Sustainability

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences

Kinds of Sustainability

  • corporate sustainability
  • ecological sustainability
  • environmental sustainability
  • financial sustainability
  • fiscal sustainability
  • future sustainability
  • long-term sustainability
  • population sustainability
  • social sustainability

  • Terms modified by Sustainability

  • sustainability challenge
  • sustainability performance
  • sustainability practice
  • sustainability principle
  • sustainability report
  • sustainability reporting

  • Selected Abstracts


    CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY IN BARCELONA'S PUBLIC PARKS,

    GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
    DAVID SAURÍ
    ABSTRACT. In this article we explore the relationships between public parks and a broad interpretation of sustainability, taking as a case study the city of Barcelona, Spain. Recent official discourses in Barcelona insist on sustainability as one of the fundamental assets of public parks. Yet whether these urban artifacts actually contribute to sustainability objectives in environmental and social terms remains to be examined. We compare two public parks in Barcelona-the Parc Joan Miró (1983), and the Parc de Diagonal Mar (2002),and show how, in the former, the integration of the social, political, and environmental dimensions of sustainability was largely achieved, whereas in the latter, only the environmental dimension appears to have been considered. [source]


    LOOKING FORWARD, PUSHING BACK AND PEERING SIDEWAYS: ANALYZING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS

    JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009
    PRATIMA BANSAL
    This paper compares and contrasts two different forms of interorganizational relationships that deal with the production and movement of waste: industrial symbiosis and supply chains. Industrial symbiosis reuses, recycles and reprocesses byproducts and intermediates within the system of organizations, whereas conventional supply chains reduce waste within manufacturing processes and reuse end-of-life products. Although both these models address waste, there is surprisingly little consideration of industrial symbiosis within supply chain research. Yet, industrial symbiosis has much to offer the study of sustainable development within supply chains. Industrial symbiosis emphasizes community, cooperation and coordination among firms, which serves to protect the environmental integrity, social equity and economic prosperity of the region , all hallmarks of sustainable development. However, such tight integration among a diverse set of organizations is difficult to jump start and difficult to maintain. In this paper, we also outline the challenges and offer some ideas on how to address these challenges. We ground our insights from interviews with firms in the Sarnia-Lambton region of Ontario, Canada. This region is home to over 130,000 people, and has a strong physical infrastructure and social structures that have facilitated symbiotic relationships among local businesses. [source]


    WEAK AND STRONG SUSTAINABILITY, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

    NATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 3 2006
    WERNER HEDIGER
    ABSTRACT. To investigate the role of explicit and implicit assumptions in different models of weak and strong sustain-ability, the Solow/Hartwick model of intergenerational equity with nonrenewable resources is gradually extended to include renewable resources, endogenous technical progress, and stock pollution. This reveals the fundamental role of endogenous technical progress for sustainable development, the inconsistency of implicit sustainability assumptions in various models, as well as the existence of a Hartwick rule for Daly's steady-state economy. Moreover, it shows that the concepts of Solow sustainability and strong sustainability coincide as a special case of weak sustainability. The latter integrates economic and environmental concerns and aims at maintaining the welfare potential of an economy over time. It does not rule out economic growth by assumption. Rather, the analysis shows that environmental conservation and economic growth can be compatible with each other, without jeopardizing social welfare. Finally, the analysis shows that the discussion of sustain-ability models cannot be restricted to the explicit differences that are usually pointed out by their authors and commentators. Rather, implicit assumptions must be made explicit. [source]


    "NET INVESTMENT" AND SUSTAINABILITY

    NATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 2 2003
    JOHN M. HARTWICK
    ABSTRACT. We comment on research showing when constant consumption implies zero "net investment." We also report on the use of ,net investment "or" genuine savings "as an indicator of sustainability in abstract economies, with exhaustible resources and inherent nonconstant consumption paths. In particular, the use of the current percentage change in" net investment "is reported on. [source]


    ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF GOVERNMENT BORROWING IN A DYNAMIC GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM

    PACIFIC ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 5 2007
    Article first published online: 1 NOV 200, Atsumasa Kondo
    The limitation level of the government borrowing for which a dynamic equilibrium and the no Ponzi Game condition are compatible with each other is explicitly derived. The critical level depends on the long-run interest rate, primary balance, money supply etc. [source]


    UK DEBT SUSTAINABILITY: SOME NONLINEAR EVIDENCE AND THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS,

    THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 3 2008
    JOHN CONSIDINE
    In this paper we assess whether the UK public finances were sustainable for the period 1919,2001. A robust test of sustainability is presented using a nonlinear representation of the debt,GDP ratio. Empirical evidence supports debt sustainability. Moreover, the exponential smooth transition autoregressive representation is evidence that sustainability is the result of active debt management rather than tax smoothing. The results strongly support the active debt management hypothesis for the UK. [source]


    TOURISM AND INTER-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF SUSTAINABILITY: Tourism in South Omo: Questions of Social Sustainability, Jinka, Ethiopia, 14,17 December 2005

    ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 5 2006
    Kofi Ababio
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    HOW TO CONNECT BIOETHICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: HEALTH, SUSTAINABILITY, AND JUSTICE

    BIOETHICS, Issue 9 2009
    JAMES DWYER
    ABSTRACT In this paper, I explore one way to bring bioethics and environmental ethics closer together. I focus on a question at the interface of health, sustainability, and justice: How well does a society promote health with the use of no more than a just share of environmental capacity? To address this question, I propose and discuss a mode of assessment that combines a measurement of population health, an estimate of environmental sustainability, and an assumption about what constitutes a fair or just share. This mode of assessment provides an estimate of the just and sustainable life expectancy of a population. It could be used to monitor how well a particular society promotes health within just environmental limits. It could also serve as a source of information that stakeholders use when they deliberate about programs, policies, and technologies. The purpose of this work is to focus attention on an ethical task: the need to fashion institutions and forms of life that promote health in ways that recognize the claims of sustainability and justice. [source]


    SUSTAINABILITY IN A MULTIPRODUCT AND MULTIPLE AGENT CONTESTABLE MARKET

    BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2009
    Vincent Iehlé
    C71; L11; L12 ABSTRACT We prove that a natural monopoly can set subsidy free pricing and sustainable pricing schedules in a general economic environment. The setting is a multiproduct and multiple agent contestable market where demands are elastic and where rivals can enter the submarkets composed by a set of the products line and a set of agents. Our results suggest that the existence results of the extant literature admit analogues even in an environment where rivals have enlarged possibilities to enter the market and where demands react to prices. The approach makes use of cooperative games to deduce the main results under conditions of fair sharing cost, a threshold in consumption and regularity of the profit function. [source]


    Biological Sustainability of Live Shearing of Vicuña in Peru

    CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2007
    CATHERINE TERESA SAHLEY
    Andes; conservación basada en comunidades; Vicugna vicugna Abstract:,The vicuña's (Vicugna vicugna) fiber is highly valued as an export product that is made into luxury fabric and clothing. The price of fiber in 2004 was $566/kg, which makes the fiber a potentially important source of income for Andean agropastoral communities and serves as an incentive to allow vicuña grazing on high-elevation Andean landscapes. It is presumed that a shorn vicuña has little value for poachers, so shearing vicuñas could serve as a disincentive to poaching. Thus, the supply of vicuña fiber may be sustainable if it is procured through live shearing, which should serve as a powerful conservation tool. We evaluated the effects of capture and shearing on the demography of vicuña in one site located in the Salinas Aguada Blanca Reserve, Arequipa, Peru, where vicuñas were captured and shorn in spring and then returned to the wild. We conducted fixed-width line-transect censuses from 1997 to 2003 of this population. We compared the proportion of young born to females that were shorn versus females that were unshorn for the 3 years in which shearing occurred. We evaluated the effect of capture and shearing on proportion of young born to shorn and unshorn females at a second site, Picotani, Puno. The wild population in Arequipa that underwent capture and shearing showed a steady increase in total population and average density between 1997 and 2003. No significant difference was found between the proportion of young per female for shorn and unshorn females at either site. We conclude that in spring, capture and live shearing of vicuñas can be biologically sustainable. Further research is needed to determine whether shearing during winter months is biologically sustainable. Resumen:,La fibra de vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) tiene gran valor como un producto de exportación que es transformado en tela y ropa de lujo. El precio de la fibra en 2004 era de $566/kg, lo que hace que la fibra sea una fuente de ingreso potencialmente importante para comunidades agropastoriles Andinas y servir como un incentivo para permitir el pastoreo de vicuñas en paisajes Andinos elevados. Se presume que una vicuña trasquilada tiene poco valor para cazadores furtivos, por lo que el trasquilado de vicuñas pudiera servir como un desincentivo para la caza furtiva. Por lo tanto, el abastecimiento de fibra de vicuña puede ser sustentable si se obtiene del trasquilado de animales vivos, y el trasquilado de animales vivos debería ser una poderosa herramienta de conservación. Evaluamos los efectos de la captura y trasquilado sobre la demografía de vicuñas en un sitio localizado en la Reserva Salinas Aguada Blanca, Arequipa, Perú, donde las vicuñas fueron capturadas y trasquiladas en primavera y liberadas. Realizamos censos de esta población en transectos lineales de ancho fijo de 1997 a 2003. Comparamos la proporción de crías de hembras trasquiladas con las de hembras no trasquiladas durante los 3 años en que ocurrió el trasquilado. Evaluamos el efecto de la captura y trasquilado sobre la proporción de crías de hembras trasquiladas y no trasquiladas en un segundo sitio, Picotani, Puno. La población silvestre en Arequipa que fue capturada y trasquilada mostró un incremento constante en la población total y la densidad promedio entre 1997 y 2003. No se encontró diferencia significativa entre la proporción de crías por hembra para hembras trasquiladas y no trasquiladas en ningún sitio. Concluimos que en la primavera, la captura y trasquilado de vicuñas vivas puede ser biológicamente sostenible. Se requiere más investigación para determinar si el trasquilado durante el invierno es biológicamente sostenible. [source]


    Sustainability as a Bridging Concept

    CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
    ROBERT PAEHLKE
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Conserving Concepts: in Praise of Sustainability

    CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
    CHRISTINE PADOCH
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs: a case study analysis

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
    Cheryl Rodgers
    Abstract Sustainability is oft thought of as the privilege of the large corporate , with sufficient funds to invest in anything from effective green Public Relations (PR) to improving its carbon footprint. What is perhaps less well-understood and documented is the range of activities undertaken by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including very small entrepreneurial start-ups, some of which base their entire business rationale on sustainable principles. This paper uses a case study approach to explore the modus operandi of ecopreneurship and draws on both primary research and secondary data to develop and explore sustainable entrepreneurship in this sector. Preliminary findings suggest that ecopreneurial SMEs are looking to other goals alongside financial ones and are prepared to go to significant lengths to achieve such goals. Monetary measures are not, of course, entirely absent, but are very strongly conditioned by the ecoconscious nature of the business. In short, sustainability imperatives remain paramount. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Organizing for Continuous Innovation: On the Sustainability of Ambidextrous Organizations

    CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2005
    Bart Van Looy
    Organizing for innovation does not present itself as a straightforward exercise. The complexities entailed when implementing an innovation strategy can be related directly to the multitude of objectives it comprises. Recently, several scholars have advanced the notions of semi- or quasi-structures and ambidextrous organizations to handle these multiple requirements. These organizational forms imply the simultaneous presence of different activities, exhibiting differences in technology and market maturation. As a consequence, financial returns will reflect this diversified resource allocation pattern. Moreover, as higher levels of complexity are being introduced; ambidextrous organizations will encounter additional, organizational, costs. Compared to organizations that focus on the most profitable part of the portfolio, ambidextrous organizations , ceteris paribus , tend to be inferior in terms of financial returns. Within this contribution we explore under which conditions ambidextrous organizations can outperform focused firms; considered a prerequisite for their sustainability. In order to do so, we develop an analytical framework depicting the differential value dynamics, focused and ambidextrous firms can enact. Our findings reveal the relevancy of adopting extended time frames as well as introducing interface management practices aimed at cross-fertilization. Finally, the synergetic potential of (underlying) technologies comes to the forefront as necessary in order for ambidextrous organizations to become sustainable. [source]


    Sustainable Development and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: A Dynamic and Sustainable View of the Firm

    CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2002
    Miguel A. Rodriguez
    Does the need for sustainable development hinder businesses' ability to create value? Is a firm's competitiveness negatively affected by considering that need? After quickly reviewing the main literature contributions on the relationship between business and society, and drawing from resource-based view of the firm and sustainable development literature, this paper presents a proposal for a dynamic and sustainable view of the firm. It shows how considering the changes introduced into the competitive landscape by sustainable development influences the way in which companies develop their resources, capabilities and activities, fostering the persistence of competitive advantages based on knowledge and innovation. [source]


    Rigidity Versus Adaptation: Contributions to the Debate on Agricultural Viability and Forest Sustainability in Southern Cameroon

    CULTURE, AGRICULTURE, FOOD & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2003
    Phil René Oyono
    First page of article [source]


    The Prospects for Foreign Debt Sustainability in Post-Completion-Point Countries: Implications of the HIPC-MDRI Framework

    DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2008
    Jacinta Nwachukwu
    The Enhanced HIPC Initiative was launched in 1999 to reduce the Net Present Value (NPV) of foreign debt of the world's poorest countries to a sustainable threshold of 150% of their exports. This article applies a simple growth-with-debt model to 16 post-completion-point HIPCs to assess whether this goal will be met by 2015. Its somewhat optimistic base-case projections suggest that participation in the current Enhanced HIPC-MDRI initiative will only reduce the NPV of their total external debt to 176% of exports by this date. Sensitivity tests which expose these countries to adverse exogenous shocks help draw attention to policies that could ensure that they do not again accumulate unsustainable debt levels. [source]


    Aid and Fiscal Deficits: Lessons from Uganda on the Implications for Macroeconomic Management and Fiscal Sustainability

    DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2007
    Martin Brownbridge
    This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the macroeconomic management of large aid inflows to low-income countries by analysing lessons drawn from Uganda, where the fiscal deficit before grants, which was largely aid-funded, doubled to over 12% of GDP in the early 2000s. It focuses on the implications of the widening fiscal deficit for monetary policy, the real exchange rate, debt sustainability and the vulnerability of the budget to fiscal shocks, and argues that large fiscal deficits, even when funded predominantly by aid, risk undermining macroeconomic objectives and long-run fiscal sustainability. [source]


    Sustainability and competitive advantage: Empirical evidence on the influence of strategic choices between environmental management approaches

    ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2005
    Marcus Wagner
    First page of article [source]


    Automotive Material Sustainability Through Reversible Adhesives,

    ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 7 2010
    Allan R. Hutchinson
    This communication defines the key existing technologies for reversible adhesion and bonded joint disassembly, and introduces the reader to early experimental findings on the use of thermally labile functional additives in an adhesive matrix. These additives have been found to induce localized, out of plane stresses in a joint's bondline, allowing for an adhesive disbond. It has been found that the additive and adhesive matrix combination is key to the relationship between joint disassembly and joint strength. [source]


    Real Estate Brokerage, Homebuyer Training, and Homeownership Sustainability for Housing Assistance Programs

    FAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES RESEARCH JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009
    Wayne Archer
    This study examines a previously overlooked factor in the rate of default on home loans by marginal first-time homebuyers; namely, the purchase transaction process. In particular, the study examines the potential for the type of initial contact in a homebuyer assistance program to affect the likelihood of default on a subsequent home loan. Using data from 41 state funded local assistance programs in Florida, the study is able to examine the relationship of program default rates to the source of applicant for assistance. Specifically, it examines the explanatory capacity of the percentage of applicants who had a contract to purchase prior to applying for assistance, indicated that the applicant already has engaged with a broker or lender. It finds that the percentage of applicants for assistance who already have engaged with a broker or lender is very significantly and positively relate to the program default rate. [source]


    The Future of Regions: Why the Competitiveness Imperative Should not Prevail over Solidarity, Sustainability and Democracy

    GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2000
    Riccardo Petrella
    The thesis here submitted for debate and criticism is as follows: if today's governing principles that inspire policy choices and priority setting in our societies (which claim to be "knowledge- based societies") are to remain in place in the course of the coming five to ten years, the relative position of the less developed regions (and cities) vis-à-vis the most developed ones will again deteriorate, even though per capita real purchasing power might also slightly increase in the less developed regions. The if-hypothesis, however, is not the only possible pattern of future developments. Because present economic and political leaders are, in general, the promoters and supporters of today's predominant principles, the only way to make possible alternative future developments based on solidarity, sustainability and democracy is that citizens themselves take the initiative, locally and globally, to modify present practices and define new goals and new priorities. In consideration of the results obtained in recent years by civil social movements and protests, one may reasonably consider it as a possible scenario. [source]


    Sustainability as global attractor: the greening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

    GLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 4 2010
    ARTHUR P. J. MOL
    Abstract If one interprets sustainability as an attractor, it means that across time and place notions and ideas of sustainability structure, order and pattern institutions and practices. One can effectively explore the idea that sustainability is turning into a global attractor through mega events. As high profile and very visible happenings that attract worldwide attention, it is difficult to ignore common and widely shared norms on sustainability in the route towards such events. In investigating the 2008 Beijing Olympics I conclude that sustainability norms indeed restructured and patterned this global mega event. Moreover, these sustainability norms are crystallized, institutionalized and fixed in material and social structures, and thus will likely have some permanency. [source]


    Ground Water Sustainability: Methodology and Application to the North China Plain

    GROUND WATER, Issue 6 2008
    Jie Liu
    This article analyzes part of a ground water flow system in the North China Plain (NCP) subject to severe overexploitation and rapid depletion. A transient ground water flow model was constructed and calibrated to quantify the changes in the flow system since the predevelopment 1950s. The flow model was then used in conjunction with an optimization code to determine optimal pumping schemes that improve ground water management practices. Finally, two management scenarios, namely, urbanization and the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, were evaluated for their potential impacts on the ground water resources in the study area. Although this study focuses on the NCP, it illustrates a general modeling framework for analyzing the sustainability, or the lack thereof, of ground water flow systems driven by similar hydrogeologic and economic conditions. The numerical simulation is capable of quantifying the various components of the overall flow budget and evaluating the impacts of different management scenarios. The optimization modeling allows the determination of the maximum "sustainable pumping" that satisfies a series of prescribed constraints. It can also be used to minimize the economic costs associated with ground water development and management. Furthermore, since the NCP is one of the most water scarce and economically active regions in the world, the conclusions and insights from this study are of general interest and international significance. [source]


    Climate Change, Sustainability, and Ground Water Remediation: The Connection

    GROUND WATER MONITORING & REMEDIATION, Issue 4 2007
    Scott D. Warner
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Ireland's Foreign-Owned Technology Sector: Evolving Towards Sustainability?

    GROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2008
    PATRICK COLLINS
    ABSTRACT For some, Ireland's pursuit of an exogenous-led development model has proved to be the cornerstone of recent economic success. Others point to recent high-profile closures and argue that foreign-owned operations are attracted to Ireland solely because of the advantageous tax breaks and lucrative grants scheme offered by the Irish government. We pay tribute to both arguments by pushing the level of enquiry beyond that of supply and backward linkages to try and gauge the actual performance of affiliates themselves. This brings some interesting facets of the Irish foreign direct investment scene to light. We highlight complexity of process, attainment of broader investment remits, and the emergence of a managerial class as integral to the ability of affiliates to adapt to and exploit organisational change. By examining 10 case studies and making use of media searches and company interviews, we highlight evidence of Ireland's largest technology transnational corporation affiliates showing positive performance advances. With these movements come, what we term, increased nodal significance of Irish operations within the global production network of their corporations. We argue against policy and theories that see these movements as linear and provide evidence of how some Irish operations have leveraged control and gained significant regional and global remits that have resulted in their growing significance, both in the corporation and in the country in which they are based. In the same line we argue that embeddedness in terms of supply linkages does not fit the Irish case and instead employ the term "network anchoring" of affiliates as they increase their nodal weighting through increased mandates. [source]


    Spaces of Sustainability: Geographic Perspectives on the Sustainable Society , By Mark Whitehead

    GROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2007
    James J. Biles
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Green Energy Systems and Applications: A Road to Sustainability

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 12 2007
    Yunus Çengel Guest Editor
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Use of thermodynamic functions for expressing some relevant aspects of sustainability

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 1 2005
    Simone Bastianoni
    Abstract Sustainability is a key concept for our future and the role of thermodynamics in its assessment is fundamental. The use of energy and matter must be considered not only from a microscopic viewpoint (the use of a single fuel or material, or the presence of a single pollutant) but also by means of holistic approaches able to synthesize all the characteristics of a single process. Exergy is a suitable function for this purpose. The exergy concept can also be applied to natural systems and to systems at the interface between natural and artificial ones. In this context also emergy can express very helpful indications. Four different efficiency indices are here examined to better understand different aspects of the sustainability of processes and systems. An application to two similar agricultural systems (wine production in Italy) shows how these indices work in real case studies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Qualitative research to make practical sense of sustainability in primary health care projects implemented by non-governmental organizations

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004
    Eric G. Sarriot
    Abstract Sustainability continues to be a serious concern for Primary Health Care (PHC) interventions targeting the death of millions of children in developing countries each year. Our work with over 30 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) implementing USAID's Child Survival and Health Grants Program (CSHGP)-funded projects revealed the need for a study to develop a framework for sustainability assessment in these projects. We surveyed NGO informants and project managers through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. This paper summarizes our study findings. The NGOs share key values about sustainability, but are skeptical about approaches perceived as disconnected from field reality. In their experience, sustainable achievements occur through the interaction of capable local stakeholders and communities. This depends strongly on enabling conditions, which NGO projects should advance. Sustainability assessment is multidimensional, value-based and embeds health within a larger sustainable development perspective. It reduces, but does not eliminate, the unpredictability of long-term outcomes. It should start with the consideration of the ,local systems' which need to develop a common purpose. Our ability to address the complexity inherent to sustainability thinking rests with the validity of the models used to design interventions. A participant, qualitative research approach helped us make sense of sustainability in NGO field practice. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]