What Does It Mean To Be Sustainable?

Businesses who participate in environmentally friendly practices will become more profitable. There are difficulties and costs that a business will face and profit takes time but is proven to positively impact a business. “The reluctance to address the forces that are polluting the planet always comes down to money (Smith, “6 Reasons Nations Don't Go Green.”). Implementing environmentally friendly practices within a company “will win them customers, and increase profits” (McDonald, “Why Do (or Don’t) Companies Go Green?”). Many global companies today carry out environmental management tools to adapt to environmentally friendly practices, which helps gain customers, and in turn becomes more profitable. In this paper, I will go into further detail explaining why businesses should be more environmentally friendly, the benefits to be gained, costs that come with being environmentally friendly, and management ways that help a company become environmentally friendly.

Sustainability from a strategic business perspective is the potential for the long-term well-being of the natural environment, including all biological entities, as mutually beneficial interactions among nature and individuals, organizations, and business strategies. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). Business sustainably is often defined as managing the triple bottom line – a process by which companies manage their financial, social and environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. These three impacts are sometimes referred to as profits, people and planet. (Business sustainability definition from financial times lexicon, no date). This essay will discuss the idea of sustainability being an important element within a businesses and its core strategies and the importance of it within different businesses. Secondly, this study will look at how different stakeholders are affected and influenced by sustainability as this could be seen as a catalyst to improving the environment as a whole and. Then this study will look at how businesses not focusing

Sustainability relates to the ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life, which means developing ways to ensure that all resources on Earth are used and managed responsibly so they can be maintained for future generations.

So what is sustainability? It is the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.

Sustainability is defined as the ability to endure.(1) Though the idea of sustainability can be applied to most anything from a sustainable ecosystem that has survived thousands of years to a sustainable workplace that uses green technologies. Paul Hawken captured today’s connotation of sustainability in saying “Sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth’s two most complex systems—human culture and the living world.” (2) There are countless ways to live, work, and produce sustainably. Sustainability not only needs to be practiced by citizens, but businesses need to join the green movement as well. Without creating, following, and enforcing green policies, negative effects will be evident and innumerable

I attended a meeting last week with other faculty members. One of them let fly her/his opinion that “sustainability does not exist” or is, at best, a “bankrupt” notion that is basically a form of “greenwashing” and that sustainable development was a “joke.” Hmmm . . . . Please comment on that assertion. In the process, discuss the “big idea” of sustainable development, and more generally the concept of sustainability as applied to individual businesses. For that matter, what is a “sustainable enterprise?” Can being “sustainable” be good for business?

To a regular person, the global concern about ‘going green’ might appear as a result of speculation from nervous politicians and alarmed citizens. But the reality is totally different. In recent years, businesses have gained much knowledge about the impact of their activities on environment and in turns their customers. Businesses are successively venturing to earn greater revenues. In this process, they are trying out every best possibility to entice their contributors- from customers to investors. Regardless to say, stakeholders these days are more socially responsible than ever. So to keep up to their expectations, businesses are also trying to expand or limit their activities to save the environment- from doing relentless research on lowering waste to lean management and even trying out various eco-friendly activities. Despite of all these, the ultimate question remains unanswered if it is financially beneficial to adapt those initiatives that is going to serve the

The idea of sustainability has become an increasingly common term in the rhetoric surrounding business ethics, as corporates are gaining broader acknowledgement of this pro-active method which guarantees business long-term viability and integrity by focusing on the triple bottom line. In business, the three aspects of sustainability include social, economic and environment.

McManus, B. (2009). Vital to Business Survival: Assessing the Impact of Environmental Pressures. GreenBiz, 1-4.

Sustainability is the stable lifestyle between humans and creatures with the earth and its natural resources. Having a healthy balance between giving and taking from the worlds natural resources is the key to sustainability. Sustainability is can be categorized into many types: Environmental, economical, population, etc.

What does sustainable business mean? According to the author Ivy Wigmore, “Sustainable business is the management and coordination of environmental, social and financial demands and concerns to ensure responsible, ethical and ongoing success”(Wigmore, 2013). Sustainable business means to me that building a sustainable business takes hard work and creativity to ensure that the practices one institutes also makes good business and financial sense as well. The qualities that best reflect this model are having a solid plan of action, good leadership, and one’s business should supply eco-friendly products or services that replace wasteful products and services. A substantial business plan can sometimes be overlooked when a new start-up is looking for funding into their venture. Although many businesses that start with a business plan, but not all business plans

Sustainability implies that the organization is managing in economic, ecological and socially competent ways. All organizations range on a continuum of their sustainability level with some being more sustainable than others. Generally, as Dunphy, Griffiths and Benn (Module One, Topic 1.5) point out, the more sustainable an organization is, the more they help the surrounding environment, be this local (the particular country) or macro (the world itself). The environment also reflects the sustainability ethos and situation of the organization itself.

Going green means reducing the overall environmental impact of your business. This term "going green” involves a few objectives such as improving the efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of the business, using sustainable materials and eliminating waste, complying with environmental regulations and buying green products, equipment and services. Global warming, if unchecked will ruin our planet. I believe businesses choose to “go green” in order to become more environmentally sustainable for the good of the environment. This will have a positive outcome on a business in terms of better publicity, an increase in profits and better consumer satisfaction, productivity and retention. Today there are numerous environmental issues, such as fracking, emissions from industries and manufacturing activities, this is when manufacturing industries and power plants emit high levels of carbon monoxide, organic compounds, and chemicals into the air. The burning of fossil fuels, cars, trucks, trains and many other transportation options burn many fossil fuels as emissions from the engines contain both primary and secondary pollutants. The use of household and farming chemicals, such as Crop dusting, fumigating homes, household cleaning products or painting supplies all release harmful chemicals into the air and cause pollution. These activities may adversely affect the sustainability of our

To me, sustainability means living so that what we consume does not vastly exceed what we contribute. It is to take care of our planet so that our planet can continue to take care of us. Sustainability, to me, means trying to make choices that have the least amount of negative impact on the earth. Sustainability is about survival and taking only what you need, then let it replenish at a rate that keeps the source producing so that it can be taken from again without depleting it completely. It means creating and maintaining an environment in which the beauty of life can live on for generations. In a sustainable world, there is a harmonious and healthy equilibrium between the Earth and all of its inhabitants. Marni Evans agrees with my statement

Sustainability is living within our means, not using resources faster than they can be replenished, and being mindful of our impact on the environment around us as well as the entire eco-system of the Earth. Business sustainability is all of the aforementioned to a much larger scale and more impactful overall than an individual’s efforts. There are many versions of the definition of sustainability. One definition is found in an article titled “What is Sustainability?”: “In essence, to sustain is to continue our