Suchergebnisse

"Die Nachhaltigkeitsdiskussion ist durch zunehmende Zerfaserung und Konturlosigkeit gekennzeichnet. Dieses ursprünglich aus der Debatte um den langfristigen Umgang mit unseren natürlichen Lebensgrundlagen entstandenen Konzept droht dabei, seinen Kern zu verlieren. Im Anschluss an eine Beschreibung der Nachhaltigkeitsdiskussion innerhalb der Wissenschaft in Deutschland wird die eigentliche Kontroverse zwischen dem Konzept schwacher und starker Nachhaltigkeit dargestellt. Nachdem Kriterien für eine rationale Wahl zwischen den beiden Konzepten diskutiert werden, wird die Wahl eines Konzeptes gerechtfertigt. Im Anschluss daran werden weiterführende Fragestellungen formuliert und es werden einige Konsequenzen der Wahl einer Konzeption starker Nachhaltigkeit dargelegt." (Autorenreferat)

"Die Diskontierung ist ein in der Ökonomie routinemäßig angewandtes Verfahren, um zu unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten anfallende Kosten und Nutzen vergleichbar zu machen. Die Wahl der Diskontrate hat dabei große Auswirkungen, vor allem wenn es sich um sehr langfristige, uns nicht mehr betreffende Ereignisse handelt. Viele Ethiker lehnen die Diskontierung ab, weil sie der intergenerationellen Gerechtigkeit widersprechen würde. In dem folgenden Aufsatz wollen wir zeigen, welche Argumente für oder gegen das Diskontieren gebraucht werden und welche Schlussfolgerungen dies im Hinblick auf das Konzept der Nachhaltigkeit zulässt." (Autorenreferat)

This is a story of transformation at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. It describes the progress and thinking along the path to introducing the university's vision of sustainability since the conclusion of EMSU 1999.It describes how sustainable practice has been incorporated within the formal democratic structures of the university, and describes the results of the initial environmental review and the early experiences and outcomes of target setting. The paper does not ignore those areas where there has not been success. It considers the involvement of the university in the UK Higher Education Programme for Sustainability (HEPS) directed by the Forum for the Future, and the advantages of engagement with the student community. The paper considers the early introduction of corporate social responsibility. It concludes with an aide memoir (currently in development) to assist all managers at the university in considering the impact of their planned actions on sustainability.

While the concept of "sustainability" traditionally has emphasized the environment, the University of Florida (UF) has learned that integrating all three "legs of the sustainability stool" is a prerequisite to effecting the comprehensive institutional change sustainability proponents seek. By assessing its own degree of sustainability using guidelines established by the Global Reporting Initiative, UF united the interests of the administration with those of campus greening and social progressive constituents and, in the process, established a baseline with which to compare future metrics. Universities,are poised to gain from lessons learned outside of academia and, as at UF, are beginning to reach out not only to environmental interests, but also to social and economic constituencies. The objectives of this paper are to identify and address the major obstacles facing institutionalization of sustainability in the university as evidenced by UF's own experiences and to provide solutions for boosting the university's status as leaders in the sustainability arena.

This paper serves as an introduction to this special issue of the journal on the topic of sustainability. It commences with definitions of sustainability, followed by a description of the roles played by governments and corporations as developers of standards and legislation, and investors in products and processes, respectively. The paper then goes on to discuss the company capacities required to achieve sustainability, paying particular attention to operations management capabilities and the management of human resources. The discussion of these topics is related to the content of the other papers subsequently presented in this special issue, and the paper concludes with suggestions for further research.