I am doing this course because I, like many others, have a very narrow view at present about what sustainability is and I wish to get a broader perspective on the term. Initially I viewed sustainability in terms of things "green'. Recycling and using natural resources in sustainable ways.
Collins dictionary defines Sustainable as the use of natural resources when this use is kept at a steady level that is not likely to damage the environment.
Sustainability is defined as ...A plan or method or system can be continued at the same pace without harming its efficiency and the people affected by it or the level of activity
What is sustainability? (an online definition)http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm
Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.
Hello Jean
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog, Jean, & am pleased that you put those definitions in it. This helped me a lot with understanding sustainability as a concept but I am finding it quite challenging when I think about using resources at a "steady level" & am wondering who determines what a "steady level" is?
Your post also made me think about sustainability in the workplace - about the systems/processes that might be put in place that could have the potential to 'harm the efficiency' of the people who work there whereas those who implement the changes or systems do so in an effort to be more sustainable. (I am not sure if I have explained this well, but they are just thoughts that have cropped up for me when I read your blog.)
Hi Catherine
DeleteAn example of management that may harm staff is the process of natural attrition (staff leave and are not replaced) when management wants to shed staff and operate at a lower staffing cost to generate greater profit. The remaining staff have to absorb the work of the person that left in addition to their own. This brings greater stress and heavier workloads. The only way it can work (if it is a fiscal necessity)is to call for all staff to come up with ways to work smarter, remove duplicated work, cut costs and or find ways to generate more income. It can be an uncomfortable tension between the company wanting to be cost effective and remain viable, and staff wanting to keep their sanity (with heavier workloads) and have some level of job satisfaction. Staff morale in these situations is an important consideration and it is important for management to build a sense of 'us' (through consultation and collaboration) as an entity moving forward with a common end goal.
Hi Jean.
ReplyDeleteI like your description of managament practices that divide and disturb staff. I wonder in an institution such as ours that has a publicly stated emphasis on Sustainable practice whether this has been considered sufficiently. I suppose actiuvities such as Turning Point are an attempt to both "bond" small groups of people and also give them insights and too9ls to be active in their own sustainability.
okay, here's my chance to be controversial (again). I have blogged on my own site about the apparent confusion between 'sustainability' (a word hijacked by all and sundry including OP)and "working efficiently, managing workloads etc". You hit the nail on the head with your last sentence "Sustainability is... will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment." i.e it is about the future collapse of civilazation as we know it, due to unlimited economic progress and a runaway population in a world of finite resources. Our discussions need to be about solving climate change, popoulation growth, economic crises, peak oil. Turning Point was lifted out of the corporate world and in my view had the stench of big business, marketing and consumerism all over it (did you get the motivation to go out and sell another telus vaccuum cleaner?)
ReplyDeleteI'm all for bonding in small groups, let's do it from within a context that matters - such as this course.
By the way - I think you got it right in the first place - sustainability IS about things 'green', but it is the socio-polital and economic environments that must change if we are ever going to be 'green'. While we still have governments in the world promoting coal and lignite mining, recycling a plastic bottle and switching to cloth supermarket bags aint going to make a blind bit of difference. Reducing Carbon emmissions is vital to avoid dangerous climate change . Read this report: http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/policy/projects/people-planet/2012-04-25-PeoplePlanetExtract.pdf
ReplyDeleteThese carbon scenarios highlight the combined importance of both slowing population growth and reducing per capita CO2 emissions to stabilise the global climate.
So what can we do as OP staff that might actually be more than paying lip service to sustainability? We need to get out there and protest against the planned lignite mining in Southland and further coal mining on the West Coast (for a start).