a social challenge that entails international...
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...A brief discussion of the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development as well as the role of sustainability in the relationship Introduction: The origin and development on theory As early as the 17th century, the French term "entreprendre "appeared in economics, which evolved into "entrepreneur" as commonly used (Dees,1998). The concept of entrepreneur keeps on developing and varies with the development of socio-economics. Richard Cantillon published his in 1775 “Essay on the Nature of Trade in General" (Murphy,1986). Since then, entrepreneurship was given a definition in the perspective of behavior, including decision-making, sound judgment, supervision of production, innovation, and resource reallocation (Herron, 1993). The new definition of the "entrepreneur" credited by French economists was put by Jean Baptiste in the 19th century "the entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield". In this time, entrepreneurship was given the meaning of "creating values"(Dees, 1998). In 1911, “entrepreneur as innovator” was put forward by Schumpeter. In his theory, entrepreneurship nearly the same as innovation is thought to be a critical factor in the promotion of economic development. This theory was unceasingly completed by Schumpeter. Through the process of “disruptive innovation” (Schumpeter, 1942), entrepreneurs create economic opportunities and obtain economic benefits by causing...
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...FROM “(R)EVOLUTION” TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT FEATURES AND PERSPECTIVES ABSTRACT This article aims to address the issue of Sustainable Development (SD) in an evolutionary perspective within its multidisciplinary scope. The complexity of developments for sustainability has frequently proven difficult in its implementation, evaluation and effective communication.It was our intention to provide an outline of the diverse views on the subject, focusing on globalization as a change of attitude towards sustainability.It is a review of terminology associated with the SD and its multiple interpretations.It is referenced the apparent and irrelevant impact of initiatives to solve the economic, social and environmental problem. It emphasizes the influence and importance of strategies and the positioning of SMEs on the way to SD in the policy of act local think global. KEYWORDS Strategy Sustainable development Sustainability, SMEs JERÓNIMO, WINSTON CENSE, Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal OLIVEIRA, NUNO GASPAR DE CIGEST, Assistente Instituto Superior de Gestão, Portugal 1. INTRODUCTION “(R)Evolution or Death”, adapted from the revolutionary slogan used and popularized by the Cuban regime, serves as motto for the urgent need to transform our production and consumption systems and our standing towards the environment around us....
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...If we are going to discuss sustainability then it is important that we discuss the use of sustainability in foreign countries. Sustainability is not a concept that is limited to the United States. Truly sustainability is about a better quality of life, which ranges from economic, social and environmental aspects. It is safe to say that sustainability is not just vital in America but any place that is concerned with its societies well being. Sustainability is a concept that has an enormous impact on the world as a whole so it is principle to understand what is being done in different countries concerning this concept. Briefly we will discuss sustainability in foreign countries. First we will discuss China and there advances in sustainability. China is a country that is constantly growing. China is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world. One major area that China has made great strides in is human population. This of course has happen because of china’s one child policy. The one child policy, started in 1979, basically says that every couple can only give birth to one child. Although this is considered a success there are other areas where china lacks. According to Ethan Gothman, The 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), which ranks countries based on such measures as health, governance, technology, and international cooperation, places China 133rd out of 146 countries. The ESI predicts the likelihood that a country will be able to preserve valuable environmental...
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