Sustainability
Max Weber believed in the power of an idea. This political theorist discussed how Calvinism was one idea that perpetuated the rise of capitalism. Few people ever examine the power of an idea, but if one examines and contemplates this theory, a realization comes across: that ideas drive society. The key premise is that some values of our society must be altered in order to avert catastrophic consequences. The way of life in developed countries is "the origin of many of our most serious problems"(Trainer, 1985). Because developed countries have high material living standards and consume massive quantities of all resources, "hundreds of millions of people in desperate need must go without the materials and energy that could improve their conditions while these resources flow into developed countries, often to produce frivolous luxuries"(Trainer, 1985).
People's way of life seems to be a glaring example of values leading to high rates of personal consumption of resources and the waste of these same materials. In addition to overconsumption, the services used to supply our society with goods, (examples of these goods would be food, water, energy, and sewage services.) tends to be wasteful and expensive. Production is organized in such a way, (usually highly centralized) that travel becomes an enormous burden. Another consideration is that our population is expected to increase to rise to eleven billion within the next half century. Considering the mineral and energy resources needed in the future, these estimates must also include the consumption of a population almost doubled from its current status and these same figures must include an expected increase in the affluence of developed countries. "If we are willin...
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...st be adopted by every person on the planet, (starting in the developed world), otherwise the world will cease to support life.
Bibliography
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Earlier 2002, the stock price of Agnico-Eagle Mines sharply decreased by $1 finally closed at $13.89. This price has reached one of the lowest level, from the company's historical perspective. As a professional equity portfolio manager, who has a large number of AEM stocks on hand. Acker and his team are necessary to find a proper way to estimated the fair value of AEM as well as its equity. Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) has been chosen to do this job. The theory behind DCF valuation approach is that the firm's value can be estimated by using the expected future free cash flow discounted by an appropriate discounted rate (Koller etc 2005). However several assumptions need to be clearly examined within this approach. The following sections are showing the process of DCF step by step.
The sales director proposed that if the firm were to reduce the price of Item 345 to FF15.00/m, they would be able to increase sales to 175,000 units (or 25% of industry volume). But if they were to keep the price at the current value of FF20.00/m, they would be able to sell not less than 75,000 units (or 11% of industry volume).
A perfectly competitive market is based on a model of perfect competition. For a market to fall under this model it must have a number of firms, homogeneous products, and easy exit and entry levels into the market (McTaggart, 1992).
(7) Adams, W. M. The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century. Rep. The World Conservation Union, 22 May 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Sustainability requires the interplay of other disciplines from the fields of science, economy, and social studies. The disciplines must function all together at a go, not in isolation. Once that is archived, sustainable development is also due to be archived. Philosophy is needed to be in practice in order to have an efficient way to approach sustainability. Mostly environmental sustainability is the one that is seen to be important, which includes the following aspects; water, energy, oil and other resources which are finite. The balance between the social, economic and environmental sectors yields sustainable development (Giddings et al., 2002). Sustainable development is classically defined as meeting the needs of the present generation without, in any way compromising the needs of future generations (IISD., 2003). Pragmatism requires us to predict, take actions and to be innovative in problem solving which is done through scientific research, this philosophy teaches us to be practical (Christopher., 2013).
Sustainability is one of the most controversial topics throughout the history, and as our society develop, we realize that being able to be sustainable is essential to survival of our race. The book Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Sustainability is a collection of articles on different side of various issues related to sustainability. In the book, Issue 8 discusses the ability of technology to deliver sustainability, and issue 16 and 17 discusses the sustainability of food and energy. While issue 16 and 17 are well-presented, the arguments in issue 8 are not very strong.
During the last few years, Harry Davis Industries has been too constrained by the high cost of capital to make many capital investments. Recently, though, capital costs have been declining, and the company has decided to look seriously at a major expansion program that had been proposed by the marketing department. Assume that you are an assistant to Leigh Jones, the financial vice president. Your first task is to estimate Harry Davis’s cost of capital. Jones has provided you with the following data, which she believes may be relevant to your task.
As it is commonly stated, an environmentally active student from the University of Connecticut-Stamford comments, “The first step toward solving a problem is admitting there is one” (Lanslots). In the area of environmental awareness, the solution must be executed on both an individual and a corporate level. Aldo Leopold states, “A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of the land” (73). Similarly we must realize that every action we take has an intended or unintended consequence upon our earth. Each step towards the conservation effort adds a signature to the plea to save our earth. As an up and coming chemistry scholar, it is important to raise awareness of the state of our environment and to recognize the strategies that can be taken as a member of a university, a citizen of the United States, and a future member of the corporate world to ensure a better environment and maintain resources for the future generations to live in this land.
“Fancy cutting down those beautiful trees we saw this afternoon to make pulp for those bloody newspapers and calling it civilization.”– Winston Churchill.
According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. If we follow this definition, it becomes easy to see that the vast majority of the “developed” world has not, and is not developing sustainably. The idea of sustainable development requires us to consider how our action of developing will affect other countries, and future generations. Many people believe in “the butterfly effect”, where the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in one part of t...
Sustainability is a concept with a diverse array of meanings and definitions – a widely used glamorous, ambiguous, ambivalent and vague concept that is used by different stakeholder groups in various ways. Presumably to avoid noodling over a terminology or to avoid the confrontation with a definition, most widely the concept is broken down a planning process (c.f. e.g. Döring & Muraca, 2010). That is why most common sustainability is understood as sustainable development.1
Sustainability is usually laughed at, global warming is not a “reality” right? Yet the fact is something is happening in our world, it’s catastrophic and devastating, and yet many turn away at the thought of becoming a sustainable society. Consumed with the here, the now and the growth of the economy; nations neglect the future needs of their children, grandchildren or even great-great grandchildren. Is it hard to become sustainable, yes but not impossible. It is profitable to become sustainable, yes but not without some loss. Sustainable as described by Merriam-Webster dictionary, able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed [or] involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources [or] able to last or continue for a long time, this indicates a steady progress even if it is a bit slower than expected. Sustainable societies are not hocus pocus, they are a reality in some places around the world. Sustainability is an intermingling of wise resource use and protection of the “quality of life”, it is met by using natural resources sparingly, by recycling or reducing and eventually stopping the use of other non-renewable resources, to provide for our immediate need, but also to conserve and protect the needs of the next generation and to improve the quality of all the lives to come. Without rethinking and changing the way our nations focus on fuels, than there is no way for sustainability to a plausible plan.
An important part of the retention of staff, reducing staff turnover and minimising absenteeism at work is ensuring that staff are properly motivated. This is not as easy as it sounds. At first glance, you might be tempted to think that merely increasing wages is the way to motivate! Not so. Most thinkers on the subject would argue that motivation is a far more complex issue than merely 'money'.
Adams, W. M. (1999). Sustainability. In P. Cloke., P. Crang & M. Goodwin (Eds.), Introducing human geographies (pp. 125-130). London: Arnold.
Harris. J.M. 2000 Basic Principles of Sustainable Development, Global and Environment Institute Working Paper 00-04, USA