Technology improvements and value changes for sustainable happiness: a cross-development analytical model

This paper develops an analytical model to calculate the amount by which individuals are expected to modify their values (the relationship between lifestyle and happiness, as measured by subjective well-being, SWB) and to adopt innovative technologies (to increase the sustainability of production and consumption, measured by the ecological footprint, EF) to allow current and future generations to achieve sustainable happiness (the pursuit of happiness that does not exploit other people, the environment, or future generations). The paper also examines the dependence of these changes on an individual’s concern for future generations and on their country’s current state of economic development. It is shown that individuals in better-off developed countries and individuals in worse-off developing countries can achieve sustainability with a reasonable level of value change (0–30 %) and a feasible degree of technological innovation (10–40 %), respectively. In contrast, individuals in better-off developing countries and individuals in worse-off developed countries must rely to an impractical degree of technological innovation (50–70 %) and to an unreasonable level of value change (40–70 %), respectively. Finally, individuals in developing countries differ from individuals in developed countries in terms of their potential to achieve sustainable happiness, by achieving sustainability at a low SWB (about 10 % of its maximum) and a high SWB (about 80 % of its maximum), respectively.     

Could we remain simply applying discount rate to evaluate the life quality of our future generations?

When we try to estimate future environmental costs resulting from our current economic activities,we usually calculate the present value of the consequences for our future generations by utilizing a discount rate as a standard economic procedure.The popularity of this procedure is solely supported by its simplicity which assumes:(1)a perfect financial market over even 100 years,and(2)existence of a stable time preference between two consecutive periods for an individual consumer.An apparent deficiency of this approach is that the present value of life quality of future generations varies to a large extent along an arbitrarily chosen discount rate.As a matter of fact,the discount rate,which could reflect the time preference as2%or 5%,matters when we predict current strategies of environmental protection for future generations.Simply applying a discount rate to evaluate the quality of our future generation,without clarifying the actual production mechanism behind this,is almost to the same as ignoring the fact that all of the goods are produced through an actual production process and that environmental degradation reduces the efficiency of that process.The greatest concern for our future generations should not be given by an assumed discount rate,since the discount rate itself is determined by financial market conditions at certain points in time.     

Towards more sustainable future: assessment of sustainability literacy among the future managers in India

The present study attempts to assess the literacy levels of future managers of India in social, economic, and environment sustainability issues both at national and global levels among the students from Management Education Institutions (MEIs) located in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and New Delhi. Additionally, a comparative study between the MEIs situated in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and New Delhi, India, is undertaken. Interestingly, participants of the study specified more professional importance and personal relevance of sustainability. The study's outcome shows a higher level of sustainability knowledge among future managers from MEIs in New Delhi and Bengaluru. Future managers based out in New Delhi and Bengaluru are more aware of social and economic sustainability and having less awareness of environmental issues. Sustainability knowledge and awareness of the future managers are the first steps to engage them in building a sustainable future. It compels them to remain fully dedicated to creating a prosperous society and encourages them to make knowledgeable and successful choices to that end. The study's findings indicate a difference found in the levels of sustainability literacy among the Postgraduate students of Business Administration based in India's three metropolitan cities, including Chandigarh: Bengaluru and Delhi. The awareness about the local, national, or global eco-system, pollution, and other problems concerned with the environment was low among students based in Chandigarh, moderate among Delhi students, and high among the Bengaluru students.

     

Towards a sustainable energy future—exploring current barriers and potential solutions in Thailand

Renewable energy is considered an indispensable basis of sustainable energy systems as electricity generation from renewable sources results in low emissions of greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuel based electricity and contributes to sustainable development. However, effective strategies and conducive institutional settings are needed for advancement of such clean electricity systems. Although Thailand, as a nation, has a huge potential for renewable energy utilization, its total amount of electricity generation from renewables is relatively small and could be enlarged substantially. Lack of policy mechanisms, institutional development and financing exist as major barriers for Thailand in this regard. Investigation of the nation’s current energy strategy implementation shows that relevant energy and development policies are at different stages of implementation and institutional settings are continuously evolving. This paper argues that further significant efforts could be made towards advancement of renewable electricity and thus achievement of energy sustainability in Thailand. Resource planning, effective policy and institutions, focussed planning for energy sustainability and implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol could facilitate further advancement of renewables for the nation.     

The role of the engineering community in sustainable development

Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability assessment is an important part of the decision process in organisations. Sustainability is difficult to define or measure because it is a complex concept. To assess the sustainability level of an organisation, a unique attempt has been made using fuzzy-based Kano model based on the stakeholders' satisfaction. The Kano model is a customer satisfaction assessment tool that must be precise, and it is incorporated with fuzzy logic because it has the capability to replicate the human perceptions. In this context, the approach is used to assess the sustainability by using the stakeholders' satisfaction for different criteria and it provides information regarding improvement in sustainability.     

Evaluation of sustainability using an integrated approach at process and product level: a case study

The present world is facing problems like rapid depletion of natural resources and undesired environmental changes on a global scale. Manufacturing organisations are realising the importance of mitigating the present crisis and are adopting sustainable manufacturing principles. Since it is important to achieve sustainable manufacturing, sustainability assessment models were developed. Sustainability assessment models have their own drawbacks and may not provide clear scope for complete sustainable development. A system approach has been developed to overcome this shortcoming by integrating various sustainability assessment models that are already in practice. This article reports the advantages of collecting the advantages of individual sustainability assessment models and how the implementation of the integrated approach has helped to identify the current sustainability level and the scope for future developments in an automotive industry.     

Theorizing stakeholders of sustainability in the digital age

Stakeholder theory, originally introduced in 1984 by philosopher Edward Freeman, is among the most influential theories today addressing the complex interplay of societal actors. It underwent several transformations and expansions, but the original Freeman model as well as the latest approaches places the corporation at the center positioning the theory as management driven. In this article—from a sustainability science perspective—we argue that sustainability could also be considered as the center, around which societal actors are grouped, because everyone, individuals as well as stakeholders, have a stake in a ‘common future’ that is built on the transformative concept of sustainability. Next to this shift of perspective from corporation to sustainability at the center, we advance the concept of sustainability stakeholders with the new paradigm of the digital age we (are about to) live in: the proposed sustainability-centered stakeholder theory is developed to incorporate novel parameters as brought about by digitalization (such as big data, real-time transparency, algorithmic correlations, predictive analytics, or changing privacy standards). Hence, we classify the stakeholders of sustainability according to their roles as “big data stakeholders:” collectors, generators, and utilizers of big data. This digital sustainability stakeholder model operationalizes the complex interplay between stakeholders focused on their ‘stake’ in sustainability and a common future and illustrates their roles in the digital age. Thus, it offers a normative framework to analyze stakeholders’ responsibility to contribute to, advance, promote, and achieve sustainability.     

Metaphors for the War (or Race) against Climate Change

Despite overwhelming scientific consensus, millions of Americans fail to view climate change as a pressing threat. How can we address this disconnect between science and public opinion? In the present study, we investigated the role of metaphorical framing in shaping attitudes toward climate change. Participants read a brief article that metaphorically described US efforts to reduce carbon emissions as a war or race against climate change, or non-metaphorically described it as the issue of climate change. We further manipulated whether these emission-reduction goals emphasized the relatively near or distant future. We found that, compared to the race frame, the war metaphor made people perceive more urgency and risk surrounding climate change and express a greater willingness to increase conservation behavior, irrespective of the time horizon. Those who read the non-metaphorical report tended to respond in between these two extremes. We discuss the implications of these findings for climate communications.     

The role of farmers’ objectives in current farm practices and adaptation preferences: a case study in Flevoland,the Netherlands

The diversity in farmers’ objectives and responses to external drivers is usually not considered in integrated assessment studies that investigate impacts and adaptation to climate and socio-economic change. Here, we present an approach to assess how farmers’ stated objectives relate to their currently implemented practices and to preferred adaptation options, and we discuss what this implies for assessments of future changes. We based our approach on a combination of multi-criteria decision-making methods. We consistently assessed the importance of farmers’ objectives and adaptation preferences from what farmers say (based on interviews), from what farmers actually do (by analysing current farm performance) and from what farmers want (through a selected alternative farm plan). Our study was performed for six arable farms in Flevoland, a province in the Netherlands. Based on interviews with farmers, we reduced the long list of possible objectives to the most important ones. The objectives we assessed included maximization of economic result and soil organic matter, and minimization of gross margin variance, working hours and nitrogen balance. In our sample, farmers’ stated preferences in objectives were often not fully reflected in realized farming practices. Adaptation preferences of farmers largely resembled their current performance, but generally involved a trend towards stated preferences. Our results suggest that in Flevoland, although farmers do have more objectives, in practical decision-making they focus on economic result maximization, while for strategic decision-making they account for objectives influencing long-term performance and indicators associated with sustainability, in this case soil organic matter.     

Promoting Sustainability with Ecological,Economic and Social Dimensions in Developing Countries

Abstract

Sustainable development is one of the most important ideas, and goals of our time. It is defined as “development which meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation and develops safe and sound society for future generation”. Achieving sustainable development thus involves a vigorous and urgent debate on different dimensions. The different dimensions of sustainability as a framework involve all issues such as science, technology, economic growth and development, health, education, finance investment and trade, politics, natural disasters, population growth and terrorism, etc. No single dimension is responsible to develop sustainable society. This article mainly described the integrated relationship among the three dimensions of sustainability.     

Sustainable outsourcing: a practice survey and research opportunities

This paper addresses the issue of the sustainability imperative and its influence on outsourcing practice. The research initially finds that there is currently little or no work that explores sustainable or green outsourcing, other than in an information technology context. This lack of research on sustainable outsourcing practice in the industrial organisation sector led to the development of this research study. This exploratory study used a qualitative survey tool to investigate current industrial practice. Manufacturing managers in 57 organisations formed the survey sample. The data were analysed by comparison and clustering of responses of survey participants. This study contributes five key findings that demonstrate current industrial practice which includes: 32% of respondents state that sustainability is not a factor in their outsourcing decision making and 65% of small- and medium-sized enterprises had never heard of the ‘triple bottom line’ concept. Future research needs are identified and proposed highlighting that urgent development of research is required in outsourcing performance measurement and also in considering sustainability as a new manufacturing competitive priority.     

Envisioning the digital sustainability panopticon: a thought experiment of how big data may help advancing sustainability in the digital age

The starting point for a theoretical vision of digital big data and sustainability builds on the situation of a currently unsustainable world threatening present and future generations regarding all three dimensions of sustainability. Given the paradigmatic changes the era of Big Data brings about, this paper proposes a thought experiment based on Bentham’s panopticon theory, where real-time data availability offers technical opportunities to promote and transform sustainability in a preceded way. Hence, different panopticon theories are discussed and merged with the concept of sustainability to arrive at the concept of the Digital Sustainability Panopticon defined by six criteria. This vision is framed by the ten “quality criteria for visions and visioning in sustainability science” (Wiek and Iwaniec 2014) and critically discussed regarding the totalitarian potential of digital surveillance and the paradox of freedom.     

一般持续发展论（下）

本文比较全面地论述了持续发展的由来、概念、目标和战略要素。作者指出,持续发展的提出反映了人类对自身与环境关系的认识进入新阶段;是既满足当代人和局部需要又不危害后代人和全球满足需要能力的发展,包括一般持续发展论、全球持续性、区域持续性和部门持续性。作者认为,社会福利既包括人造产品也包括自然资本,持续发展的目标在于促进社会福利的增长与公平分配,以及生态系统的持续性;而达到持续发展目标的战略要素则包括经济结构的生态现代化、实行以预防为主的环境政策、经济机制的生态现代化、实行有控制的人口转变以及反贫困。在目标和战略要素的论述中,作者提出了发达和发展中国家(地区)应分别实行强持续性和弱持续性。     

Possible future trade-offs between agriculture, energy production, and biodiversity conservation in North Dakota

In this study, we describe a spatially explicit scenario analysis of global change effects on the potential future trade-offs and conflicts between agriculture, energy generation, and grassland and wetland conservation in North Dakota (ND), USA. Integrated scenarios combining global policy, oil security, and climate change were applied to North Dakota using a spatial multi-criteria analysis shell. Spatial data describing climate changes and grassland, wetland, cropland, and energy distributions were used to characterize the geographical environment. The final multi-criteria framework examined the potential trade-offs between climate change, agricultural expansion, and energy generation resulting from global change scenarios on one hand, and the current footprint of wetlands and grasslands for six regions of ND that capture the major climate gradients and differences in land use. The results suggest that the tension between regional climate changes that may limit agricultural expansion, and global changes in food and energy security and commodity prices that favor agricultural expansion, may focus a zone of potential pressure on grasslands and wetland conversion in central ND and the Prairie Pothole Region. The balance between conservation programs, commodity prices, and land parcel productivity may determine grassland conversion, while wetland outcomes may almost totally depend upon regional climate change.     

Creating an academic landscape of sustainability science: an analysis of the citation network

Sustainability is an important concept for society, economics, and the environment, with thousands of research papers published on the subject annually. As sustainability science becomes a distinctive research field, it is important to define sustainability clearly and grasp the entire structure, current status, and future directions of sustainability science. This paper provides an academic landscape of sustainability science by analyzing the citation network of papers published in academic journals. A topological clustering method is used to detect the sub-domains of sustainability science. Results show the existence of 15 main research clusters: Agriculture, Fisheries, Ecological Economics, Forestry (agroforestry), Forestry (tropical rain forest), Business, Tourism, Water, Forestry (biodiversity), Urban Planning, Rural Sociology, Energy, Health, Soil, and Wildlife. Agriculture, Fisheries, Ecological Economics, and Forestry (agroforestry) clusters are predominant among these. The Energy cluster is currently developing, as indicated by the age of papers in the cluster, although it has a relatively small number of papers. These results are compared with those obtained by natural language processing. Education, Biotechnology, Medical, Livestock, Climate Change, Welfare, and Livelihood clusters are uniquely extracted by natural language processing, because they are common topics across clusters in the citation network.     

Strengths and weaknesses of common sustainability indices for multidimensional systems

Sustainability is rapidly moving from an abstract concept to a measurable state of dynamic human-ecological systems. The large number of economic, social, and environmental indicators currently available provides an unwieldy view of system sustainability. To aid policy decisions, these indicators are therefore either presented in the context of a conceptual framework, or quantitatively aggregated into indices. Due to the quantitative nature of sustainability indices, their results may be given more weight by scientists and policy-makers. However, policy decisions can be ineffective or even counterproductive if they do not consider factors which influence index behavior: the scale of the available data and choice of system boundaries; the inclusion, transformation, and weighting of indicator data; and the aggregation method used. As previous reviews have demonstrated, sustainability indices do not rank countries consistently, even when using some of the same indicator data. Several improvements would increase the utility of sustainability indices for policy decisions, particularly the identification of biases introduced by the index methodology and data inclusion. The discrepancy of current sustainability indices due to theoretical or methodological differences supports the use of several complementary indices.     

Framing natural assets for advancing sustainability research: translating different perspectives into actions

Sustainability is a key challenge for humanity in the context of complex and unprecedented global changes. Future Earth, an international research initiative aiming to advance global sustainability science, has recently launched knowledge–action networks (KANs) as mechanisms for delivering its research strategy. The research initiative is currently developing a KAN on “natural assets” to facilitate and enable action-oriented research and synthesis towards natural assets sustainability. ‘Natural assets’ has been adopted by Future Earth as an umbrella term aiming to translate and bridge across different knowledge systems and different perspectives on peoples’ relationships with nature. In this paper, we clarify the framing of Future Earth around natural assets emphasizing the recognition on pluralism and identifying the challenges of translating different visions about the role of natural assets, including via policy formulation, for local to global sustainability challenges. This understanding will be useful to develop inter-and transdisciplinary solutions for human–environmental problems by (i) embracing richer collaborative decision processes and building bridges across different perspectives; (ii) giving emphasis on the interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic drivers affecting the future trends of investments and disinvestments in natural assets; and (iii) focusing on social equity, power relationships for effective application of the natural assets approach. This understanding also intends to inform the scope of the natural asset KAN’s research agenda to mobilize the translation of research into co-designed action for sustainability.     

An overview on corporate response towards sustainability issues in textile industry

Textiles constitute an important part of human beings everyday life. Environmentalists have been calling forth industries to incorporate sustainability principles into their production processes. In comparison with other industries, textile industry is considered to be major contributor towards environmental pollution and is subject to creating various ecological (water body pollution, waste generation, air pollution) issues throughout supply chain from fibre production till fabric finishing. This paper reviews the existing literature related to various sustainability issues surrounding the textile industry across the globe. The authors classify the literature to discuss the drivers, barriers, and responses of firms in the textile industry in favour of sustainability. Despite a growing body of research in this area, we identify significant gaps in the literature with special reference to managerial approaches being used for incorporating sustainability. While it is very important to understand the motivations that drive firms towards sustainability and barriers to implementation, attention is also drawn towards research aspects pertaining to managerial perception towards new technologies and processes. The article also provides future research opportunities in form of specific questions to strengthen existing literature in this field.     

Pro-environmental behavior correlates with present and future subjective well-being

This paper reports structural associations between psychological states, pro-environmental behavior, and present and future subjective well-being. A mailed questionnaire surveyed residents in Stockholm County, Sweden, to gather data on pro-environmental behaviors in water and energy saving at home, universalism and intrinsic satisfaction as motivational factors, and present and future subjective well-being. Results of path analysis suggest that: (1) Psychological factors (i.e., universalism, frugality, and participation categories of intrinsic satisfaction) correlate with pro-environmental behavior; (2) pro-environmental behavior could enhance not only present subjective well-being but expectations of future subjective well-being; and (3) expectations of future subjective well-being are negatively associated with current pro-environmental behavior. An important implication of this study is that expectation of better future subjective well-being may not always facilitate pro-environmental behavior. These results suggest that psychological factors both as antecedents and consequences play a significant role in building a sustainable society and improving our quality of life.     

More dams,more violence? A global analysis on resistances and repression around conflictive dams through co-produced knowledge

The present article analyses a unique database of 220 dam-related environmental conflicts, retrieved from the Global Atlas on Environmental Justice (EJAtlas), and based on knowledge co-production between academics and activists. Despite well-known controversial, social, and environmental impacts of dams, efforts to increase renewable energy generation have reinstated the interest into hydropower development globally. People affected by dams have largely denounced such ‘unsustainabilities’ through collective non-violent actions. Nevertheless, we found that repression, criminalization, violent targeting of activists and assassinations are recurrent features of conflictive dams. Violent repression is particularly high when indigenous people are involved. Indirect forms of violence are also analysed through socio-economic, environmental, and health impacts. We argue that increasing repression of the opposition against unwanted energy infrastructures does not only serve to curb specific protest actions, but also aims to delegitimize and undermine differing understanding of sustainability, epistemologies, and world views. This analysis cautions that allegedly sustainable renewables such as hydropower often replicates patterns of violence within a frame of an ‘extractivism of renewables’. We finally suggest that co-production of knowledge between scientists, activists, and communities should be largely encouraged to investigate sensitive and contentious topics in sustainability studies.