Chapter 1 Flashcards
Define Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to support, maintain, or endure; it can indicate both a goal and a process. Sustainability can be maintained at a certain certain rate or level, as in sustainable economic growth. It can also be upheld or defended, as in sustainable definitions of good corporate practice. Sustainable economic growth (associated with consumption of natural resources) and sustainable ecosystems might be mutually exclusive.
The triple P
People, Planet, Profit
Define business
A business can be described as a commercial enterprise, company or firm involved in the trade of products and services to customers for profit. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies and are usually privately owned; in socialist economies businesses are more frequently state-owned. Businesses may also be operated as not-for-profit enterprises.
Define CSR
Corporate social responsibility:
Define sustainable business (book)
Business that engages positively with sustainability issues
Define Green-washing
Green-washing describes an individual or business promoting something as sustainable - either business as a whole or an initiative, product or activity while actually continuing to operate in socially and environmentally damaging ways. Some of the companies improve one small part of their operation, without the needed overhaul of the entire mode of operation.
Define Social sustainability
Social sustainability refers to issues concerned with social equality, poverty, and problems associated with justice. Equity considerations are primary in order to have the resources to reduce poverty and increase well-being in developing countries.
Define Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability is linked to well-being in relation to financial indicators such as GDP and is characterised by underlying economic approaches to the range of social issues attempting to capture the values embedded in human and natural capital.
–> sustaining the continued growth of the global market-based neo-liberal capitalist economy.
Economic sustainability (5 different capitals)
Natural, social, human, financial, and manufactured.
Define Eco-efficiency
Eco-efficiency refers to the idea of doing more with less. Compared with early industrial products, modern alternatives are able to generate more value by being produced on much larger scale with less impact and using less material.
Define Cradle to Cradle (C2C)
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) considers not just minimising the damage, but proposes how depletion of resources can be avoided by adhering to a cyclical ‘waste = food’ principle.
Define Eco-effectiveness
Eco-effectiveness focuses on the development of products and industrial systems that maintain or enhance the quality and productivity of materials rather than depleting them.
Define the circular economy model
The circular economy model uses the functioning of ecosystems as an exemplar for industrial processes, emphasising a shift towards ecologically sound products and renewable energy.
