Sustainability organizations

Sustainability organizations seek to implement sustainability strategies which provide them with economic and cultural benefits attained through environmental responsibility. Recently, the natural environment has become a key strategic issue in both the business and academic communities. Through "implementing sustainability strategies, firms can integrate long-run profitability with their efforts to protect the ecosystem, providing them with opportunities to achieve the traditional competitive advantages of & cost leadership and market differentiation via environmental responsibility".[1] Sustainability strategies have been persistently employed in a number of organizations.

Definition

A sustainable system generally can be defined in environmental terminology as "a living system which operates in a way that it does not use up resources more quickly than they can be naturally replenished; a sustainable economic system operates in a way so that expenditures are either equal or less than the income." Sustainable social systems maintain that all members are allowed to contribute, thereby synthesizing the final product. [2]

Corporate sustainability

Corporate Sustainability refers to "a company’s activities, voluntary by definition, demonstrating the inclusion of social and environmental concerns in business operations and in interactions with stakeholders".[3] Each individual organization should choose its own particular goals and approaches as they pertain to corporate sustainability, matching the organization’s aims and intentions and aligning with the organization’s strategy, as an appropriate response to the conditions in which it functions.

Motives for organizations implementing sustainability strategies

Ecological motives

Economic motives

Legal and regulatory pressures

List of sustainability organizations by topic

Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture incorporates design and management procedures that coincide with natural processes in order to conserve all resources and minimize waste production and damage to natural systems, while preserving or improving farm profitability. Sustainable agriculture systems are "designed to take the greatest advantage of current soil nutrient and water cycles, energy flows, beneficial soil organisms, and natural pest controls. These systems also seek to produce food that is nutritious yet uncontaminated with products such as synthetically compound fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. Sustainable agriculture systems often depend on crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, appropriate mechanical cultivation or minimal tillage to optimize soil biological and natural pest control activity in order to maintain soil fertility and crop productivity."[4] Also, resistant species varieties, and biological and cultural controls are implemented to control pests, weeds and diseases. [5] Sustainable agriculture organizations aim to educate and encourage farmers to implement sustainable agriculture practices into their productions. Many sponsor research and education outreach projects.

Agricultural sustainability organizations:

Building

"By using more efficient building methods and materials, it is estimated that we could reduce the energy, resource consumption and / or waste production by 50-60% without decreasing value, aesthetics or function."[11] Taking the Earth's finite resources into consideration, along with acknowledging that manufactured products, including all building materials, affect the Earth’s resources, it is becoming very important to make sensible decisions regarding the use of these limited resources to preserve our natural environment along with human civilization. Increased use of resource efficient construction materials and methods will help to induce more sustainable practices throughout the building and construction industry. [12][13]

Green building organizations:

Business

Sustainable business organizations participate in environmentally friendly or green practices in order to make certain that all processes, products, and manufacturing activities sufficiently address current environmental concerns while still retaining a profit.[19][20] Concurrently, it is a business that “meets the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.[21][22] It is the method of evaluating how to design products that will correspond to current environmental conditions and how well a company’s products perform with renewable resources.[23] There are many organizations and networks currently interacting with businesses in order to integrate sustainability into their central goals and contribute to the environmentally and socially responsible business movement.[24]

Sustainable business organizations:

Communities

Sustainable community organizations often encourage and cultivate collaborative community projects and education programs that improve connections between businesses, institutions and the public with their communities, the natural environment, and each other. For example, the Sustainable Community Initiatives organization:

Sustainable community organizations:

Economy

Despite the fact that some places may be similar in economic terms, the characteristics of a sustainable business model vary from community to community.[51] Many organizations aim to assist communities in developing economic opportunities for all citizens. Some programs exist that "assist individuals in obtaining employment, that create jobs and that help individuals become economically self-sufficient." [52]

Economic sustainability organizations:

Environment/energy

Environmental sustainability is the "long-term maintenance of ecosystem components and functions for future generations." In addition, environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as unspoiled as naturally possible. It maintains that the Earth’s resources must not be depleted faster than they can naturally be replenished. Depletion of our finite resources inevitably tries the ability of human civilizations to persist.[54]

Environmental sustainability organizations:

Law and policy

"Regulations, incentives and policies affecting sustainable agriculture are rooted in environmental legislation and laws on the international, Federal, state and local level." [58]

Law and policy sustainability organizations:

News

News sustainability organizations:

Non-profit

Nonprofit organizations "play a part in society through their social value creation." [62] Many nonprofit organizations have adopted an organizational sustainability focus in both strategic and operational levels of management. Present nonprofit organizations have been required to adopt strategies aimed at establishing viable, sustainable organizations so that they can maintain to pursue their social mission. [63]

Non-profit sustainability organizations:

Population concern

Population concern organizations aim to reduce the ecological footprint of the human species by encouraging and promoting ethical policies and practices that will result in lower levels of population.

Notable population concern organizations include Population Connection and Population Matters.

Schools

Organizations that offer global education resources, products, and services. Many educational organizations offer their own global education programs in the area of environmental sustainability, or resources for the development of sustainability programs.[67]

Specialist sustainability schools:

Networking

Many organizations provide an outlet for expanding and cultivating social networks in order to attain the most beneficial responses for various goals among sustainability stakeholders.[68] In other words, "many sustainability networking organizations are a catalyst in bringing about systemic change by giving decision makers a shared, science-based understanding of sustainability and a unifying framework for developing a sustainable society."[69]

Sustainability networking organizations:

See also

External links

References

  1. Stead, W.E. & J.G. Stead (1995)"An Empirical Investigation of Sustainability Strategy Implementation in Industrial Organizations." Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Supplement 1, pp. 43-66
  2. "Green Building Pages" accessed 18 November 2010.
  3. van Marrewijk, M. and M. Werre (2003) "Multiple Levels of Corporate Sustainability." Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 44, no. 2/3, Corporate Conference 2002: The Impact of CSR on Management Disciplines (May, 2003), pp. 107-119
  4. Rod Macrae, , "Ecological Agriculture Projects", 1990
  5. Rod Macrae, , "Ecological Agriculture Projects", 1990
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  8. http://inthesetimes.com/rural-america/entry/17997/the-land-institute-sows-a-revolutionary-grass-in-kansas
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  20. Anderson, D. R. (2006). "The critical importance of sustainability risk management." Risk Management. Vol. 53, no. 4.
  21. ”United Nations General Assembly (1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Transmitted to the General Assembly as an Annex to document A/42/427 - Development and International Co-operation: Environment. Retrieved on: 2009-02-15.
  22. Anderson, D. R. (2006). "The critical importance of sustainability risk management." Risk Management. Vol. 53, no. 4.
  23. Rennie, E. (2008). "Growing Green, Boosting the bottom line with sustainable business practices." APICS Magazine. Vol. 18, no. 2.
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  25. "Business and Industry Resource Venture". Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  26. "Business for Social Responsibility".
  27. "Center for a Sustainable Economy".
  28. "CERES". Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  29. "Cool Companies". Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  30. "Future 500". Retrieved 4 July 2014.
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  33. "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS)". Retrieved 4 July 2014.
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  41. “Sustainable Community Initiatives,” accessed 18 November 2010.
  42. “Sustainable Community Initiatives,” accessed 18 November 2010.
  43. "A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity (AWISH)".
  44. "Fostering Sustainable Behavior".
  45. "Partnership for Sustainable Communities".
  46. "Sacramento Area Sustainable Business Program".
  47. "Smart Communities Network".
  48. "Sustainable Communities Network".
  49. "Sustainable Connections".
  50. "Sustainable Architecture Buildings and Culture".
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  53. “Green Glossary,” accessed 18 November 2010. [www.throughthewoods.us/gogreen_glossary.html]
  54. "Climate Solutions".
  55. "Renewable Energy Policy Project".
  56. "Zero Waste Alliance".
  57. “Environmental Laws and Policies,” accessed 18 November 2010.
  58. "Ecosnoop".
  59. "World Changing".
  60. "TriplePundit".
  61. Weerawardena, J., McDonald, R.E., Sullivan Mort, G. 2010. “Sustainability of Nonprofit Organizations: An Empirical Investigation.” Journal of World Business Vol. 45: 346—356.
  62. Weerawardena, J., McDonald, R.E., Sullivan Mort, G. 2010. “Sustainability of Nonprofit Organizations: An Empirical Investigation.” Journal of World Business Vol. 45: 346—356.
  63. "Cielito Lindo Ranch".
  64. "Shajar Dost Foundation".
  65. "Sustainability International | Solving 20th Century Problems, with 21st Century Solutions.". www.sustainability-international.org. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
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  67. “Social Networking,” accessed 18 November 2010.
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