...Nathan Kim October 19, 2013 Sustainability Roundtable: Sustainability and Luxury Facilitator: Natalie Chan, The Peninsula Hotels In this session of the Sustainability Roundtable, the participants discussed how the luxury segment could adopt sustainable practices in a way that enhanced environmental awareness. The challenge here is in implementing sustainable practices while simultaneously minimizing costs and maintaining if not improving guest satisfaction. Facilitator Natalie Chan of The Peninsula Hotels posed the question, “can luxury be sustainable, or are we deluding ourselves?” Kirby Brendsel, Associate Director of Starwood Global Citizenship, took Natalie’s question a step further. He felt that asking if luxury can be sustainable is premature and we must first define what sustainability in luxury looks like. This was a rhetorical question since Kirby believes if he asked twelve people to describe luxury in sustainability he would receive twelve different responses. Paul Snyder, VP of Corporate Responsibility in InterContinental Hotels Group, had an answer to Kirby’s paradox. Paul suggested that luxury has both a generational and a cultural component, which is why the definition of luxury and sustainability are both moving targets. Natalie acknowledged this point by saying that we are looking at the next generation of luxury customers, those of us who will be guests ten years from today. When it comes to sustainability, we must consider our future guests’ perspectives...
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...Going Sustainability What are some ideas that the community can become more sustainable? Our generation can do sustainable duties such as making our schools sustainable. My purpose to write this is to show people some ideas that can be sustainable. When reading this essay think about some reasons of your own to make a building more sustainable. The idea of this essay is to talk about benefits of solar panels, greenhouses, and finally wind mills. Solar Panels “When the solar energy from the sun it gets trapped and stored and can be used in in various ways to generate power. Solar energy can be used as direct or indirect, active or passive. The two main ways that solar panel work is solar...
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...Assessment 1 Develop workplace sustainability Questions What are the sustainability issues? Unsustainable activities have led to changes in our environment, or have been identified as having the potential to lead to future changes. The types of changes that are occurring or are predicted to occur form the key issues for sustainability. The following Table 1 provides a summary of the key issues. They are related to changes to the physical and cultural (being the way we live) environments, which in turn relate to the economic environment. What does sustainability mean? Every day we hear the term ‘sustainable’ or ‘sustainability’ being used to describe a large number of issues and news items. There is the ‘sustainable economy’, ‘sustainable agriculture’, ‘economically sustainable’, ‘the need to be sustainable’, ‘sustainable work practices’ and ‘sustainable water supply’ to name a few. The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, is seen by many as one of the first global reports to address sustainable development. This report defined sustainable development as: “…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Brundtland (1987) National strategy for ecologically sustainable development Sustainable Development is defined by the Australian Government’s National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development as: “…using, conserving and enhancing the community’s resources...
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...ENVIRONMENT SUSTAINABILITY A STUDY ON PRINTING INDUSTRY – INDIA S. Maheswari PhD Research Scholar Dept. of Labour Studies Madurai kamaraj university Madurai. Tamilnadu – India. maheswarisakthivel@gmail.com Introduction: Environmental Sustainability is the next great challenge that India faces along its path to development. The report, that was released by Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, at a national-level workshop in New Delhi, says that owing to high population density, India’s rapidly growing economy will put unprecedented pressures on its environment and natural resources – land, water, air, soil, and forests. These pressures are projected to become the highest in the world by 2020. Environmental Sustainability is likely to become the next great challenge along India’s development path. Environmental institutions are improving. Impressive environmental awakening and good practice initiatives by various companies are taking place. The priority is to scale up these good practices across the country and reverse/improve environmental outcomes. The policy needs to be integrated into the set of parameters or guideposts any printer uses...
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...Term Paper #3: Urban Sustainability GEOG330 Due: December 11, 2015 I am analyzing College Park, Maryland. College Park is a city in Prince George’s County, Maryland that is occupied by more than 31,000 residents. (College Park MD, Welcome To College Park Intro Paragraph) Majority of the economy in College Park is fueled by the jobs offered through the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). This university host over 13,000 employees, making them the biggest employer in the city. University of Maryland, University College is the second biggest employer, providing work for 2,790 employees. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Koppen Climate Classification system, College Park has a humid subtropical climate. (Climate, Climate: College Park) I currently live in Lanham, MD, which is about 12 miles away from College Park. As a kid, I always passed by the city and always dreamed about going to the University of Maryland. I attended multiple basketball and football games as a kid, and attended programs that occurred on campus. As a close residing area, College Park is considered home to me. I’ve lived in this area all my life. When my parents moved from Nigeria to the United States, they chose to live in this area because of the lack of extreme weather and excellent higher-level education system provided in the area. I would love to stay here after graduation, but I will go wherever my occupation...
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...Mohammad Monowarul Islam Student ID: 1209 ATCHARAPORN STUDENT ID: 1213 BSBSUS501 Assessment 1 Unit Name: BSBSUS501- Develop workplace policy and procedures for sustainability Course Name: Diploma of Business Introduction Tiny Opera Company operates in a rural NSW town. Colleen Starr started the company after moving to the small town from Sydney in the late 1970s. Colleen wanted to bring the wonder and entertainment of theatre-based performances to rural NSW. Her vision was to create a regional theatre that emulated the Sydney Opera House; making theatre both accessible and valued in her town and the surrounding community. Stella’s idea and passion was shared by a wealthy landowner in the area who donated $2.3 million to support the purchase of a venue and the ongoing operation of the theatre. $1.3 million of this was invested in a trust which has been added to over the years that Tiny Opera Company has generated a profit. Colleen Starr bought an old town hall that had been built in the early 1900s. The hall is listed on the State Heritage Register in NSW. Basic interior renovations were carried out to the stage, three dressing rooms, kitchen, break room, meeting room, food counter and ticketing booth including: ● painting internal walls ● installing wall-mounted radiators throughout the theatres, dressing rooms and break room ● installing a dishwasher and oven in the kitchen ● installing a wood heater in the meeting room. Tiny Opera Company has staged regular...
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...Summary of documentations on paper recycling In Japan, the US, Europe and China Recycling benefits the environment much more than other waste management methods (Technical University of Denmark and the Danish Topic Centre on Waste and Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), 2006). With the environmental, economic and societal benefits, we can conclude that building an effective paper recycling system in China would be a good idea. This paper is a basic summary of paper recycling practices in Japan, the US and Europe. It is intended to be a reference for drawing up an appropriate and practical plan for school and office paper recycling projects in China. Paper Recycling Statistics Japan has an extraordinary reputation in paper recycling because of its refined and effective paper recycling system. While the volume of recovered paper grew in the 1980s, the paper recycling rate went through a stagnant period before the rate started to rise rapidly in 1997. Japan’s paper recycling rate reached 77.9% in 2011, but the volume was 21.5 million tons, which is less than the 22.7 million tons recycled in 2008, due to less consumption of paper(Paper recycling in Japan, 2012). According to the 2012 sustainability report of American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), the U.S. achieved a paper recycling rate of 66.8% (about 46 million tons of paper) in 2011, which was nearly twice the 1990 rate. In addition, the goal of the AF&PA’s “sustainability initiative - Better practices...
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...Collapse Informatics: Response Paper • Collapse Informatics: Augmenting the Sustainability & ICT4D Discourse in HCI (Tomlinson et al., 2012) • Looking Past Yesterday’s Tomorrow: Using Future Studies Methods to Extend the Research Horizon (Mankoff et al., 2013) Both papers are dealing with future scenarios and stressing the likelyhood of a collapse if humanity proceeds its current way of living. The papers provide starting points to investigate in the preparation for humanity if such an event will come true. While the paper by Tomlinson et al. (2012) is introducing a completely new notion for studying, designing and devloping sociotechnical systems in the abundant present for use in a future of scarcity, the second paper by Mankoff et al. (2013) presents methods that can support the analysis of long-‐ term trends, support the identification of new...
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...Business Strategy and the Environment Bus. Strat. Env. (2009) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/bse.657 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting on the Internet J. Emil Morhardt* Roberts Environmental Center, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA, USA ABSTRACT All material related to environmental and social performance on the corporate internet sites of 454 Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 1000 companies in 25 industrial sectors was analyzed using the Pacific Sustainability Index. Maximum scores for individual sectors were 20–75 percent of the total possible, highest in the largest and most environmentally sensitive sectors and ranging generally linearly, as shown by plotting score versus rank, down to nearly zero in every sector. None of the variation in score is explained by corporate revenue in the Asian and European firms in this sample (revenues greater than about $9 billion), but there is a very weak correlation between score and revenue for American firms of this size, and a stronger one when Fortune 1000 companies (all American) with revenues smaller than this are included, suggesting that, as corporate size reaches a certain threshold, sustainability reporting becomes independent of it. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 18 November 2008; revised 26 April 2009; accepted 1 June 2009 Keywords: corporate environmental reporting; corporate environmental policy; corporate...
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...GREEN BUSINESS PRACTICES: BALANCING ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMIC DESIRES MUKHTAR AHMAD1 Abstract Individual organization government and even business enterprises are becoming more and more environmental conscious. This environmental consciousness has lead to the emergence of green business practices .Green business involves promotion and production of eco-freie3ndly products. This research paper presents the detailed study on the concept of green business practices which are essential for improving environmental condition in a profitable manner. This paper primarily focuses on fulfilling responsibilities towards environment through following green practices, and secondly, it explains the competitive advantages of green business. Green business...
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...BHP Billiton Sustainability Report Case Executive summary This short paper discusses relevant stakeholders that the multinational conglomerate company BHP Billiton encloses in their 2013 Sustainability Report. The components that are briefly touched upon is related to the various stakeholder influences, report and not reported costs (referring to the triple bottom line), but the majority of the paper primarily focuses on the environmental and social factors that BHP Billiton discloses in relation to their sustainability program, because the indicators seem to have the biggest impact on the outward-looking legitimacy of the company. We found that NGOs, local communities and unions highly affect how BHP chooses to report their operations, as these organizations/interest groups have a very close relationship to the firm; both negatively and positively. Furthermore, the paper tries to account for costs not included in BHP’s sustainability report, and it appear that some of these are cost-reporting on corruption, specific environmental issues, anticompetitive behaviour, and transportation. The paper do recognize that BHP is in fact a very active proponent of sustainability reporting, but on the other hand do question to what extent the reporting actually reflect the company’s inner workings, as BHP has been publicly criticised for this before. Question A: Influence of all possible stakeholders of BHP Billiton in terms of environmental and social factors. BHP...
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...International Paper: Combining Industry and Social Responsibility Marketing 406 Roosevelt University December 6, 2014 Natalie Mierzynska, Sujatha Lekshmivaragan, Dmitry Rozental, Ebuka Nkwonta Table of Contents Background 2 Objectives 4 Procedures 4 Summary of Findings 4 Detailed Findings 6 Defying Common Criticisms 6 Integrating Sustainability Principles 8 “Greening” and Beyond 11 Enlightened Marketing 14 Social Responsibility & Financial Success 15 Conclusion 16 Works Cited 18 Background International Paper (IP) is the global leader in the production and distribution of paper and packaging products (Internationalpaper.com). It was founded more than 110 years ago, and produces products that we use every day including various types of paper, consumer packaging, pulp, recycling, and industrial packaging. The company’s stock symbol is IP, and a share of IP stock currently sells at around $53/share. IP is currently headquartered in Memphis Tennessee, and employs over 62,000 people (Kotler & Armstrong, 607). Last year, the company sold over $26 billion worth of product, placing it 111th on the Fortune 500. From a consumer perspective, when a multi-billion dollar producer of paper and packaging products comes to mind, we automatically assume that the company produces a large amount of pollution and destroys forests all over the world. However, International Paper prides itself on being on top of Fortune Magazine’s “Most...
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...|Candidate No: 13184461 | | | |Center Name: Management Development Centre (MDC) | | | | | |Subject: Emerging Themes | | | | | |Word Count for Discussion Paper: | | | |Task One: 555 | |Task Two: 2,740 | |Task Three: 453 | | | |Submission Date: 24th November, 2011 | |...
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...module was independently written by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program with the generous support of THE FUTURE OF FASHION: SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH THE LENS OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY* By: Jennifer Johnson & Gina Wu Companies across all industries are facing the challenges of business sustainability, debating how best to address these risky issues while also embracing their opportunities for competitive advantage. This Teaching Module uses the context of the fashion industry to discuss topics that are shaping the future of all industries. These topics include sustainable resource management, the challenges and opportunities of global growth, workforce management, and the role of ethical consumption in business. The fashion industry offers a compelling case study for exploring business sustainability issues. In the fashion industry, as in many industries, success requires highly developed sourcing, design, manufacturing, and marketing chains. Increasingly, success also means incorporating sustainability in resource and labor management, as firms realize that long-term corporate survival will depend on new ways of doing business. Climate change, resource challenges, new technologies and dramatic shifts in the global economy are already impacting the industry. The nexus of these concerns allows students to explore sustainability challenges while providing a framework for discussing new business models and management techniques for the future. Given its enormous reach...
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...Unilever Corporate and Managerial Responsibility Contents Executive summary 3 1. Introduction 4 2. Stakeholder analysis 4 3. CSR at Unilever 6 4. CSR issues – The palm oil and tea production case 9 5. Strengths and weaknesses of the current CSR policy 10 6. Conclusion 11 Executive summary In this paper, the approach of Unilever, a British-Dutch major player in the FMCG sector, towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development (SD) will be discussed. In Unilever’s day to day business CSR and SD are key. This makes it a core business activity within the company at all levels. First, it will be investigated who Unilever’s stakeholders are and how Unilever is managing its relationships with them in order to do business in a corporate responsible and sustainable way. Further, some of Unilever’s sustainability initiatives like for example the Sustainable Living Plan and Unilever’s contribution to certificate systems for palm oil and soy oil will be discussed to illustrate its current CSR and SD policy. Despite these efforts, Unilever also faced quite some critique from political, environmental and human rights angle regarding some less legitimate activities. As an illustration two major cases concerning controversial palm oil and tea production will be discussed. At last, the strengths and weaknesses of the current CSR policy will be critically discussed. As a conclusion it can be stated that during the last...
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