In Emory University’s Office of Sustainability Initiative Report, Emory outlines the strategic plan for creating sustainable living on campus. For Emory University sustainable living is defined as environmental systems, economic and culture provide a healthy and “meaningful” life. While the report demonstrates improvement in sustainable thinking at collegiate institutions, its flaws represent a stepping-stone to creating better resilience and sustainable thinking. Such flaws being the ambiguity with which the plan was created and lack of resilient thought, however, it does provide a valuable baseline for which to evaluate the current and needed progress in turning Emory University into a institution that is both resilient and sustainable. …show more content…
The strategic report plans on building upon the first report made in 2004 along with the progress made with programs such as the University Senate Committee on the Environment, Emory Recycles, the No Net Loss of Forest police, the commitment to LEED construction and the campus land use classification plan (2015). After highlighting the progress made, the report states that the goal is to continue progress growth within the next ten years with an audit occurring after five years. The report goes on to define sustainability as, “a community is sustainable if economic, social, and environmental systems provide a healthy, productive, and meaningful life for all community residents, present and future”(2015). The definition of sustainability is then built upon to identify four strategic action areas where progress will be made. The action areas being support of culture to act on sustainability, expanding the network of sustainability “champions”, using Emory landscape to model sustainability, and to create resilient and flourishing communities with strategic partnerships. The report then identifies action points and guiding questions per each …show more content…
The lack of resilient thought throughout the strategic plan demonstrates Emory’s lack of understanding. While sustainability is defined within the second page, resilience and the importance of resilience is never mentioned. The report mainly focuses upon ‘winning’ and becoming ‘champions’ of sustainability. Using this terminology shows Emory’s committed to demonstrating the improvements made rather than the mistakes that have been made. Which is why the report lacks detail, instead of creating clear and concise plans for the next few years and potentially being unable to meet such plans Emory decides to structurally create a vague strategic
The following case study critiques Upton’s vision to establish a sustainable community through implementing comprehensive sustainable strategy. The urban periphery development is thought to demonstrate superior execution of sustainable principles in development (Jackson 2007). As a parallel, the report focuses on the development of Upton’s design code and demonstrates how large -scale mix-use developments can incorporate sustainable practice and principles of urban growth.
Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2010). In Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy Achieving Sustainability, Twelfth Edition. Pearson Education.
Generational conflicts, political strife, environmental regulations, stakeholders in big oil, and many more hurdles affect the push to fully sustainable economies around the world and even here in America. In a world where coal, oil, and natural gas are limited, countries are gobbling it all up as fast as they can before other poorer countries come on the grid. Even though America and other countries gobble up these resources the life of the people is still a struggle to meet basic needs. Sustainability is an intermingling of resource use and protection of the “quality of life”, it is met by using resources sparingly and by recycling or reducing the use of other non-renewable resources to provide for our immediate need, but also to conserve and protect the needs of the next generation and to improve the quality of all the lives to come.
These days, it seems that everyone is talking about “sustainability” or “going green.” However, these terms are somewhat confusing and difficult to classify. Over the past few decades, the concept of sustainable viticulture has emerged and is spreading awareness to grape growers and winemakers across the United States and beyond.
I’ve learned that there are some barriers preventing William and Mary from being completely net-zero, but nevertheless, it is important to keep pushing until those barriers fall. In the meanwhile, I worked with the Carbon Offset program to try and get people to offset their carbon through donations that fund project. Reducing the college’s carbon footprint is one step closer to a sustainable college. Next, I work with the Green House Gas Audit to determine where most of the colleges CO2 emissions are coming from. With the audit, I can analyze the data and determine which areas need to focus on for projects in reducing CO2 emissions.
Sustainability has extended to our field; people have begun to understand the importance and necessity to introduce this practice into their life. All of this not
Sustainability is an issue that everyone should be concerned about. If the planet Earth is going to exist, as we know it, everyone should wake up and do their part to help achieve a greater level of sustainability. In my English 101 class we learned about the issue of sustainability. Many different topics were discussed and researched throughout the course of the semester. Overall, I think that the sustainability project has been a learning and enlightening experience for everyone in this class. Many more things can be done next semester, since the groundwork has been laid to continue this project for time to come.
Garden of Life The health and nutrition market is a profitable one. With social responsibility and sustainability becoming as important to many consumers as product price, it makes sense that those in the health industry would want to get on board with this trend. Often, organizations will highlight their commitment to socially ethical practices through their mission statement. One company capitalizing on being “green” is Garden of Life which produces nutritional supplements.
Sustainability is a concept with a diverse array of meanings and definitions – a widely used glamorous, ambiguous, ambivalent and vague concept that is used by different stakeholder groups in various ways. Presumably to avoid noodling over a terminology or to avoid the confrontation with a definition, most widely the concept is broken down a planning process (c.f. e.g. Döring & Muraca, 2010). That is why most common sustainability is understood as sustainable development.1
(7) Adams, W. M. The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century. Rep. The World Conservation Union, 22 May 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Humans have become a threat to our own way of life by consuming more resources than needed, blind to the consequences that we may face in the future. As of 2016 the world population is at 7.4 billion and it is estimated to be at 11.2 billion by the year 2100. However 10 billion is the maximum population that can be sustained in terms of food security, only one of the many factors to global sustainability. Due to the fact that human consumption exceeds the amount of resources available, the United Nations “recognizes that eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge” in A/RES/70/1. Sustainable development is not only required to fulfill the necessities of the present but to guarantee the capability for future generations to satisfy theirs.
Environmental sustainability is making decisions and taking actions in the interest of protecting the natural world, preserving the capability of the environment to support human life and ensuring that humans use the environment in a way that does not harm the environment. It also questions how economic development affects our environment vice versa.
Thus, it is essential for graduates to understand and to have the capability to cope with various environmental challenges that we are facing today. For university students, most of their knowledge about sustainability is obtained from lectures. Whereas, Winter and Cotton (2012) illustrate that learning solely about sustainability is insufficient and that sustainability literacy must take into consideration students’ attitudes and dispositions in order to develop their strategies for reasoned decision-making. In addition, Winter and Cotton (2012) point out that the limitations posed by academic attitudes and disciplinary silos hinder the embedding of sustainability literacy in the formal curriculum. Therefore, if universities want to cultivate more students with sustainability literacy, then they need to focus on constructing more sustainable
Sustainability simply defined to me as balancing act between the development of sustainability is necessary for both planet Earth and humans to survive. This is reinforced in the World Commission on Environment and Development report (1987) that sustainable development must meet the needs of the present without compromising the well-being of future generations”. The Earth Charter Organization widened the idea of sustainability to respect for a culture of peace, universal human rights, nature, and economic justice (What is sustainability?, n.d.).
The United Nations recently published a list of goals they hope to accomplish by 2030 called the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals will replace the Millennium Development Goals, which were set in 2000, when they expire at the end of 2015. Some of these goals include ending poverty, promoting gender equality, and improving water and sanitation conditions. Arguably, the most important goal is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” (in text citation- NY Times Article). Hunger was also an important goal on the MDG list, yet it was not fully accomplished (in text citation- Progress chart). The goals was to reduce hunger by half, and yet, the number of people who go to bed hungry