Concepts for Environmental Sustainability

Concepts for Environmental Sustainability A Perspective on environmental sustainability? Environmental Sustainability The Commissioner acts as an independent voice that advocates, audits and reports on environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of environmental sustainability. The community needs a definition of environmental sustainability that is easily understood, is logical, and is helpful in facilitating understanding, communication and effective action by all key players (government, community, business, innovators, academia, communicators, etc.). The paper also explores the meaning of related terms and definitions eg. sustainability and related words in common usage ecologically sustainable development (as defined by the Commissioners enabling legislation) sustainable development (the Brundtland definition) triple bottom line. A preferred definition of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment This is the simplest and most fundamental way to express the concept.But people using the term environmental sustainability can specify or elaborate the term further to add extra meaning or to apply the concept to more specialised contexts. What is the physical environment? This is the physical surrounds to something.For example, the land, waters and atmosphere, physical resources and thebuildings and roadsand other physical elements go to make up the urban environment.Rural environments are made up of the farms and living areas of people andthe land and waters and atmosphere and biological elements (species utilised by agriculture, pest species, and native species, and ecological communities both human induced and natural).Natural environments are those where the influence of wild species (indigenous and naturalised) is dominant or very strong.Physical resources, of all sorts, including mineral resources, can be considered to be part of the environment. Physical environments can be considered on all scales from the micro to the local, global and even larger scales. There is no sharp distinction between the environmental and other domains (eg. social and economic) in fact the content of each domain overlaps other domains massively. The key to understan ding doesnt lie in trying to set non-overlappingboundaries between the domains but lies in being clear about the focus of different domains. (Link to) Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00 The physical environment includes the natural and biological environments. What makes an issue a sustainability issue? A sustainability issue arises whenever a valued system, object, process or attribute is under threat.The existence of the valued system, object, process or attribute could be threatened or its quality could be threatened with serious decline. In other words there is a sustainability issue whenever there is something that is valued that faces the risk of not being maintained. Whenever there is a strong sense of urgency, there is always a sustainability issue involved.This urgency couldrelate to something thatalready existsortoan understood potential.For example biodiversity might be threatened with extinction or the chance to realise the potential of a human being might be threatened, for example, if they remain in poverty or their lives are threatened by violence or disease.(The latter would usually be thought of as being social sustainability issues.) What exactly are we trying to maintain in the physical environment and who decides? There is no automatic, fixed agenda built into the term environmental sustainability. We have to look to the context to see what might be sustained.And many people and organisations already have well developedideas about what aspects of the total environment should be sustained when environmental sustainability is pursued. In a place like Victoria, with our culture, political processes and physical environment, there is strong public pressure to maintain (sustain) things like: ecosystem services (eg. nutrient cycling, the water cycle, natural water purification, climate moderation, soil protection high quality urban environments areas of natural beauty other species and ecological communities the user value flowing from physical resources (eg. minerals, energy, renewableresources, water) What motivates us to want to sustain something in the physical environment? We might want to sustain something in the physical environment because it is useful to us: e.g. the quality of local urban environments. Or we might want to do it because we care about the wellbeing of other people or other species for their sake, not ours. That is we can be motivated by utilitarian concerns and/or altruism. Sometimes we maintain something in the environmental domain in order to make it possible to achieve another goal in another domain.For example, we might sustain marine habitats in order to support the livelihood of coastal townships.Or we might sustain renewable resources so that we can support economic development or genuine progress Genuine progress is development that creates new benefits without undermining or destroying old benefits that are still valued in the community.In recent years a lot of work has been done on ‘genuine progress indicators as alternatives to GDP measures .) How long should we try to sustain something? This question can only be answered after deciding specifically what needs to be sustained and why. For example, ecosystems services for clean air would need to be sustained as long as there are living things (including people) that need to breatheclean air.For all practical purposes that means forever . Living species seem to last on average a few million years before becoming extinct though some may evolve into new species.So if we maintained a natural extinction rate for species it is so low that for practical purposes we would need to manage in the here and now as if we wanted all species to survive, effectively forever. Sustaining the recycling of certain materials may only need to continue for as long as those material types are needed technologically, and depending on the pace of technical change this could be for centuries or for decades.It is risky to assume that resources are only needed for a short time however as society might find new uses for materials as technology, lifestyles and environmental awareness develop. When it comes to trying to sustain habitat on a site-s pecific basis, very specific localised habitat or ecological community patches might need to persist for anywhere between thousands of years and just a few years depending on the ecological system involved provided all of the dependent species can access these habitat or ecological community typessomewhere consistently and at adequate scale within their local ranges forever. Is there any connection betweenenvironmental sustainability and social or economic sustainability? Since humans depend in countless ways on the physical environment (both natural and human constructed) sustaining desired environmental conditions directly contributes to the sustaining of people and human societies, that is, to social sustainability.The viability of theeconomy clearly depends on environmental resources and service flows so economicsustainability depends on environmental sustainability. More generally it can be seen that sustainability in one domain can be necessary for sustainability in another.Sustainability requirements can be mapped to show complex dependencies across domains.We classify sustainability issues into separate domains, not because the sustainabilityissues are unrelated, but for reasons of convenience and tradition, for example, to allow specialisations to develop in RD and administration, to break up complex whole into mentally manageable chunks, to reflect historical connections, etc. Can the idea of environmental sustainability drive commitments to specific action? While the idea ofenvironmental sustainability is very broad in its possible scope, concerns for environmental sustainability can be translated in specific practical goals and these can and should drive action programs.See the section How to use the definition of environmental sustainability to facilitate effective action. on page . Is restoration part of an environmental sustainability program? In a world where life-support systems and other conditions required for sustainability have been run down,environmental sustainability can only be achieved through a combination of both preventive and restorative actions.So restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability.In most instances it is better to avoid destroying environmental values in the first place rather than relying on restoration as the primary strategy.However, where damage has been done that could prevent valued elements of the physical environment being sustained, restoration should not be overlooked. If we pursue an environmental sustainability program how much should we try tosustain? The physical environment is powerfully affected by and is made up of evolving systems ecological systems, societies and economies.These evolving systems will create changes in some aspects of the physical environment and will prevent or resist changes in other aspects.So anenvironmental sustainability program could never aim to sustain or maintain absolutely every component and attribute of the entire physical environment.Anyenvironmental sustainability program must start out by being clear about what it is hoped will be maintained in the physical environment and what can be allowed to change or what will be made to change.Precisely what people set out to sustain within the physical environment will depend on their value judgements, needs, skills and technology and available resources to support the action program and the current state and the dynamics of the physical environment.We cannot assume that we automatically know what should be sustained (and what should not) in the physic al environment just because there is an environmental sustainability program operating.We need to work the answer out explicitly. The origin of the core word sustain and its main derivatives The word sustain has been in the language for thousands of years.It comes from the Latin sustenare meaning to hold up ie. to support.From there it evolved long ago to mean to keep something going or extend its duration, with an overtone of providing the support or necessities that made the extended duration possible eg. a sustaining meal.These days, for commonest non-specialised use of the word the closest synonym is maintain. Sustain and its derivatives (eg. sustainability, sustainable, sustaining) were first used in a micro or personal context.However several hundreds of years ago the Swiss and Germans invented a form of forestry designed to keep the forest going as productive systems over the very long term and this was called, in the English speaking world, sustainable forestry.The idea was then extended to sustainable fisheries. From there it was not such a big step for the term to be applied, during the 0s and 0s, in the macro context of environmental issues where there was a need to sustain the whole environment and human society.This usage was established by the time of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The drifts in meaning Having reached a macro level of application sustainability was most often talked about in terms of sustainable development.The 0 World Conservation Strategy produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or World Conservation Union) put forward the concept of sustainable development meaning development that would allow ecosystem services and biodiversity to be sustained.The Brundtland Report shifted the meaning of sustainable development to mean â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs†. Then the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio set in train processes such as Agenda and Local Agenda that resulted in many people coming to the view that sustainability equals the integration or balancing of environmental, social and economic issues or simultaneous progress in the environmental, social and economic domains, often in t he context of strong programs of consultation and participation. Many people however felt uneasy with the notion of development as it is often associated with the destruction of environmental and social attributes that they value, so they felt better talking about sustainability rather than sustainable development. So, over time sustainability and sustainable development came to be treated by many people as synonyms.This trend was reinforced because some people found the term sustainable development to be a bit of a mouthful and they used sustainability as a convenient (if inaccurate) shorthand. As the scale of the taskof achieving a sustainable environment and society has become apparent many people have tried to insulate themselves from the enormity of the challenge by retreating into small incremental changes.So some people have started to say that sustainability is a process of change and not an end state, and that its the journey that counts, not the destination. As the terms sustainability and sustainable development have been used more and more in government and corporate circles, because of increasing discussion of environment and development, the business world has started using the terms more and more for its own purposes.Curiouslyin this context sustainable has quickly reverted to its earlier simple meaning of able to be maintained.So sustainable profits, or sustainable competitive advantage mean profits or competitive advantage that can be maintained for the longer term.The straightforward use of sustain and its derivatives within the domain of business is understandable because businesses face competition and hence the risk of decline and extinction every day of the week.This experience of threat leads business people to reproduce meanings of the terms that are the same as those in long-term common usage or those in the area of biological conservation. The benefits of definitional clarity and a strong relationship to core meanings The important benefit of definitional clarity is that it makes it easier to avoid logical problems and makes effective action more likely. A search on the web reveals hundreds of definitions of sustainability and sustainable development Although this diversity is a little overwhelmingit is not really. surprising given that there are many diverse people involved in the sustainability debate and there are legitimate complexities involved.However, a careful review of these definitions reveals that they fall into four basic categories only one of which (type ) is a normal dictionary-style definition.The other types are referred to in this paper as contextual definitions because they create a greater understanding of the context of a term rather than defining its essence.The four types of definitions are: Type : definitions based on the essence: x is/means y eg. sustainability is/means the ability to sustain something; sustainable development is development that can be maintained; sustaining development is development that sustains something Type : contextual definitions based onstrategies for achieving the thing being defined: the achievement of x requires y eg. the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues Type : contextual definitions based on the outcomes of the thing being defined: x results in y; eg. sustainable development results inthe meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations Type : contextual definitions based on what amovement with that label tries to achieve or is interested in: x is what the X movement strives for eg. sustainability is what the Sustainability movement strives for ie. Sustainability encompasses the protection of the environment and people, peace, and end to poverty, the meeting of human needs, enhancement of human wellbeing, promotion of happiness, etc., etc., etc. Furthermore any of these types of definitions can be framed in a more general or a narrower context eg. applied to whole systems eg. society and the environment or just to specific contexts eg. the environment of a particular species, or to specific human communities or a particular economy. The last three types of definition can be useful as they are carefully expressed so it is  clear what sort of context they are creating.But if they are written using words that See Susan Murcotts list of definitions of sustainable development in the Reference section. Where sustaining is used as an adjective (not as a verb). suggest that they are type , or dictionary-style, definitions then these types of definitions usually cause significant confusion. For example, the type definition the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues is usually presented as if it were a type definition ie. sustainability is the integration of environmental, social and economic issues.This produces the absurd implication that if we simply consider environmental, social and economic issues together that this somehow generates a sustainability outcome.Often the opposite is true because the issues are traded off against each other and one or more of the objectives are not adequately fulfilled leading to a decline (unsustainability) in the domains traded off. So in this case, a lack of clarity in the expression of the definition leads to a substitution of means for ends and the outcome is unsustainability. The much-used Brundtland definition of sustainable development is a type definition, that is, it describes what theoutcome will be of pursuing sustainable development.The wording that is universally used is â€Å"sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†.But this is in fact a not-careful-enough paraphrasing of the original in the Brundtland report which read: â€Å"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† (definition quoted from p. of the Brun dtland Report).The Brundtland statement should have been paraphrased along the followinglines: â€Å"sustainable development can under the right circumstances result in the needs of the present being met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. This formulation then focuses peoples attention on what is to be sustained, what needs are to be met in different generations and what strategies are to be applied to get the desired outcomes. Not only is definitional clarity important but so is maintaining a strong relationship between the core meaning of words and their various derived forms.For example, the terms sustainability and sustainable development are now used interchangeably by many people.For some, the motivation fordoing this is to find a shorter term to substitute for sustainable development.Others prefer to use the term sustainability as a synonym for sustainable development because they dont like talking about development since in their experience it has negative connotations either for themselves or for others.  But the end result is that two terms that originally had distinctly different meanings which served practical communication purposes are now blurred into each other thus losing the distinction of meaning. Or sustainable development. Sustainability is about continuity and development is about change. There are manythings about life that we want to sustain (maintain) and many that we want to change.So it makes sense to create the notion of sustainable development that combinesdesired change and desired continuity -for example we might change exploitation,unhappiness, poverty, destructiveness, etc.and sustain the rest of nature, trust, tolerance, honesty, happiness, health, etc.Treated in this waysustainable development doesnt have to be an oxymoron (a combination of conflicting terms). While theory says that sustainable development does not have to be an oxymoron, it can sometimes take quite a bit of negotiation before a whole society can be comfortable with a shared definition of what should be maintained and what should be changed. Developing a preferred definition of environmental sustainability The meanings of words gain their legitimacy from shared use, so in the final analysis there are no independently correct meanings, just meanings that are well understood by many people But words also help to shape our understandings and then our. actions, so the key question is not what is the correct definition? but what do we want environmental sustainability to mean, what would be most desirable? How we choose to answer this questiondepends critically on our preference for treating environmental sustainability as either a practical goal or a utopian concept. The historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee wrote in A study of history () that: The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. Sometimes the meaning of words can evolve into almost their opposite.For example terrific used to mean to c ause extreme terror now it most often means extraordinarily good.The linking meaning was probably exciting eg. the roller coaster ride was terrific†. The quote by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee was used in Lester B. Pearsons Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in . (Pearson won for introducing the concept of peacekeeping through the United Nations.)From: http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates//pearson-lecture.html This could be extended so that we think of our present era as being distinguished as the age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of both the whole human race and the whole planet as a practical objective. If this is so then we can perhaps put aside the idea of seeingenvironmental sustainability as a utopian concept and, instead, opt for seeing it as a practical objective, that is, something to be both aspired to and achieved. But we should be doubly practical. We want to be able to use a definition of environmental sustainability that: makes it easier for us to get things done (the first practicality) and we want the definition to help us focus our minds on getting the most important or relevant things done (the second practicality). To help in getting things done a definition of environmental sustainability will need to: facilitate communication between all the people who need to be involved in the issue make it easier to identify actions that need to be taken in order to achieve environmental sustainability Before exploring how thechoice of definition ofenvironmental sustainabilitycan help us be doubly practical we need to identify some definitional choices that we can apply our choice-criteria to. Some of the basic types of definitions of environmental and sustainability that are used currently are: environmental. referring to just the biological environment referring to all possible environments(contexts) eg. social, economic, physical,intellectual referring to the physical environment including thebiological, the geomorphological environment and theconstructed and cultural physical environments sustainability.. meaning the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues,or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation meaning sustainable development or making people better off in an ethically sound way meaning the ability to sustain something. How should we select among these options if we want to facilitate communication? There is really no sectorof the economy or group of people in the community that should be uninvolved in efforts to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Soifitis possible to use simple definitions that are in common usage throughout the whole community there is a good chance that most people will be able to understand each0 other.Also definitions that are widely spread in the community are likely to be more stable because drifts in meaning that emerge in small groups are not likely to be taken up by the whole population. The compound-concept ofenvironmental sustainability is not widely used in the community, nor is the word sustainability.But the core concept to sustain is widely used, and the term environmentor environmental is widely used.In common usage to sustain means tokeep something going or maintain something.Environment means, incommon usage, either the context or surroundings of something, or itmeans, more specifically, the physical environment.Clearly the Parliament of Victoria, when it passed the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00, was using the word environment in the sense of the physical environment rather than more universal meaning of the context for anything. How can our choice of definition make it easier to identify actions to take to achieve environmental sustainability? Having an action focus, especially where the aim is actually to achieve desired outcomes, means that it is not helpful touse definitions that are fuzzy or based on logical confusion.So treating sustainability and sustainable development as synonyms (ie. as having the same meaning) is not likely to be a good idea.Adding the word sustainable to development must change the type of development we are talking about otherwise why would we bother talking about sustainable development if we could more conveniently just use the word development?So if we say that sustainability has the same meaning as sustainable development what we saying in logical terms is: Concept A= Concept A + Concept B In other words it doesnt make any logical sense at all! This sort of definitional fuzziness and confusion can only persist where people are not trying to be clear about what they are talking about.And indeed some people argue that sustainability is anunattainable goal so they are not greatly fussed about the details of the definition that they use. (That is, they treat environmental sustainability as a Utopian concept rather than a practical goal.) However, if we want to use a definition ofenvironmental sustainability that makes action easier then we should avoid confusions like defining sustainability as sustainable development. How can our choice of definition help us focus our minds on gettingthe most important or relevant things done? We can only answer this by going back to what motivated societys interest in environmental sustainability in the first place.The historical record makes it clear that people became concerned aboutenvironmental sustainability when they discovered tha t aspects of the environment that they loved or depended on for survival or quality of life were threatened with extinction or serious degradation.There was an urgent concern about loss that made people think about sustainability.Were they originally thinking about integrating environmental, social and economic issues?Not at all.They were worrying about maintaining or keeping going something that they valued.How then did the ‘integration or ‘balance definition emerge?After some years of trying to achieve environmental sustainability people realised that unless they also dealt with the interacting social and economic issues they would simply not succeed in achieving their environmental goals.But did this practical/pragmatic (and perhaps ethical) realisation, change peoples environmental goals? Not really. So why did some people then change the definition of environmental sustainability to mean the integration of environmental, socialand economic issues? It was most likely because their practical focus of attention had shifted to the integration issue and they inadvertently made a classic mistake of confusing means with ends (ie. methods with goals) There is another issue that bears on thequestion of getting the most important or relevant things done.Andthat is, in what way does environmental qualify the notion of sustainability when they are compounded?Doesenvironmental sustainabilityimply the sustainability of thewhole physical environment?Or just parts of it?From a practical point of view the physical environment is so inclusive that no real-lifeenvironmental sustainabilityprogram would everset out to sustain and maintain every aspect.If we tried to do that we would, for example, freeze in place or maintain the distribution and abundance of pest plants and animals, the reduced distribution and abundance of native species, coal-fired power stations and an excessive allocation of land and resourcesto road-based transport, dangerous and resource inef ficient buildings, over-built flood plains, etc. Societys are always selective about what they want to sustain even if the agenda for action is still a huge one (eg. maintaining life support systems, maintaining quality of life, keeping native species going, maintaining the resource-base for the economy, etc.). Finally, if we are concerned to get the most important or relevant things done, what definitions should we rule out? Definitions of sustainability such as the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues, or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation no longer seem appropriate and definingenvironmental sustainability as applying to absolutely everything in the physical environment no longer seems useful. Pulling all these issues together, it is now possible to propose a preferred definition for environmental sustainability as follows: environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that arevalued in the physical environment . This happens because people have a way of expressing themselves that goes like this: environmental sustainability is all about .(insert the practical action or implication of their choice).Then people forget that this is not a definitional statement and they go on to treat it as one. A compatible suite of sustainability terms This suite of words has been developed to distinguish: between what is doing the sustaining and what it is being sustained ie. between means and ends the scope of what is being sustained Word (form) Meaning Suggested usage Incompatible usage sustain (verb) means to maintain something through time; to keep it going; to extend its duration eg. communities are working to sustain ecosystem services, or quality of life or other species sustainability (noun) means the ability or capability to sustain (maintain) something eg. will this community ach ieve sustainability for the things that it wants to persist through time (adjective) means related to or having to do with sustainability eg. a sustainability action plan is an action plan about sustainability not an action plan that can be kept in operation over an extended period sustainable (adjective) means able to be sustained, durable or able to be maintained (note: in this meaning the noun that the word is attached to is the thing that is sustained) eg. a sustainable policy is a policy that is kept in force over an extended period not a policy about sustainability sustaining (adjective) means having the propensity or tend Concepts for Environmental Sustainability Concepts for Environmental Sustainability A Perspective on environmental sustainability? Environmental Sustainability The Commissioner acts as an independent voice that advocates, audits and reports on environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of environmental sustainability. The community needs a definition of environmental sustainability that is easily understood, is logical, and is helpful in facilitating understanding, communication and effective action by all key players (government, community, business, innovators, academia, communicators, etc.). The paper also explores the meaning of related terms and definitions eg. sustainability and related words in common usage ecologically sustainable development (as defined by the Commissioners enabling legislation) sustainable development (the Brundtland definition) triple bottom line. A preferred definition of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment This is the simplest and most fundamental way to express the concept.But people using the term environmental sustainability can specify or elaborate the term further to add extra meaning or to apply the concept to more specialised contexts. What is the physical environment? This is the physical surrounds to something.For example, the land, waters and atmosphere, physical resources and thebuildings and roadsand other physical elements go to make up the urban environment.Rural environments are made up of the farms and living areas of people andthe land and waters and atmosphere and biological elements (species utilised by agriculture, pest species, and native species, and ecological communities both human induced and natural).Natural environments are those where the influence of wild species (indigenous and naturalised) is dominant or very strong.Physical resources, of all sorts, including mineral resources, can be considered to be part of the environment. Physical environments can be considered on all scales from the micro to the local, global and even larger scales. There is no sharp distinction between the environmental and other domains (eg. social and economic) in fact the content of each domain overlaps other domains massively. The key to understan ding doesnt lie in trying to set non-overlappingboundaries between the domains but lies in being clear about the focus of different domains. (Link to) Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00 The physical environment includes the natural and biological environments. What makes an issue a sustainability issue? A sustainability issue arises whenever a valued system, object, process or attribute is under threat.The existence of the valued system, object, process or attribute could be threatened or its quality could be threatened with serious decline. In other words there is a sustainability issue whenever there is something that is valued that faces the risk of not being maintained. Whenever there is a strong sense of urgency, there is always a sustainability issue involved.This urgency couldrelate to something thatalready existsortoan understood potential.For example biodiversity might be threatened with extinction or the chance to realise the potential of a human being might be threatened, for example, if they remain in poverty or their lives are threatened by violence or disease.(The latter would usually be thought of as being social sustainability issues.) What exactly are we trying to maintain in the physical environment and who decides? There is no automatic, fixed agenda built into the term environmental sustainability. We have to look to the context to see what might be sustained.And many people and organisations already have well developedideas about what aspects of the total environment should be sustained when environmental sustainability is pursued. In a place like Victoria, with our culture, political processes and physical environment, there is strong public pressure to maintain (sustain) things like: ecosystem services (eg. nutrient cycling, the water cycle, natural water purification, climate moderation, soil protection high quality urban environments areas of natural beauty other species and ecological communities the user value flowing from physical resources (eg. minerals, energy, renewableresources, water) What motivates us to want to sustain something in the physical environment? We might want to sustain something in the physical environment because it is useful to us: e.g. the quality of local urban environments. Or we might want to do it because we care about the wellbeing of other people or other species for their sake, not ours. That is we can be motivated by utilitarian concerns and/or altruism. Sometimes we maintain something in the environmental domain in order to make it possible to achieve another goal in another domain.For example, we might sustain marine habitats in order to support the livelihood of coastal townships.Or we might sustain renewable resources so that we can support economic development or genuine progress Genuine progress is development that creates new benefits without undermining or destroying old benefits that are still valued in the community.In recent years a lot of work has been done on ‘genuine progress indicators as alternatives to GDP measures .) How long should we try to sustain something? This question can only be answered after deciding specifically what needs to be sustained and why. For example, ecosystems services for clean air would need to be sustained as long as there are living things (including people) that need to breatheclean air.For all practical purposes that means forever . Living species seem to last on average a few million years before becoming extinct though some may evolve into new species.So if we maintained a natural extinction rate for species it is so low that for practical purposes we would need to manage in the here and now as if we wanted all species to survive, effectively forever. Sustaining the recycling of certain materials may only need to continue for as long as those material types are needed technologically, and depending on the pace of technical change this could be for centuries or for decades.It is risky to assume that resources are only needed for a short time however as society might find new uses for materials as technology, lifestyles and environmental awareness develop. When it comes to trying to sustain habitat on a site-s pecific basis, very specific localised habitat or ecological community patches might need to persist for anywhere between thousands of years and just a few years depending on the ecological system involved provided all of the dependent species can access these habitat or ecological community typessomewhere consistently and at adequate scale within their local ranges forever. Is there any connection betweenenvironmental sustainability and social or economic sustainability? Since humans depend in countless ways on the physical environment (both natural and human constructed) sustaining desired environmental conditions directly contributes to the sustaining of people and human societies, that is, to social sustainability.The viability of theeconomy clearly depends on environmental resources and service flows so economicsustainability depends on environmental sustainability. More generally it can be seen that sustainability in one domain can be necessary for sustainability in another.Sustainability requirements can be mapped to show complex dependencies across domains.We classify sustainability issues into separate domains, not because the sustainabilityissues are unrelated, but for reasons of convenience and tradition, for example, to allow specialisations to develop in RD and administration, to break up complex whole into mentally manageable chunks, to reflect historical connections, etc. Can the idea of environmental sustainability drive commitments to specific action? While the idea ofenvironmental sustainability is very broad in its possible scope, concerns for environmental sustainability can be translated in specific practical goals and these can and should drive action programs.See the section How to use the definition of environmental sustainability to facilitate effective action. on page . Is restoration part of an environmental sustainability program? In a world where life-support systems and other conditions required for sustainability have been run down,environmental sustainability can only be achieved through a combination of both preventive and restorative actions.So restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability.In most instances it is better to avoid destroying environmental values in the first place rather than relying on restoration as the primary strategy.However, where damage has been done that could prevent valued elements of the physical environment being sustained, restoration should not be overlooked. If we pursue an environmental sustainability program how much should we try tosustain? The physical environment is powerfully affected by and is made up of evolving systems ecological systems, societies and economies.These evolving systems will create changes in some aspects of the physical environment and will prevent or resist changes in other aspects.So anenvironmental sustainability program could never aim to sustain or maintain absolutely every component and attribute of the entire physical environment.Anyenvironmental sustainability program must start out by being clear about what it is hoped will be maintained in the physical environment and what can be allowed to change or what will be made to change.Precisely what people set out to sustain within the physical environment will depend on their value judgements, needs, skills and technology and available resources to support the action program and the current state and the dynamics of the physical environment.We cannot assume that we automatically know what should be sustained (and what should not) in the physic al environment just because there is an environmental sustainability program operating.We need to work the answer out explicitly. The origin of the core word sustain and its main derivatives The word sustain has been in the language for thousands of years.It comes from the Latin sustenare meaning to hold up ie. to support.From there it evolved long ago to mean to keep something going or extend its duration, with an overtone of providing the support or necessities that made the extended duration possible eg. a sustaining meal.These days, for commonest non-specialised use of the word the closest synonym is maintain. Sustain and its derivatives (eg. sustainability, sustainable, sustaining) were first used in a micro or personal context.However several hundreds of years ago the Swiss and Germans invented a form of forestry designed to keep the forest going as productive systems over the very long term and this was called, in the English speaking world, sustainable forestry.The idea was then extended to sustainable fisheries. From there it was not such a big step for the term to be applied, during the 0s and 0s, in the macro context of environmental issues where there was a need to sustain the whole environment and human society.This usage was established by the time of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The drifts in meaning Having reached a macro level of application sustainability was most often talked about in terms of sustainable development.The 0 World Conservation Strategy produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or World Conservation Union) put forward the concept of sustainable development meaning development that would allow ecosystem services and biodiversity to be sustained.The Brundtland Report shifted the meaning of sustainable development to mean â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs†. Then the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio set in train processes such as Agenda and Local Agenda that resulted in many people coming to the view that sustainability equals the integration or balancing of environmental, social and economic issues or simultaneous progress in the environmental, social and economic domains, often in t he context of strong programs of consultation and participation. Many people however felt uneasy with the notion of development as it is often associated with the destruction of environmental and social attributes that they value, so they felt better talking about sustainability rather than sustainable development. So, over time sustainability and sustainable development came to be treated by many people as synonyms.This trend was reinforced because some people found the term sustainable development to be a bit of a mouthful and they used sustainability as a convenient (if inaccurate) shorthand. As the scale of the taskof achieving a sustainable environment and society has become apparent many people have tried to insulate themselves from the enormity of the challenge by retreating into small incremental changes.So some people have started to say that sustainability is a process of change and not an end state, and that its the journey that counts, not the destination. As the terms sustainability and sustainable development have been used more and more in government and corporate circles, because of increasing discussion of environment and development, the business world has started using the terms more and more for its own purposes.Curiouslyin this context sustainable has quickly reverted to its earlier simple meaning of able to be maintained.So sustainable profits, or sustainable competitive advantage mean profits or competitive advantage that can be maintained for the longer term.The straightforward use of sustain and its derivatives within the domain of business is understandable because businesses face competition and hence the risk of decline and extinction every day of the week.This experience of threat leads business people to reproduce meanings of the terms that are the same as those in long-term common usage or those in the area of biological conservation. The benefits of definitional clarity and a strong relationship to core meanings The important benefit of definitional clarity is that it makes it easier to avoid logical problems and makes effective action more likely. A search on the web reveals hundreds of definitions of sustainability and sustainable development Although this diversity is a little overwhelmingit is not really. surprising given that there are many diverse people involved in the sustainability debate and there are legitimate complexities involved.However, a careful review of these definitions reveals that they fall into four basic categories only one of which (type ) is a normal dictionary-style definition.The other types are referred to in this paper as contextual definitions because they create a greater understanding of the context of a term rather than defining its essence.The four types of definitions are: Type : definitions based on the essence: x is/means y eg. sustainability is/means the ability to sustain something; sustainable development is development that can be maintained; sustaining development is development that sustains something Type : contextual definitions based onstrategies for achieving the thing being defined: the achievement of x requires y eg. the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues Type : contextual definitions based on the outcomes of the thing being defined: x results in y; eg. sustainable development results inthe meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations Type : contextual definitions based on what amovement with that label tries to achieve or is interested in: x is what the X movement strives for eg. sustainability is what the Sustainability movement strives for ie. Sustainability encompasses the protection of the environment and people, peace, and end to poverty, the meeting of human needs, enhancement of human wellbeing, promotion of happiness, etc., etc., etc. Furthermore any of these types of definitions can be framed in a more general or a narrower context eg. applied to whole systems eg. society and the environment or just to specific contexts eg. the environment of a particular species, or to specific human communities or a particular economy. The last three types of definition can be useful as they are carefully expressed so it is  clear what sort of context they are creating.But if they are written using words that See Susan Murcotts list of definitions of sustainable development in the Reference section. Where sustaining is used as an adjective (not as a verb). suggest that they are type , or dictionary-style, definitions then these types of definitions usually cause significant confusion. For example, the type definition the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues is usually presented as if it were a type definition ie. sustainability is the integration of environmental, social and economic issues.This produces the absurd implication that if we simply consider environmental, social and economic issues together that this somehow generates a sustainability outcome.Often the opposite is true because the issues are traded off against each other and one or more of the objectives are not adequately fulfilled leading to a decline (unsustainability) in the domains traded off. So in this case, a lack of clarity in the expression of the definition leads to a substitution of means for ends and the outcome is unsustainability. The much-used Brundtland definition of sustainable development is a type definition, that is, it describes what theoutcome will be of pursuing sustainable development.The wording that is universally used is â€Å"sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†.But this is in fact a not-careful-enough paraphrasing of the original in the Brundtland report which read: â€Å"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† (definition quoted from p. of the Brun dtland Report).The Brundtland statement should have been paraphrased along the followinglines: â€Å"sustainable development can under the right circumstances result in the needs of the present being met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. This formulation then focuses peoples attention on what is to be sustained, what needs are to be met in different generations and what strategies are to be applied to get the desired outcomes. Not only is definitional clarity important but so is maintaining a strong relationship between the core meaning of words and their various derived forms.For example, the terms sustainability and sustainable development are now used interchangeably by many people.For some, the motivation fordoing this is to find a shorter term to substitute for sustainable development.Others prefer to use the term sustainability as a synonym for sustainable development because they dont like talking about development since in their experience it has negative connotations either for themselves or for others.  But the end result is that two terms that originally had distinctly different meanings which served practical communication purposes are now blurred into each other thus losing the distinction of meaning. Or sustainable development. Sustainability is about continuity and development is about change. There are manythings about life that we want to sustain (maintain) and many that we want to change.So it makes sense to create the notion of sustainable development that combinesdesired change and desired continuity -for example we might change exploitation,unhappiness, poverty, destructiveness, etc.and sustain the rest of nature, trust, tolerance, honesty, happiness, health, etc.Treated in this waysustainable development doesnt have to be an oxymoron (a combination of conflicting terms). While theory says that sustainable development does not have to be an oxymoron, it can sometimes take quite a bit of negotiation before a whole society can be comfortable with a shared definition of what should be maintained and what should be changed. Developing a preferred definition of environmental sustainability The meanings of words gain their legitimacy from shared use, so in the final analysis there are no independently correct meanings, just meanings that are well understood by many people But words also help to shape our understandings and then our. actions, so the key question is not what is the correct definition? but what do we want environmental sustainability to mean, what would be most desirable? How we choose to answer this questiondepends critically on our preference for treating environmental sustainability as either a practical goal or a utopian concept. The historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee wrote in A study of history () that: The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. Sometimes the meaning of words can evolve into almost their opposite.For example terrific used to mean to c ause extreme terror now it most often means extraordinarily good.The linking meaning was probably exciting eg. the roller coaster ride was terrific†. The quote by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee was used in Lester B. Pearsons Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in . (Pearson won for introducing the concept of peacekeeping through the United Nations.)From: http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates//pearson-lecture.html This could be extended so that we think of our present era as being distinguished as the age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of both the whole human race and the whole planet as a practical objective. If this is so then we can perhaps put aside the idea of seeingenvironmental sustainability as a utopian concept and, instead, opt for seeing it as a practical objective, that is, something to be both aspired to and achieved. But we should be doubly practical. We want to be able to use a definition of environmental sustainability that: makes it easier for us to get things done (the first practicality) and we want the definition to help us focus our minds on getting the most important or relevant things done (the second practicality). To help in getting things done a definition of environmental sustainability will need to: facilitate communication between all the people who need to be involved in the issue make it easier to identify actions that need to be taken in order to achieve environmental sustainability Before exploring how thechoice of definition ofenvironmental sustainabilitycan help us be doubly practical we need to identify some definitional choices that we can apply our choice-criteria to. Some of the basic types of definitions of environmental and sustainability that are used currently are: environmental. referring to just the biological environment referring to all possible environments(contexts) eg. social, economic, physical,intellectual referring to the physical environment including thebiological, the geomorphological environment and theconstructed and cultural physical environments sustainability.. meaning the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues,or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation meaning sustainable development or making people better off in an ethically sound way meaning the ability to sustain something. How should we select among these options if we want to facilitate communication? There is really no sectorof the economy or group of people in the community that should be uninvolved in efforts to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Soifitis possible to use simple definitions that are in common usage throughout the whole community there is a good chance that most people will be able to understand each0 other.Also definitions that are widely spread in the community are likely to be more stable because drifts in meaning that emerge in small groups are not likely to be taken up by the whole population. The compound-concept ofenvironmental sustainability is not widely used in the community, nor is the word sustainability.But the core concept to sustain is widely used, and the term environmentor environmental is widely used.In common usage to sustain means tokeep something going or maintain something.Environment means, incommon usage, either the context or surroundings of something, or itmeans, more specifically, the physical environment.Clearly the Parliament of Victoria, when it passed the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00, was using the word environment in the sense of the physical environment rather than more universal meaning of the context for anything. How can our choice of definition make it easier to identify actions to take to achieve environmental sustainability? Having an action focus, especially where the aim is actually to achieve desired outcomes, means that it is not helpful touse definitions that are fuzzy or based on logical confusion.So treating sustainability and sustainable development as synonyms (ie. as having the same meaning) is not likely to be a good idea.Adding the word sustainable to development must change the type of development we are talking about otherwise why would we bother talking about sustainable development if we could more conveniently just use the word development?So if we say that sustainability has the same meaning as sustainable development what we saying in logical terms is: Concept A= Concept A + Concept B In other words it doesnt make any logical sense at all! This sort of definitional fuzziness and confusion can only persist where people are not trying to be clear about what they are talking about.And indeed some people argue that sustainability is anunattainable goal so they are not greatly fussed about the details of the definition that they use. (That is, they treat environmental sustainability as a Utopian concept rather than a practical goal.) However, if we want to use a definition ofenvironmental sustainability that makes action easier then we should avoid confusions like defining sustainability as sustainable development. How can our choice of definition help us focus our minds on gettingthe most important or relevant things done? We can only answer this by going back to what motivated societys interest in environmental sustainability in the first place.The historical record makes it clear that people became concerned aboutenvironmental sustainability when they discovered tha t aspects of the environment that they loved or depended on for survival or quality of life were threatened with extinction or serious degradation.There was an urgent concern about loss that made people think about sustainability.Were they originally thinking about integrating environmental, social and economic issues?Not at all.They were worrying about maintaining or keeping going something that they valued.How then did the ‘integration or ‘balance definition emerge?After some years of trying to achieve environmental sustainability people realised that unless they also dealt with the interacting social and economic issues they would simply not succeed in achieving their environmental goals.But did this practical/pragmatic (and perhaps ethical) realisation, change peoples environmental goals? Not really. So why did some people then change the definition of environmental sustainability to mean the integration of environmental, socialand economic issues? It was most likely because their practical focus of attention had shifted to the integration issue and they inadvertently made a classic mistake of confusing means with ends (ie. methods with goals) There is another issue that bears on thequestion of getting the most important or relevant things done.Andthat is, in what way does environmental qualify the notion of sustainability when they are compounded?Doesenvironmental sustainabilityimply the sustainability of thewhole physical environment?Or just parts of it?From a practical point of view the physical environment is so inclusive that no real-lifeenvironmental sustainabilityprogram would everset out to sustain and maintain every aspect.If we tried to do that we would, for example, freeze in place or maintain the distribution and abundance of pest plants and animals, the reduced distribution and abundance of native species, coal-fired power stations and an excessive allocation of land and resourcesto road-based transport, dangerous and resource inef ficient buildings, over-built flood plains, etc. Societys are always selective about what they want to sustain even if the agenda for action is still a huge one (eg. maintaining life support systems, maintaining quality of life, keeping native species going, maintaining the resource-base for the economy, etc.). Finally, if we are concerned to get the most important or relevant things done, what definitions should we rule out? Definitions of sustainability such as the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues, or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation no longer seem appropriate and definingenvironmental sustainability as applying to absolutely everything in the physical environment no longer seems useful. Pulling all these issues together, it is now possible to propose a preferred definition for environmental sustainability as follows: environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that arevalued in the physical environment . This happens because people have a way of expressing themselves that goes like this: environmental sustainability is all about .(insert the practical action or implication of their choice).Then people forget that this is not a definitional statement and they go on to treat it as one. A compatible suite of sustainability terms This suite of words has been developed to distinguish: between what is doing the sustaining and what it is being sustained ie. between means and ends the scope of what is being sustained Word (form) Meaning Suggested usage Incompatible usage sustain (verb) means to maintain something through time; to keep it going; to extend its duration eg. communities are working to sustain ecosystem services, or quality of life or other species sustainability (noun) means the ability or capability to sustain (maintain) something eg. will this community ach ieve sustainability for the things that it wants to persist through time (adjective) means related to or having to do with sustainability eg. a sustainability action plan is an action plan about sustainability not an action plan that can be kept in operation over an extended period sustainable (adjective) means able to be sustained, durable or able to be maintained (note: in this meaning the noun that the word is attached to is the thing that is sustained) eg. a sustainable policy is a policy that is kept in force over an extended period not a policy about sustainability sustaining (adjective) means having the propensity or tend

Problems With the Mexican Health System Essay examples -- Popular Insu

According to Mexican citizens, the health care system needs further reform to improve the efficiency, availability, and quality of medical services provided to the uninsured. A major source of inconvenience in medical provision is the long wait for treatment. Patients with scheduled appointments, as well as those in emergency situations often have to wait hours for care, and it is an accepted fact for those with Popular Health Insurance that a medical consultation in a hospital would likely engage the entire day.Additionally, both Ordoà ±ez Ramà ­rez and Mercadao Juà ¡rez agree that subsequent reforms must be made to change the focus of medical treatment towards serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes, as they are prevalent in Mexican society and especially in women and children, and IRC (chronic renal failure), which cause high hospitalization and mortality rates throughout Mexico. "Reajustar el listado de enfermedades (CAUSES) y/o padecimientos que cubre el seguro popular ya que muchos de ellos no se encuentran bien distribuidos a fin de cubrir la mayorà ­a de las necesidades de la poblacià ³n mà ¡s necesitada, un ejemplo de ello serà ­a CHAN (cirrosis hepà ¡tica alcohà ³lico nutricional) que es una de las enfermedades en el listado omitiendo por ejemplo IRC (insuficiencia renal crà ³nica) que es uno de los padecimientos que tiene un alto à ­ndice de hospitalizaciones o mortalidad en la poblacià ³n mexicana." As firmly stated by Ordoà ±ez Ramà ­rez, reevaluation of the list of diseases covered by the Popular Insurance Program is a crucial step towards not only helping relieve poverty and exorbitant prices for medical treatment, but decreasing the death toll due to inaccessible or inadequate medical treatment. However, in conjunction to re... ...cala, Mexico. February 24, 2014. (Ordoà ±ez Ramà ­rez is a doctor, and the wife of a doctor as well.) Vance, Erik. "Mexico Chalks up Success in Health-Care Reforms." Nature. Accessed January 30, 2014. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11222. World Bank. 2008. Providing Subsidized Health Insurance to the Poor. Reaching the Poor with Health Services Mexico. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/01/9455844/providing-subsidized-health-insurance-poor à ¸ World Bank. 2010. Mexico. Reaching the Poor with Health Services Mexico. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://go.worldbank.org/IYG1NQVPU0 *Whyte, Sheila. Sheila Whyte to CBC News newsgroup, "How Mexico's Health System Works," May 4, 2009. Accessed January 30, 2014. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/how-mexico-s-health-system-works-1.777348. Problems With the Mexican Health System Essay examples -- Popular Insu According to Mexican citizens, the health care system needs further reform to improve the efficiency, availability, and quality of medical services provided to the uninsured. A major source of inconvenience in medical provision is the long wait for treatment. Patients with scheduled appointments, as well as those in emergency situations often have to wait hours for care, and it is an accepted fact for those with Popular Health Insurance that a medical consultation in a hospital would likely engage the entire day.Additionally, both Ordoà ±ez Ramà ­rez and Mercadao Juà ¡rez agree that subsequent reforms must be made to change the focus of medical treatment towards serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes, as they are prevalent in Mexican society and especially in women and children, and IRC (chronic renal failure), which cause high hospitalization and mortality rates throughout Mexico. "Reajustar el listado de enfermedades (CAUSES) y/o padecimientos que cubre el seguro popular ya que muchos de ellos no se encuentran bien distribuidos a fin de cubrir la mayorà ­a de las necesidades de la poblacià ³n mà ¡s necesitada, un ejemplo de ello serà ­a CHAN (cirrosis hepà ¡tica alcohà ³lico nutricional) que es una de las enfermedades en el listado omitiendo por ejemplo IRC (insuficiencia renal crà ³nica) que es uno de los padecimientos que tiene un alto à ­ndice de hospitalizaciones o mortalidad en la poblacià ³n mexicana." As firmly stated by Ordoà ±ez Ramà ­rez, reevaluation of the list of diseases covered by the Popular Insurance Program is a crucial step towards not only helping relieve poverty and exorbitant prices for medical treatment, but decreasing the death toll due to inaccessible or inadequate medical treatment. However, in conjunction to re... ...cala, Mexico. February 24, 2014. (Ordoà ±ez Ramà ­rez is a doctor, and the wife of a doctor as well.) Vance, Erik. "Mexico Chalks up Success in Health-Care Reforms." Nature. Accessed January 30, 2014. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11222. World Bank. 2008. Providing Subsidized Health Insurance to the Poor. Reaching the Poor with Health Services Mexico. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/01/9455844/providing-subsidized-health-insurance-poor à ¸ World Bank. 2010. Mexico. Reaching the Poor with Health Services Mexico. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://go.worldbank.org/IYG1NQVPU0 *Whyte, Sheila. Sheila Whyte to CBC News newsgroup, "How Mexico's Health System Works," May 4, 2009. Accessed January 30, 2014. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/how-mexico-s-health-system-works-1.777348.

Educational Goals Essay

I am working toward a Bachelor’s degree in Interactive Media Design. I chose this because it combines two things that I am highly interested in – technology and creativity. I also researched the percent increase in jobs in the field over the past few years, which was higher than several other programs I looked into. After taking a few classes at Eastern Illinois University in Management Information Systems, I decided that computer programming and networking was not for me. I was not very good at networking and I did not enjoy programming. However, there was one class that seemed to be a lot different than all the other ones I was taking. It was an Information Presentation class where we worked with programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Google Sketch up, and Windows Movie Maker. Another reason I chose this program is because technology, as we all know, is always changing and growing. I feel like there will always be jobs in this area and new ones being created. I know I will not receive any immediate benefits after obtaining my Bachelor’s degree because I work for a non-for-profit company mostly funded by the state of Illinois. However, with that degree I will have the opportunity to apply for other jobs in other places as it is typically a requirement for the type of job I want. There are about 12 classes I need to take to complete the program since I’ve already transferred in all of the general education requirements. I am just taking Learning Strategies for the summer to brush up on some things and get used to taking a class completely online. It is also a prerequisite for all the other classes I need to take. In the fall, I will take the first two required classes. I am a bit cautious to take more than 2-3 a semester right away since I work full time, have a 5 year old daughter, and haven’t had any classes since 2009. I assume it will take me roughly two years to finish this program. That includes taking classes in the summer. I am not trying to finish it quickly I just want to finish eventually in order to secure my daughter’s future.

Individual Contribution And Impact Group Presentation - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 3006 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? My individual research work undertaken is based on the business strategy concept known as Blue Ocean. The concept of the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) originated in 2005 when two authors named as W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne of the BOS Institute wrote a book named as Blue Ocean. Commonly, people believe that the finest organizational strategy is the one which escalate profits for the organization. According to the book written by these authors, firms should seek to build demand for their products or services in a market where there is no competition rather than competing nose to nose with existing producers in the industry. Vice versa, in existing industries firms often compete with each other and seek to surpass their competitors and snatch their market share which makes it very tough for every firm to survive. Such an industry is known as Red Ocean where all the firms strive to capture the same market share from each other and as new suppliers enter into the mark et, profits are reduced, chances for growth are depreciated which often create threats for new entrants and/or disable some businesses to retain their share in the market. For this reason, such a strategy would not fit best for every firm in the modern business environment. A Blue Ocean strategy identifies such industries that do not exist or are unknown. The application of such a strategy requires that demand must be created for the product or service rather than competing against the rivals. The supporters of the Blue Ocean strategy argue that firms can rapidly boost their profits and grow expeditiously if the firm is able to provide products and services that are innovative to both the buyer and the business. This is because innovative products and services are more likely to be valued by the customers and eliminate such products or services which are of unsubstantial value to the existing or the future market. (B) Key Areas of Research and sources: To navigate the blue oce an is it required to think outside the box. There must be an idea or approach which must not necessarily a better way to do something which is already being done and where there must be a competitive edge in a limited market space. The difference between the red and blue ocean is that in the red ocean there would be a competition in the current market space of your contraption whereas in the blue ocean an incontestable market space is established which attracts new demand. Therefore, there must be a clear idea whether we are in a red or blue ocean before the start of research. A field research strategy is used where the fundamental aim of this research is the identification of the potential group which is not your customer in strategic buyers group both inside and outside the industry or substitute markets. This research also helps providing us the contour of existing buyer and non customers. A team is developed comprising research experts and analysts, professionals in qua litative and quantitative research methodologies. The team is a master in all the important areas market intelligence, competitive intelligence, analysis of the vendor, research and analytics, analysis of various trends in the market, forecasting and business analysis. The resource for this research includes experienced analysts from globally recognized market intelligence organizations, business economists and financial experts with comprehensive sector experiences. Qualitative research method is used for the collection of data in the field at the initial phase of research. The contraption for this research includes surveys, questionnaires, guides for interviews and virtual or on the spot discussion forums. This approach promotes open ended discussions in a composed ambiance to advocate true and direct dialogue. This method is mostly used because the data and intelligence which are required to recognize new buyers and market opportunities are not obtainable easily A secondary , quantitative research is acknowledged in the research plan when wide range of representative data is needed to know about new market circumstances. This methodology includes sample management, survey instrument design and management of data, tabulation and analysis by both the traditional methods for the collection of data. (c)Discussion of Strategic Models Identified:- During my research, I have come across plenty of strategic models which enable the implementation of the blue ocean strategy. Some of them are discussed below. The Four Actions Framework:- This framework looks at different aspects of the industry by asking four different questions. These questions help to straighten the focus of the business and realign its overall strategy to create value. These questions involve asking: ? What are the factors that need to be created which have not yet been created by the industry? ? What are the factors that should be promoted over the industrys standards? ? What are the factors that need to be scale down the industrys standards? ? What are the factors taken for granted by the industry and should be exterminated? The first question assists the managers of the firm to explore new ways of adding value to their products or service for the buyers. The second question encourages the management of the firm to divulge and eradicate the compromises made by the buyer. The first two questions seek to provide the firm with a differentiation edge. The third question points out the factors that need to be reduced which may have been redesigned in order to compete with the rivals. The fourth question identifies those factors which may have had value in the past but are of minute value to the buyers today. The last two questions seek to assist the firm in becoming a cost leader in the industry. Buyer Experience Cycle:- While making a purchase, a buyer goes through six different stages, from the initial purchase to the final disposal of the product. In deciding which product to purchase, a buyer thinks from unalike aspects in order to buy the product that best satisfies the needs of the buyer. These stages are called utility levers. Stage 1: Purchase: At the initial stage, the buyer has a set of questions in his mind based on which he decides which product he has to buy and how much time it would take for him to find the desired product. For this reason, it can be seen that shopping malls today are successful because they have different products under one single roof and at the same time seek to satisfy diverse needs of a variety of customers. Theoretically, it is quite simple but marketing managers should give sufficient consideration to this factor and make the product finding experience easier and much simpler for the buyer. Also, customers tend to buy their products from places that are attractive or give them the option to choose their desired products from the most fascinating products. On the other side, accessibility is a vital issue. If a store offers the best products in town but is not in reach of the buyers, they are most likely to switch to an alternative store to make their purchases. Moreover, from the perspective of a buyer, a secure transaction environment has a positive psychological affect on the buyer and encourages him to make his purchases. Lastly, customers always prefer to buy from such stores which they are familiar with because they know they would be provided with a commendable customer service. Stage 2: Delivery: The next stage is concerned with delivering the product to the buyer. Buyers usually ask that how much time it would take for the product to be delivered to them. This is where businesses can outdid their competitors in the market and exclusively in the services sector where on time delivery is the critical success factor for many businesses. Stage 3: Use: ? Are the functions and features of the product effective? Do they satisfy the desired needs of the customers? ? Does the buyer require any guidance or teaching in order to use the product? ? Is the product easy to use and operate (e.g. in case of electronics)? Stage 4: Supplements: Some products require the support of other products in order to operate effectively and meet the demand of customers. Customers always think that how much the supplement product would cost them? In this case, customers who are price sensitive might decide to switch to some other product which does not require the support of other products to operate and meet the needs of customer. On the other hand, customers who are not much price sensitive would consider whether the supplement product is available and accessible. However, this is one of the salient factors which the marketing managers should consider before deciding to introduce a fresh product to the consumers. Stage 5: Maintenance The next factor that buyers usually consider is how easy it would be to maintain the pr oduct and how much it would cost them. In the modern business environment, customers wish to purchase such products which can be maintained in less time and reduced cost. This is one of the most imperative factors which marketing managers should consider if they wish to retain their customers and also attract new customers from the market. Also, if a product requires external maintenance, customers think of factors such as cost of external maintenance and accessibility of maintenance store. Stage 6: Disposal Lastly, customers also think whether it would be easy to dispose the product or not. In this regard, managers should consider the legal and environmental issues before promoting their product into the market. Sustainable development of a product is a key aspect in the modern business environment and the firm which is able to develop, promotes and dispose their products without causing minimal harm to the environment would surely have a differentiation edge over their rival s in the market. Four Hurdles Execution:- After the management has established a blue ocean strategy, the next step in the process is to effectively implement such a strategy. Successful implementation of a strategy at any phase plays a vital role because ineffective implementation of a strategy can lead to wastage of precious resources and time. While implementing a blue ocean strategy, an organization is faced with the following four types of hurdles. If the organization wishes to succeed, it must take appropriate measures to overcome these hurdles to find a blue ocean. The Cognitive Hurdle: Normally, companies operate in red oceans which may not to lead to sustainable growth and profits in the future. Although, companies have grown and met their milestones while operating in the red ocean, managers must think beyond this if they wish to survive in the modern business environment where new competitors arise everyday in the industry making the competition more rugged. T he organization as a whole must be mentally prepared for such a strategy before implementing it so that precious resources are not wasted. The Resource Hurdle: Normally, organizations believe that when it changes its business strategy, additional resources would be required to implement the new strategy. At this point, this is the greatest hurdle which organizations come across during the implementation of the new strategy. But such a hurdle can be easily surmount if the firm has a competent and experienced human resource department. The Motivational Hurdle: A radical shift in the strategy of the business might demotivate the employees in an organization. If the management is competent and capable, they would also overcome this hurdle by creating a sense of ownership in the employees and also enriching their jobs. The Political Hurdle: Some organizations are very much influenced by the political environment. This is the last hurdle faced by an organization when imp lementing the blue ocean strategy. Governments have the right to completely abandon a product if they think the product can cause harm to the public at large e.g. drugs. A detailed analysis of the political environment would surely put the managers in a better place which would ultimately help them to overcome this hurdle. (d)Key conclusions and findings:- Based on studies, the authors of the blue ocean strategy have suggested that companies in the future would not be able to flourish by just competing with their rivals to retain their market share. The authors believe that in the modern business environment, innovation is the key to success and if an organization succeeds in creating a culture of innovation, it can easily survive in the long term without competing with any rivals in the market. Since the past many years, companies have fought with each other in order to secure their profit and market share. As a consequence, such rivalry between the firms has resulted in bloo dy red oceans where everyone tries to grab others share of the market and steal their customers. This ultimately means that if an organization wishes to survive in the modern business environment, it should therefore try to adopt a blue ocean strategy. This is because adopting such a strategy would place the company in a much better position with no competitors in the market and might put the business in a monopoly position which would ultimately make the business the leader of the market. A Blue Ocean strategy focuses on six principles which if followed adequately can create a blue ocean for the business where competition is irrelevant. These principles include: ? Identification of diverse pathways through which a market can be created where the business has no rivals to compete with. ? Encourage the managers to create value innovation rather than just focusing on increasing the profits or turnover of the business. ? Plan to attain beyond current demand and create new dema nd by targeting non-customers. ? Follow the right strategic sequence to create a blue ocean. ? Prevail over the four hurdles of execution. ? Execute the blue ocean strategy by motivating people to do so. The management must be capable to deal with behavioral issues in order to implement this final principle. However, there are some risks associated with the blue ocean strategy which the organization should seek to minimize to successfully implement the blue ocean strategy. These are: ? The blue ocean strategy encourages the managers of the business to develop new strategies and new products to create uncontested market space. The idea seems fair but this could also encourage the managers to ignore competition and they may lose grip over their core competencies. A competent management assumes that they have no rivals in place and seek to continuously improve their performance. Such a strategy could also encourage the management to overlook their rivals in the market an d as a result they might lose their attained market share. ? Although every business seeks to create a blue ocean by trying to develop strategies and product which differ largely from the products offered by their competitors. This means that a business may think that they have created a blue ocean whereas actually it has not been successful in doing so. ? A blue ocean strategy encourages the businesses to look for industries that are far beyond their own core competencies. When the business is enthused to think different under a blue ocean strategy, there is a risk that the business might overlook their strengths and history and forced to diversify in such industries where the risk of failure is high because of no experience in that industry. All in all, a blue ocean strategy is more likely to lead a company to flourish in the future but it is vital that the pros and cons are considered evenly before implementing such a strategy. (e)Summary on the success or failure:- Overall, working on such a project has aggrandized our team working skills because everyone took the responsibility on themselves which created a sense of ownership in every team member and ultimately the team as a whole was able to conclude the work effectively. For this reason, all of the questions which were asked of us were abundantly answered including the group presentation. Working on such an assignment has been very informative for us and we all are now aware of the different types of business strategies in the modern business environment. This could prove useful for us when we start our practical career. From the group standpoint, we are now aware of the different types of business strategies and how successful implementation of a blue ocean strategy can be of benefit to a business. We have also learned that how such strategies can be implemented and what are the pre-requisites for implementing the different types of business strategies. Moreover, we have also learned what type of strategy would suit a particular business and we agree on the fact that the blue ocean strategy is not fit for all types of business. The selection of a strategy varies from business to business depending on their environment and other significant factors which the management should bear in mind when choosing a strategy. Individually, I have understood that in the modern business environment, adopting and implementing a business strategy is vital for the success of a business. It doesnt matter whether the business decides to adopt a blue ocean strategy or not, what matters is the commitment of the management and their capabilities and experience which would result in the long term survival of the business. (f)Individual contribution and impact on group presentation:- Before proceeding with the assignment, all of the team members were assigned particular areas of their interest to work on. I was assigned to identify the different types of strategic models which could help the business in achieving their aims and objectives in the long run. This doesnt mean that all of the team members were working in isolation, instead all of the team members were helping and supporting in each others work. This created a team spirit and all of the team members felt a sense of ownership as everyone felt that it is their responsibility to complete the assignment. Lastly, my presentations focal point is the adequate preparation of slides and plenteous research from diverse resources. Detailed work was done with the team to cover up all areas of the assignment evenly. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Individual Contribution And Impact Group Presentation" essay for you Create order