American Democracy Project: Critical Thinking through Deliberative Dialogues: Library Resources

In recent years' research on business and sustainability, particular attention is being given to the motivations driving business managers to incorporate social and environmental strategies into their day-to-day business activities. Such research is critical to the evaluation of green management whether viewed from the perspective of academics, managers, policy makers or business students. This volume aims to assist readers to navigate the conceptual maze surrounding discussions of business and sustainability by offering critical reflection on the state of business action for environmental sustainability and providing evidence about what is actually taking place in real localities and businesses. The chapters in the volume are focusing on sustainability issues that are critical, topical, and needed at this stage of the discussion. The volume makes three main contributions. First, it offers a critical review of business engagement with sustainability from four perspectives: sustainability as a political project; sustainability as a response to environmental crisis, sustainability as business opportunity and sustainability as stakeholder management. Second, the volume examines actual experience in terms of the steps being taken by business and how these have affected business performance. Third, the volume provides case studies of individual organizations or institutions that reveal tensions and challenges to progressing sustainable business strategies and that offer insight into the prospects for changing the relationship of business to the environment.

It is widely acknowledged that we have a duty to protect the environment. Yet, current environmental policy discussions demonstrate that fulfilling this in practice is a difficult, complex, and costly task. There are many ethical questions arising from such discussions. Should we care about the environment because it is economically valuable or because nature has intrinsic value? How do we establish an ethical trade-off between our current needs and those of future generations? Should we protect individual species or entire ecosystems instead? What way should we discuss societal values and ideals, or should scientific analysis take precedence within decision making practice? This book aims to tackle some of these thorny sustainability issues and responds to them with a cohesive, original alternative in the form of the precautionary ecosystem health principle (PEHP). It provides a detailed philosophical approach and advocates that a PEHP approach is able to overcome many of these stark and challenging difficulties within sustainability theory and environmental policy.

"The concept of sustainability is inherently multi-disciplinary because it concerns a complex system having economic, technological, ecological, political, and other perspectives. Consequently, any effort in the area of sustainability involves concepts, pr"