The way we respond to different situations depends on how we perceive the world and how we think it works. Living life is not a zero-based decision-making process. It tends most often to be an incremental process where we add and interpret new information to existing meanings and understandings that are rarely reevaluated in the process. If some generally accepted knowledge appears to have led to successful decisions in the past, we tend not to challenge that knowledge even though it may have become invalid over time and in view of changing situations. Over the 35 or so year life of our profession, much around us has changed. With the ever increasing speed and availability of communication resources; exponential growth in information technology; continuous population increases; consolidation of worldwide wealth, capital and resources; dramatic growth of corporate power; dramatic political changes; changing status of nations, growth of the agro industry, and more, no one can reasonably expect that long-held underlying assumptions of how the world works can still be valid or do not warrant scrutiny.
There are many questions to be asked and answered. Some of those are identified here and addressed below.
July 29, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Moving from Eco-Marketing to Sustainable Consumption [4] | No Comments »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on “What Corporations Could Do For Sustainable Consumption”, moderated by Professor Sándor Kerekes.
July 29, 2009 by Brian Butler and | Filed under: From Eco-Efficiency to Eco-Effectiveness [1,2] | 1 Comment »
Please follow the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on “Moving From Eco-Efficiency to Sustainable Production”, moderated by Maria Csutora and Pietro Bertazzi.
July 29, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Generating Sustainability Innovation [4] | No Comments »
Please visit the link below to view a powerpoint presentation on “Innovations for Sustainability: Integrating Stakeholders into the Innovation Process”, moderated by Michele Arouch and Marianne Esders.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Generating Sustainability Innovation [4] | No Comments »
This workshop focused upon methods and roles for stakeholders to contribute and integrate into an organization’s innovation development strategy. Integral to the process, innovation generation from four stakeholder sectors was identified as the main contributor to the process. These contributing sectors include public authorities such as the Market Arena, the Government, Universities or other Research Institutes, and Civil Society and other Non-Government Organizations.
Four primary steps for sustainability innovation were also identified within each of these sectors including Idea Generation, Research and Development, Market introduction, and Market Dispersion.
The workshop also explored the importance of selecting the correct stakeholders at the opportune time, and it was determined that innovation cannot take place without the support of multiple stakeholders. It was also noted that isolated R&D efforts are largely unable to attain market success without the support of stakeholders, emphasizing that the innovation process is a collaborative effort that not only relies on eternal stakeholder integration, but also, internal integration of functions and top management commitment.
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Moving from Eco-Marketing to Sustainable Consumption [4] | No Comments »
Moving from eco-marketing to sustainable consumption discussed several factors that are currently impeding the jump to sustainable consumption. It was generally agreed that people find consumption to be a fundamental right of the individual. It was even discussed that many people find consumption to be a fun activity. Low cost / affordability is a driver towards consumption along with marketing practices.
Consumption to meet an individual’s primary needs to health and safety is necessary. Beyond the primary need consumption is based on satisfying desires or wants. Surprisingly this over consumption to satisfy wants does not correlate to overall happiness. Data was presented that revealed increasing financial wealth has an asymptotic relationship with happiness. This suggests that if companies could move towards providing services versus materialistic products we could improve overall happiness. The impact on employment was discussed and remained an unknown. Companies will need to be given alternatives to help with this migration.
One of the most critical areas to address to enable sustainable consumption is the education of the youth. It is important to offer lifestyle choices to individuals and perhaps a rating/labeling system that allowed the consumer to understand the product’s environmental impact would be a critical element for choice. Perhaps a green tax would work? Alternatively, we could change the paradigm of status symbols to view sustainability as the envious lifestyle to be copied by others rather than materialistic consumption. For example, why would you want to have a manicured lawn requiring endless attention when you could have a thriving ecosystem similar to a forest in your yard?
It was unclear at the end of the workshop as to what role if any the environmental manager would play in changing individual consumption behaviors. Do they really have enough influence/impact on decision making? Further exploration will be required to see if a toolkit can be developed to empower the environmental manager in this area
May 20, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Eco-Services and Business: Implications for Environmental Strategy [4] | No Comments »
It is common practice for companies to identify potential environmental impacts however, this workshop asks us to view that impact from the perspective of companies that depend upon eco-services for business continuity.
Dr Pogutz uses several real-world references to illustrate the monetary value of ecological services that have previously been viewed as “free resources”.
The information covered served to analyze the main implication for business activities related to ecosystem degradation and to understand the business risks and opportunities related to ecosystem degradation.
As a means to control this degradation, integration into environmental management processes was proposed as a four step method including; evaluation of company dependence and eco-service impact, exploration trends in eco-services, identification of risks and opportunities for the company, and development of strategies.
May 7, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Generating Sustainability Innovation [4] | No Comments »
Abstract: The author of this article looks to evaluate how ecological innovation is related to the processes in which it can be applied. The author takes current innovation concepts and applies them to sustainable innovation in various categories. Such categories include “a new product, new process, new market, new way of organizing the business or new sources of supply”. This article is helpful in understanding those processes and how their applications vary in different circumstances.
May 7, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Generating Sustainability Innovation [4] | No Comments »
Abstract: This is an analysis of research done by two companies in Spain. The researchers wanted to know how a company can better implement the views of the stakeholders in the organization to the sustainable innovation process. This case, in my opinion, deals more with the research, however it does give some good incites into how to implement desired change within an organization.
May 7, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Generating Sustainability Innovation [4] | No Comments »
Abstract: This article illustrates the importance of having environmental values imbedded within a companies core values. This article illustrates the successes of one company, “Cascades”, and how they implemented ‘green’ values into their organization. This company is a paper company, and they have made many advancements in order to increase the environmental safety of their products. The article also delves into why such innovations were important to the company. This innovation process has four steps, as discussed in the article.
May 7, 2009 by Brian Butler | Filed under: Generating Sustainability Innovation [4] | No Comments »
Abstract: This article reviews a manager’s impacts on the sustainable innovation process. It illustrates how positive management styles (those who are encouraging, charismatic, etc.) increases the functionality of the sustainability innovation processes implemented within the organization. This particular research was done in the Dutch building sector. It concludes that a manager will not be successful if they don’t combine knowledge and their management style.
