Demystifying Sustainability

Author: Haydn Washington
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317606698
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Book Description
What is sustainability? Much has been said about the terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ over the last few decades, but they have become buried under academic jargon. This book is one of the first that aims to demystify sustainability so that the layperson can understand the key issues, questions and values involved. Accessible and engaging, the book examines the ‘old’ sustainability of the past and looks to the future, considering how economic, ecological and social sustainability should be defined if we are to solve the entwined environmental, economic and social crises. It considers if meaningful sustainability is the same as a ‘sustainable development’ based on endless growth, examining the difficult but central issues of overpopulation and overconsumption that drive unsustainability. The book also explores the central role played by society’s worldview and ethics, along with humanity’s most dangerous characteristic – denial. Finally, it looks to the future, discussing the ‘appropriate’ technology needed for sustainability, and suggesting nine key solutions. This book provides a much-needed comprehensive discussion of what sustainability means for students, policy makers and all those interested in a sustainable future.

Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability

Author: Phoebe Godfrey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317570170
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
It must be acknowledged that any solutions to anthropogenic Global Climate Change (GCC) are interdependent and ultimately inseparable from both its causes and consequences. As a result, limited analyses must be abandoned in favour of intersectional theories and practices. Emergent Possibilities for Global Sustainability is an interdisciplinary collection which addresses global climate change and sustainability by engaging with the issues of race, gender, and class through an intersectional lens. The book challenges readers to foster new theoretical and practical linkages and to think beyond the traditional, and oftentimes reductionist, environmental science frame by examining issues within their turbulent political, cultural and personal landscapes. Through a variety of media and writing styles, this collection is unique in its presentation of a complex and integrated analysis of global climate change and its implications. Its companion book, Systemic Crises of Global Climate Change, addresses the social and ecological urgency surrounding climate change and the need to use intersectionality in both theory and practice. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and both undergraduate and post-graduate students in the areas of Environmental Studies, Climate Change, Gender Studies and International studies as well as those seeking a more intersectional analysis of GCC.

An Introduction to Sustainability

Author: Martin Mulligan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315519437
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 440

Book Description
An Introduction to Sustainability provides students with a comprehensive overview of the key concepts and ideas which are encompassed within the growing field of sustainability. The fully updated second edition, including new figures and images, teases out the diverse but intersecting domains of sustainability and emphasises strategies for action. Aimed at those studying the subject for the first time, it is unique in giving students from different disciplinary backgrounds a coherent framework and set of core principles for applying broad sustainability principles within their own personal and professional lives. These include: working to improve equality within and across generations; moving from consumerism to quality of life goals; and respecting diversity in both nature and culture. Areas of emerging importance such as the economics of prosperity and wellbeing stand alongside core topics including: · Energy and society · Consumption and consumerism · Risk and resilience · Waste, water and land. Key challenges and applications are explored through international case studies, and each chapter includes a thematic essay drawing on diverse literature to provide an integrated introduction to fundamental issues. Housed on the Routledge Sustainability Hub, the book’s companion website contains a range of features to engage students with the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability. Together these resources provide a wealth of material for learning, teaching and researching the topic of sustainability. This textbook is an essential companion to any sustainability course.

Smart Futures, Challenges of Urbanisation, and Social Sustainability

Author: Mohammad Dastbaz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319745492
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
This book tackles the challenges posed by accelerating urbanization, and demystifies Social Sustainability, the least understood of all the different areas of sustainable development. The volume’s twin focus on these profoundly intertwined topics creates a nuanced and vitally important resource. Large migrations from rural areas to cities without appropriate planning and infrastructure improvements, including housing, education and health care optimization, have created significant challenges across the globe. The authors suggest technology-rich strategies to meet these challenges by careful application of data on population growth and movement to the planning, design, and construction of operational infrastructures that can sustainably support our increasingly rapid population growth.

Rethinking Sustainability in Facilities and Workplace Management

Author: Frans Melissen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000643425
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Book Description
This book discusses sustainability within the facility management industry. However, it is not another anthology of so-called best practices and the seemingly endless range of certification schemes. It is also not a (marketing) guide on how to communicate high-pitched sustainability ambitions to potential customers to increase (short-term) market share. Instead, this book is based on the realisation that most facility management businesses and departments actually find it hard to truly integrate sustainability into their strategies, tactics and day-to-day operations in a coherent way. It is also based on the reference point that sustainable development cannot be realised only through technological advancements and new procedures; it requires new behavioural patterns of people. Not only of your own employees, as a supplier or department, but also of those for whom you design, stage and manage optimal workplace experiences. Those patterns will not emerge from nowhere but need to be purposely created and cultivated, based on a thorough understanding of what people and organisations need, want and desire. Through reviewing specific barriers and opportunities related to practical situations and examples at all three levels of facility management – the operational, tactical and strategic level – and supported by the latest theoretical insights, this book provides students and practitioners with inspiration and suggestions for using sustainability as a guideline for improving workplace experience concepts and FM strategies, services and processes. Each chapter uses specific cases and examples as the starting point for reflecting on avenues to move from treating sustainability as an add-on to using it as a powerful concept to create optimal workplace experiences. In doing so, these reflections provide lecturers, students and current and future professionals with practical guidelines and pointers to take sustainability within the facility management industry to a much-needed next level.

Improving Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry

Author: Frans Melissen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351675079
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Book Description
Over the past few years the hospitality industry has become a lot more sustainable than it used to be. However, the industry’s contribution to the sustainable development of our societies is still significantly smaller than it could be. This book specifically addresses the links between operations, tactics and strategy from a sustainable development perspective and moves beyond describing what is to reflect on what could be or even what should be, thus providing students with a concise guide for improving sustainability concepts and businesses in the hospitality industry. Each chapter uses specific cases and examples to reflect on different ways in which sustainability principles can be used for revisiting the host–guest relationship and improving the industry’s business processes and models. In doing so, the book provides current and future professionals with guidelines, inspiration and a call for action to take sustainability within the hospitality industry to the next level, based on inclusiveness, equality and a sustainable relationship with our natural environment.

Sustaining our Environment for Better Future

Author: Abdelnaser Omran
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 981137158X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
This book covers a variety of topics regarding environmental practices in our day-to-day lives, as well as topics concerning sustainable development as a broader concept embracing ecological, social, and economic aspects to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Starting with the traditional controversy between the neoclassical economy and sustainable economy, which may be overcome by scientific progress due to more intensive scientific studies of the sustainability paradigm, the book proceeds to discuss various problems and challenges regarding environmental protection and sustainable development in different countries and on different continents. This includes analyses of recent, sometimes fatal mining disasters in South and North America, challenges and opportunities for rural development in Africa and Australia, an exploration of the role of women for sustainable development in Palestine, water safety and water security issues in Asia and Australia, the environmental exploitation of popular tourism destinations like Acapulco, and deforestation in Malaysia, suggesting innovative approaches to turn challenges into opportunities to effectively tackle these problems. Other topics addressed involve sustainable energy creation for future generations, a research survey among Romanian students on sustainable consumption behavior, validity testing for a heat transfer model in a greenhouse, and a case study on sustainability risk management practices at Malaysia’s environmentally sensitive companies. The book closes with an examination of highly digitalized Smart Cities as a potentially valuable complement to conventional urban and rural lifestyles in connection with achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

What Can I Do to Help Heal the Environmental Crisis?

Author: Haydn Washington
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000708667
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
The culmination of over three decades of writing by environmental scientist and writer Haydn Washington, this book examines the global environmental crisis and its solutions. Many of us know that something is wrong with our world, that it is wounded. At the same time, we often don’t know why things have gone wrong – or what can be done. Framing the discussion around three central predicaments – the ecological, the social, and the economic – Washington provides background as to why each of these are in crisis and presents steps that individuals can personally take to heal the world. Urging the reader to accept the reality of our problems, he explores practical solutions for change such as the transition to renewable energy, rejection of climate denial and the championing of appropriate technology, as well as a readjustment in ethical approaches. The book also contains 19 ‘solution boxes’ by distinguished environmental scholars. With a focus on positive, personal solutions, this book is an essential read for students and scholars of environmental science and environmental philosophy, and for all those keen to heal the world and contribute towards a sustainable future.

Sustainable Finance in Europe

Author: Danny Busch
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031536967
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 732

Book Description

Socio-Political Risk Management

Author: Kurt J. Engemann
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110731215
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
The objective of the multi-volume book Developments in Managing and Exploiting Risk is to offer a balanced view to enable the reader to better appreciate risk as a counterpart to reward, and to understand how to holistically manage both elements of this duality. Crises can challenge any organization, and with a seemingly endless stream of disruptive and even catastrophic events taking place, there is an increasing emphasis on preparing for the worst. However, being focused on the negative aspects of risk, without giving consideration to the positive attributes, may be shortsighted. Playing it safe may not always be the best policy, because great benefits may be missed. Analyzing risk is difficult, in part because it often entails events that have never occurred. Organizations, being mindful of undesirable potential events, are often keenly averse to risk to the detriment of capitalizing on its potential opportunities. Risk is usually perceived as a negative or downside but a commensurate weight should also be given to the potential rewards or upside, when evaluating new ventures. Even so, too much of a good thing may create unintended consequences of positive risk, which is also an undesirable situation. Developments in Managing and Exploiting Risk provides a professional and scholarly venue in the critical field of risk in business with particular emphasis on decision-making using a comprehensive and inclusive approach.