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Advances in Bioenergy
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The increasing deployment of bioenergy frequently raises issues regarding the use of land and raw materials, infrastructure and logistics. In light of these sometimes conflicting interests Advances in Bioenergy provides an objective and wide-ranging overview of the technology, economics and policy of bioenergy. Offering an authoritative multidisciplinary summary of the opportunities and challenges associated with bioenergy utilization, with international researchers give up-to-date and detailed information on key issues for biomass production and conversion to energy. Key features: *Discusses different bioenergy uses such as transportation fuels, electricity and heat production. *Assesses emerging fields such as bio-based chemicals and bio-refineries. *Debates conditions for the mobilization of sustainable bioenergy supply chains and outlines governance systems to support this mobilization. * Dedicated chapters to sustainability governance and emerging tools such as certification systems and standards supporting growth of a sustainable bioenergy industry. *Considers the political, environmental, social and cultural context related to the demand for energy resources, the impact of this demand on the world around us, and the choices and behaviours of consumers. This book will be a vital reference to engineers, researchers and students that need an accessible overview of the bioenergy area. It will also be of high value for politicians, policymakers and industry leaders that need to stay up to date with the state-of-the-art science and technology in this area.
Change Management for Sustainability
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Change management is a challenging and continuous processthat requires a particular skill set for both leaders andmanagers. It is essentialfor leaders and change agents tounderstand and address the five most important questions: Why? What? Who? How? When?Inside, youOCOll learn the concept of change management, its impact on the companyOCOs business performance andsustainability, and the relevant issues associated with it.The author highlights the importanceof sustainable development, including economic, environmental, and socialelements and introduces different types of changes includingplanned, unplanned, incremental/marginal, transitional, and transformational ones.Various models of planned and unplanned changes arefeatured, including leaders as change agents; the conceptof resistance, reasons, sources, and forms of resistance tochange; definitions of values, attitudes, personalities, andperceptions of individuals; and how these determinantsaffect individualsOCO behaviors, attitudes, and responsestoward organizational change. Several organizationalexamples are provided throughout the book to illustratehow high-performance organizations grow their business."
Constructing Green
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Experts consider green construction and the social, institutional, and cultural changes associated with it, through a sociological and organizational lens. Buildings are the nation's greatest energy consumers. Forty percent of all our energy is used for heating, cooling, lighting, and powering machines and devices in buildings. And despite decades of investment in green construction technologies, residential and commercial buildings remain stubbornly energy inefficient. This book looks beyond the technological and material aspects of green construction to examine the cultural, social, and organizational shifts that sustainable building requires, examining the fundamental challenge to centuries-long traditions in design and construction that green building represents. The contributors consider the changes associated with green building through a sociological and organizational lens. They discuss shifts in professional expertise created by new social concerns about green building, including evolving boundaries of professional jurisdictions; changing industry strategies and structures, including the roles of ownership, supply firms, and market niches; new operational, organizational, and cultural arrangements, including the mainstreaming of environmental concerns; narratives and frames that influence the perception of green building; and future directions for the theory and practice of sustainable construction. The essays offer uniquely multidisciplinary insights into the transformative potential of green building and the obstacles that must be overcome to make it the norm. Contributors Lauren Barhydt, Clayton Bartczak, Lyn Bartram, Olivier Berthod, Nicole Woolsey Biggart, Lenora Bohren, Bertien Broekhans, William Browning, Zinta S. Byrne, Michael Conger, Jennifer E. Cross, David Deal, Beth M. Duckles, Brian Dunbar, Robert Eccles, Amy Edmondson, Bill Franzen, Ronald Fry, Rebecca L. Henn, Jock Herron, Stephen Hockley, Andrew J. Hoffman, Kathryn B. Janda, Nitin Joglekar, Gavin Killip, Alison G. Kwok, Larissa Larsen, Michelle A. Meyer, Christine Mondor, Monica Ponce de Leon, Nicholas B. Rajkovich, Stuart Reeve, Johnny Rodgers, Garima Sharma, Geoffrey Thün, Ellen van Bueren, Kathy Velikov, Rohit Verma, Robert Woodbury, Jeffrey G. York, Jie Zhang
Developing Economies
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This book examines the innovation, investment and sustainability of developing economies across the globe. Topics discussed herein include black money and corruption in India; the growth of information technology (IT) and knowledge-intensive services (KIS) in developing countries; the IFAC compliance program in a less developed economy; Hong Kong's economic integration with China via FDI; rural and urban wage subsidies as policies for reducing urban unemployment, decreasing pollution and improving welfare in a dual developing economy; and the relationship between political freedoms and foreign direct investment.
Eco-Business
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Two experts explain the consequences for the planet when corporations use sustainability as a business tool. McDonald's promises to use only beef, coffee, fish, chicken, and cooking oil obtained from sustainable sources. Coca-Cola promises to achieve water neutrality. Unilever seeks to achieve 100 percent sustainable agricultural sourcing by 2020. Walmart has pledged to become carbon neutral. Big-brand companies seem to be making commitments that go beyond the usual "greenwashing" efforts undertaken largely for public-relations purposes. In Eco-Business, Peter Dauvergne and Jane Lister examine this new corporate embrace of sustainability, its actual accomplishments, and the consequences for the environment. For many leading-brand companies, these corporate sustainability efforts go deep, reorienting central operations and extending through global supply chains. Yet, as Dauvergne and Lister point out, these companies are doing this not for the good of the planet but for their own profits and market share in a volatile, globalized economy. They are using sustainability as a business tool. Dauvergne and Lister show that the eco-efficiencies achieved by big-brand companies limit the potential for finding deeper solutions to pressing environmental problems and reinforce runaway consumption. Eco-business promotes the sustainability of big business, not the sustainability of life on Earth.
Ecological Economics
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Outlines an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding and management of the ecology and sustainable economics on local, regional and global scales. The topics discussed include the modelling of ecological economics systems and the institutional changes required.
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability
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This book addresses the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability (EIS), presenting high-quality research illuminating the relationship between the three fields. The EIS nexus is particularly relevant from a European point of view given the focus of the European Commission on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability, as well as their prominent role within the European Union in general. Also, the rapid economic growth witnessed especially in the BRIC countries in recent years requires that firms reconcile sustainability aspects with profitability and innovation, and entrepreneurs are seen as key diffusers of these aims. Sustainability requires both radical and incremental innovation at many different levels (technology, product, process, system). In many cases, such innovations come from small and medium-sized enterprises and so the role of the entrepreneur is key to their success. The book is split into six sections. The first section examines the nexus in detail focusing on system-oriented connectivity between sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship. The second section looks at how to nurture corporate entrepreneurship for sustainability; and the third considers "mature" industries such as automotives, chemicals and electronics and how sustainability aspects can be integrated into innovation process and strategy. The fourth section examines the nexus through the lens of developing countries in Africa. Sustainable entrepreneurship is identified as a hugely beneficial way to foster development. The fifth section of the book concentrates on SMEs; and finally the EIS nexus is approached from a network perspective and focuses on inter-organisational partnerships, which are often an important facilitator or spark for EIS initiatives.This book will prove to be essential for researchers in the EIS nexus and be of invaluable help to practitioners, governments and inter-governmental bodies attempting to encourage sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation.
Environmental Economics and Sustainability
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Environmental Economics and Sustainability presents a collection of peer-reviewed research articles contributed by international experts that reveal the current state of our knowledge in the field of environmental economics. Presents the latest research results on a plethora of issues relating to environmental economics and sustainability Features original contributions from top experts in the field from around the world Addresses several of the contemporary challenges of sustainability while infusing new energy into the field of environmental economics Covers myriad topics relating to environmental economics and sustainability including climate change, air pollution, CO2 emissions, recycling, and the international environmental agreement
Finance and Sustainability
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The recent global financial crisis has indicated that the conventional dominant paradigm in finance is unable to cope with the problems of financial systems, markets, and behaviour of financial institutions, and failed to understand the proper role of finance in society and the economic system as a whole. Drawing on the recent movements of corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investing and sustainable development, this volume goes further to examine the ongoing making of financial reality towards social responsibility and sustainability, and aims at a better understanding of finance as a collective construct and endeavour embedded in societal context. Bringing together leading scholarly thinking, this collection opens new avenues of comprehending corporate social responsibility, reveals mechanisms and strategies in shaping the reality of responsible finance, searches alternative approaches towards financial sustainability, and explores new thinking of coping with complex financial choice and financial risks. Moving away from the conventional financial paradigm, this volume demonstrates paradigm shifting in the financial world and provides fresh insights on how we may reshape the financial reality to enable societal betterment and prevent any future financial crisis.
Flourishing
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Flourishing: A Frank Conversation about Sustainability invites you into a conversation between a teacher, John R. Ehrenfeld, and his former student now professor, Andrew J. Hoffman, as they discuss how to create a sustainable world. Unlike virtually all other books about sustainability, this one goes beyond the typical stories that we tell ourselves about repairing the environmental damages of human progress.Through their dialogue and essays that open each section, the authors uncover two core facets of our culture that drive the unsustainable, unsatisfying, and unfair social and economic machines that dominate our lives. First, our collective model of the way the world works cannot cope with the inherent complexity of today's highly connected, high-speed reality. Second, our understanding of human behavior is rooted in this outdated model. Driven by the old guard, sustainability has become little more than a fashionable idea. As a result, both business and government are following the wrong path--at best applying temporary, less unsustainable solutions that will fail to leave future generations in better shape.To shift the pendulum, this book tells a new story, driven by being and caring, as opposed to having and needing, rooted in the beauty of complexity and arguing for the transformative cultural shift that we can make based on our collective wisdom and lived experiences. Then, the authors sketch out the road to a flourishing future, a change in our consumption and a new approach to understanding and acting.There is no middle ground; without a sea change at the most basic level, we will continue to head down a faulty path. Indeed, this book is a clarion call to action. Candid and insightful, it leaves readers with cautious hope.
Fuzzy Measurement of Sustainability
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People from many disciplines talk about sustainable development (SD) without having a concrete definition or idea of what it is. Politicians and decision-makers, biologists and environmentalists, engineers and scientists, philosophers and sociologists often mean different things when they mention SD. To take an extreme example, a neoclassical economist might define SD as continual economic growth without regard to the environmental situation, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, a deep ecologist might define it as the preservation and restoration of the ecosystem, ignoring the effect on the economy completely. It has become clear throughout the last few decades leading up to the time this book was written that our society is facing environmental problems of global magnitude such as species extinction, population explosion, global warming, water shortages, exhaustion of fisheries, and deforestation, among others, which have economic and social repercussions. Many people doubt that the world we shall bequeath to our descendants will be all healthy, supportive, and beautiful as the one we inherited from our parents. The fundamental questions then of the SD discussion are: Can we continue our present course without destroying part or most of our environment and society? And if we have to change course (which is currently the consensus opinion) how we do it? This book addresses one of the most fundamental questions of SD: How do we define and measure in the mathematical sense sustainability? In effect it summarises our research in this field for the last 15 years. The mathematical model which we use to evaluate sustainability serves both as a definition and as a measuring scheme. This is done with the help of fuzzy logic, which is well suited to perform reasoning in fields where concrete mathematical models do not exist and concepts such as sustainability are multifaceted and often subjective. Fuzzy reasoning, in some respects, emulates human thinking and relies on expert opinion and knowledge as well as subjective evaluations. This multistage model is developed step-by-step, in the end providing sustainability assessments of various aspects of a society on a scale from zero to one, such as the environmental or societal situation of a country. All nations of the world for which reliable data exist are then ranked according to their sustainability as measured by the model. A sensitivity analysis reveals the most important components of sustainability for each country. The book is intended for undergraduate students, graduate students, and practitioners working in the field of sustainability. It is based on a course Yannis Phillis has taught at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Technical University of Crete (TUC) at the senior/graduate level. The mathematical knowledge needed to follow the book is minimal and is all contained in the text. Computational guidance is provided for those who would like to write their own model.
IT Sustainability for Business Advantage
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IT Sustainability for Business Advantage speaks to modern managers in all functions as well as to IT professionals. Implementing an effective IT sustainability strategy is essential for organizations pursuing sustainability as a means of business advantage and this book shows how to do it. The critical first step is getting clear about the ends of the IT sustainability program--the mission must be to further the company's sustainability objectives and strategic intents should include: 1) Making IT operations as sustainable as possible; 2) Partnering with other functions to leverage IT in making their business processes more sustainable and to grow the business; and 3) Building a culture of sustainability within the IT organization. The next step is to implement strategies to achieve these ends and the book explores the ways and means of doing this. These include industry best practices on how to apply the processes, techniques, and technologies related to Green IT and IT for Sustainability (ITfS). They also include techniques for change management and building social capital.
Lessons from the Great Recession
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Lessons from the Great Recession: At the Crossroads of Sustainability and Recovery examines global cases of environmental sustainability and economics in the context of nations from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The book discusses the high costs of decisions taken in response to the recent economic crises, which as a result have created a lack of investment in environmental and developmental considerations. This volume analyses the problems faced globally as economies try to build a sustainable future in the aftermath of the 'Great Recession'. The book observes concepts of sustainability in the post-recession and post-bailout world around aspects such as Fiscal / economic / social sustainability; Financial sustainability (sector risks etc.); Environmental sustainability. Chapters scrutinise the relationships between nations and supra state agencies such as the UN, EU, IMF etc. in the context of economic crises.
Linking Industry and Ecology
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The contributors to this volume draw on their experience in a varietyof disciplinesnbsp;to explore the origins, promise, and relevance ofthe emerging field of industrial ecology. They situate industrialecology within the broader range of environmental management strategiesand concepts, from the practices of pollution prevention through lifecycle management, to the more fundamental shift towarddematerialization and ecological design. Their work not only affirmswhat has been learned to date in this nascent field but also providesnew insight by demonstrating that technologies are socially andpolitically embedded. This book makes a compelling argument for theneed to think ecologically to develop innovative and competitiveindustrial policy.
Markets, Business and Sustainability
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Many studies on environmental and business sustainability have been conducted over the last couple of decades. These studies demonstrate that the concept of sustainability management can be applied to several industries. Consumers around the globe are inc
No Waste
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Sustainability is a critical issue for the construction industry. In the short term, sustainability is often seen as a 'must do' item. In the longer term, all contractors will be seeing it as a source of competitive advantage. Public sector construction, infrastructure and other large projects such as the Thames Gateway and the Olympics in 2012 are all being driven down this route by pressure from Government. Uly Ma's No Waste is an extremely practical guide to managing sustainability in construction that draws on input from all the related stakeholders: the construction industry itself, the clients, designers and architects and the trades. The book explores how the industry can transform itself from business as before to business as it should be, from the micro level of good site practices to setting the right policies that drives a company onwards. The text covers the management of sustainability and the accompanying CD ROM includes a wealth of material such as tool kits, templates and activities that can be shared throughout the organisation and used for team meetings, communication and training.
Sustainability: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives
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"The concept of sustainability is inherently multi-disciplinary because it concerns a complex system having economic, technological, ecological, political, and other perspectives. Consequently, any effort in the area of sustainability involves concepts, pr"
Sustainability Economics
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The book is a concise introduction to an emerging field within economics. Drawing on numerous disciplines, including environmental science, environmental and ecological economics and optimal growth theory, sustainability remains a hazy and complex subject. The author set out with two objectives: one, to bring some order into the proliferating measures, models and management of sustainability; and two, to facilitate access to a complex inter-disciplinary subject area. The book points to practical ways of assessing and enhancing the long-term environmental and economic sustainability of our economies. The result is a fully international study that should bridge the gap between disciplines and prove to be an essential guide to anyone interested in one of the most important concepts in the social sciences.
Sustainability in Project Management
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The concept of sustainability has grown in recognition and importance. The pressure on companies to broaden their reporting and accountability from economic performance for shareholders, to sustainability performance for all stakeholders is leading to a change of mindset in consumer behaviour and corporate policies. How can we develop prosperity without compromising the life and needs of future generations? Sustainability in Project Management explores and identifies the questions surrounding the integration of the concepts of sustainability in projects and project management and provides valuable guidance and insights. Sustainability relates to multiple perspectives, economical, environmental and social, but also to responsibility and accountability and values in terms of ethics, fairness and equality. The authors will inspire project managers to be aware of these considerations, and to apply them to the role they play in projects, not just 'doing things right' but 'doing the right things right'.
Sustainability Policy
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A complete guide to sustainability policy at the federal, state, and local levels Sustainability Policy: Hastening the Transition to a Cleaner Economy is a fundamental guide for public sector professionals new to sustainability policy development, implementation, strategy, and practice. Featuring detailed cases highlighting innovative sustainability initiatives, this book explores the elements that constitute effective policy, and the factors that can help or hinder implementation and adoption. Readers gain insight into policies in effect at the federal, state, and local levels, in the areas of water, energy, material use, and waste management, and the reasons why local policies are often the most innovative and successful. Discussion surrounding monitoring and measurement addresses the lack of standardization, as well as the government's critical role in leading the field toward generally accepted sustainability metrics, while outlining the reasons why certain policies are more feasible than others. This book is an introductory resource, written in non-technical language, and organized in a coherent manner that establishes foundational knowledge before introducing more complex issues. Even readers with little background in sustainability will gain insight into the current state of the field and the issues at hand. Understand sustainability in public and private enterprises, including the role of government and public policy Learn the current standing federal, state, and local policies surrounding sustainability Discover what makes an effective sustainability policy, including measurement and evaluation metrics Explore the politics and future of sustainability, and the barriers to change Sustainability is a hot topic in both the public and private sector, with vocal advocates on both sides of every issue, so developing effective policy is crucial. For public sector professionals entering the sustainability field, Introduction to Sustainability Policy & Management is a valuable resource.
System Innovation for Sustainability 1
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Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) was adopted as a priority area during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and has since become one of the main vehicles for targeting international sustainability policy. Sustainable consumption focuses on formulating equitable strategies that foster the highest quality of life, the efficient use of natural resources, and the effective satisfaction of human needs while simultaneously promoting equitable social development, economic competitiveness, and technological innovation. But this is a complex topic and, as the challenges of sustainability grow larger, there is a need to re-imagine how SCP policies can be formulated, governed and implemented. The EU-funded project "Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges" (SCORE!) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE! philosophy is that innovation in SCP policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can profitably make the products and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix. System Innovation for Sustainability 1 is the first result of a unique positive confrontation between experts from all four communities. It examines what SCP is and what it could be, provides a state-of-the-art review on the governance of change in SCP policy and looks at the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. The SCORE! experts are working with actors in industry, consumer groups and eco-labelling organisations in the key consumption areas of mobility, food and agriculture, and energy use and housing - responsible for 70% of the life-cycle environmental impacts of Western societies - with the aim of stimulating, fostering or forcing change to SCP theory in practice. The System Innovation for Sustainability series will continue with three further volumes of comprehensive case studies in each of these three critical consumption areas. Each chapter of this book examines problems and suggests solutions from a business, design, consumer and system innovation perspective. It primarily examines the differing solutions necessary in the consumer economies of the West, but also comments on the differing needs in rapidly emerging economies such as China, as well as base-of-the-pyramid economies. The System Innovation for Sustainability series is the fruit of the only major international research network on SCP and will set the standard in this field for some years to come. It will be required reading for all involved in the policy debate on sustainable production and consumption from government, business, academia and NGOs for designers, scientists, businesses and system innovators.
The 10 Principles of Food Industry Sustainability
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Although the food industry is beginning to make headway with its sustainability initiatives, substantially more progress is needed in order to feed the world's growing population sustainably. The challenge is that the topic of sustainability can seem overwhelming and there is limited information that is specific to the food industry. Written by an experienced food industry professional with years of experience in sustainability, The 10 Principles of Food Industry Sustainability inspires and informs the progress required to nourish the population, revitalize natural resources, enhance economic development, and close resource loops. The book makes this complex topic approachable and actionable by identifying the most pressing sustainability priorities across the entire food supply chain and showing, with tools and examples, how producers, processors, packers, distributors, marketers and retailers all play a role in advancing improvement. The book begins with an overview of the Principles of sustainability in the food industry: what they are and why they matter. Subsequent chapters focus on each of the Ten Principles in detail: how they relate to the food industry, their global relevance (including their environmental, health, and social impacts), and the best practices to achieve the potential of meaningful and positive progress that the Principles offer. Specific examples from industry are presented in order to provide scalable solutions and bring the concepts to life, along with top resources for further exploration. The Principles, practices, and potential of sustainability in the food industry covered in this book are designed to be motivating and to offer a much-needed and clear way forward towards a sustainable food supply.
The Responsible Business
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"When most people think of corporate responsibility, they are focusing on a business's effect on and relationship to stakeholders. A Responsible Business sees stakeholders as full partners and meaningful instruments for the evolution of healthier communities and more successful businesses." --from the Introduction The Responsible Business offers a new and strategic approach to doing business that holistically integrates responsibility into all aspects of an organization, allowing for returns at every level, business and social. This book goes beyond the often well intentioned but limited attempts at sustainability to present a framework that allows organizations to bring responsibility into everything they do and re-imagine success. From innovation, product development, and production processes to business management, strategic planning, and shareholder development, the author shows how being a Responsible Business is a practical skill that can be applied day-to-day at every level of the business. No longer just the role of a department or the job of CSR professionals, successful responsibility and business efforts start at the business level, are then taken to the corporate level, and are finally applied throughout the organization. The Responsible Business outlines a framework for building a responsibility and consciousness infrastructure that applies a living systems view to the business and inspires all of its stakeholders, including shareholders. Throughout the book, illustrated by examples from technology to manufacturing, large and small, public and private, Sanford demonstrates how to make responsibility integral to all aspects of a business as an engine for innovation, profitability, and purpose. Praise for The Responsible Business "This is a very significant book. It makes it clear that businesses have a single boss with five interrelated aspects. The stories are among the crispest, most evocative case histories I have seen. The book is for any corporate leader trying to do the impossible: create a business that recreates the world." --Art Kleiner, editor-in-chief, strategy + business, and author, The Age of Heretics "Carol Sanford offers us a proven, practical, and systems-based approach that integrates five stakeholder groups into a business system working as an integral whole. Essential reading for leaders wanting a system framework for sustainability and business success!" --Otto Scharmer, MIT Sloan senior lecturer; author, Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges; and coauthor, Presence "The Responsible Business challenges many assumptions corporate leaders, investment advisors, and sustainability experts have long taken for granted. It provides a road map that can help innovative businesses think about how to be truly transformational." --Sam Ford, Fast Company expert blogger and director, Peppercom "The powerful concepts in The Responsible Business have changed the process of sustainable development and how communities truly thrive. Indeed, these proven approaches will be the roadmap to truly achieve the deepest level of living communities." --Bill Reed, founding member of LEED System and coauthor, The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building "Critical for re-imagining the future of business. Rarely a day goes by that I do not call on this way of thinking and looking at the world. It is useful for taking on the big business decisions that so many of us face every day." --Chad Holliday, chairman, Bank of America
The Thinking Executive's Guide to Sustainability
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We live in an increasingly global economy in which the effects of shrunken economies, broadened communication, and widespread meteorological incidents associated with climate change are leaving virtually no one untouched. As a result, a working knowledge of concepts such as the triple bottom line and sustainability, have become mandatory. Systems -thinking is foundational for grasping these concepts and is based on trans-disciplinary theories deriving in part from biology, physics, economics, philosophy, computer science, engineering, geography, and other sciences. Specifically it is the study of systems, including all life forms, climate phenomena, and even in human learning and organizational processes, that regulate themselves through feedback. The media and the public have become savvy to corporate green-washing, and government regulation, already pervasive in Europe, is imminent in the United States. Business practices are a subsystem of human activity, which is itself a subsystem of the biosphere we all depend upon for services, such as clean air and water, sufficient soils to produce food, and moderate weather. Corporate sustainability practices are in the midst of becoming a required aspect of the social license to conduct business, and the use of a systems framework provides a coherent and eminently sensible way to comprehend the structure and logic that underlies this transition. Green business efforts and stakeholder initiatives undertaken by those without the requisite understanding of sustainability and the trends related to it in the world of commerce risk adverse press, activist pressure, regulatory constraint, added expense, reduced revenue, and lowered valuation. This book offers a practical, relevant, and easily grasped overview of sustainability issues and the systems logic that informs them, supported by empirical research and applied to corporate rationales, decision-making, and business processes. Intended for business professionals seeking concise, reliable, and current knowledge and trends, it will support them in leading their organizations' corporate sustainability, social responsibility, and citizenship efforts so they can remain competitive and successful.
The Three Levels of Sustainability
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This book aims to provide the missing link in current debates around sustainability. The role of business, governments, NGOS and multilateral institutions are widely covered and many books discuss their possible actions, strategies and roles. But all of these organizations are made up of individuals. And it is individuals who will need to steer society and organizations toward a more just and equitable world.The book takes a holistic approach to sustainable development. The authors argue that this approach starts and ends with the human being. They believe that the personal dimension of sustainable development has been neglected and that it is clear that sustainable societies cannot be achieved without committed individuals who are convinced of the need to be part of the sustainability project.The authors frame their ideas around the Three Levels of Sustainability (TLS) framework which they argue addresses at least some of the weaknesses inherent in a fragmented approach to sustainability. Their approach encompasses societal, organizational and individual levels; and, by looking through the lens of how sustainability has evolved, provides a roadmap for producing the kind of leaders necessary for sustainable development in all of its dimensions - people, planet and profit. The focus on how the individual can contribute to these three dimensions is unique.To arrive at this multi-level and multi-dimensional framework, the book introduces and analyzes theories from sustainable development, corporate social responsibility and personal leadership and systemically looks for linkages between them that are useful for sustainability.This framework is placed firmly in its historical context. The authors are highly literate about the development and interpretations of sustainability and bring us to their current position via informed discussions on the history of economics, business-and-environment, social development, the corporation and the profit principle, CSR, and measurement and reporting.The book has been designed as both a text for students as well as those already in management and leadership positions in the private, public or non-profit sectors and will also prove invaluable to those wishing to familiarize themselves with sustainability.
Total Quality Management Sustainability
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The meaning of TQM sustainablity. The concept of sustainable development has been touted as a new planningagenda (Beatley and Manning, 1998). As such, it becomes a fundamentalconcept which should be an important aspect of all further policy developments(Loffler, 1998). Sustainable development is based on a perceived need toaddress environmental deterioration and to maintain the vital functions ofnatural systems for the well being of present and future generations.
Tourism Development and the Environment: Beyond Sustainability?
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Tourism Development and the Environment: Beyond Sustainability? challenges the sustainable tourism development paradigm that has come to dominate both theoretical and practical approaches to tourism development over the last two decades. It extends the sustainable tourism debate beyond the arguably managerialist 'blueprint' and destination-focused approach that continues to characterise even the most recent 'sustainability' agenda within tourism development. Reviewing the evolution of the sustainable tourism development concept, its contemporary manifestations in academic literature and policy developments and processes, the author compares its limitations to prevailing political-economic, socio-cultural and environmental contexts. He then proposes alternative approaches to tourism development which, nevertheless, retain environmental sustainability as a prerequisite of tourism development. This book also acts as an introduction to the Earthscan series Tourism, Environment and Development.About the series:'Tourism, Environment and Development' aims to explore, within a variety of contexts, the developmental role of tourism as it relates explicitly to its environmental consequences. Each book will review critically and challenge 'traditional' perspectives on (sustainable) tourism development, exploring new approaches that reflect contemporary economic, socio-cultural and political contexts.
Tourism, Climate Change and Sustainability
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This book addresses many of the key themes that are seen as challenges to achieve sustainability and to mitigate climate change impacts in the near future, in the tourism sector. In particular it focuses on the economic drivers for growth in tourism as they relate to sustainable development, low-carbon travel and climate change impacts. A major feature is the integration of climate change and sustainability challenges, rather than treating them separately or with sustainability as an add-on. The first group of chapters addresses conceptual issues concerning the relationships between sustainability, climate change and tourism. The second section considers regional, national and international responses and initiatives, including those of agencies such as UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and the UK's South West Tourism. The third part provides a range of investigative research, including topics such as air travel and coral reef tourism, and case studies from locations such as southern Africa, Scandinavia and the Pacific islands. Other research dimensions discussed in the book are drawn from Brazil, Hawaii, England, Australia and New Zealand. Overall, the book focuses on some of the most crucial challenges facing tourism in developed and developing countries.
