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By: Sara Schley and Joseph Laur
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By: Sara Schley and Joseph Laur
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| Creating Sustainable Organizations | ||
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Meeting the Economic, Ecological, and Social Challenges of the 21st Century
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"I set before you the blessing and the curse, therefore choose life." -Deuteronomy There is a proverb that states: "If you don't change direction, you'll end up where you're headed." Today there are many voices, both inside and outside of business, warning that we are headed for ecological disasters – a massive breakdown in the Earth's natural systems on which our civilization depends. There are other voices that complacently assert that nothing at all is amiss, that in fact things have never been so good. And there is a smaller but growing chorus arguing that both of these perceptions are true, at least in part. One way to reconcile these conflicting viewpoints is to think of ourselves as living in a time of great opportunity, in which we have a chance to build a new path to the next Industrial Revolution. This new age will be dramatically different from the 19th-century emergence of industry, and building a path toward it will require substantial learning on the part of individuals, companies, and society at large. Our current "know how" pales in comparison to the art of "find out how" that we must develop in order not only to survive but also to thrive into the next millenium. In fact, it will be a systems perspective and revolutionary processes of organizational learning, not coal or petroleum, that will fuel this next Industrial Age. |
The bad news is that the problems with the Earth's ecosystems, both today and in the future, are enormous. Human enterprise has indeed dealt a huge blow to our planet. The good news is that the opportunities-especially for human enterprise-are immensely greater. To harvest those opportunities, we need to make major changes in the way we think, act, and do business. Fortunately, a vision of new levels of prosperity-levels that can be sustained economically, ecologically, and socially- is drawing more and more people into its service. To fulfill that vision, we will need to take new risks, make stronger commitments, and put in some plain old hard work. In the pages that follow, the authors explore hard but necessary questions such as: o How can we expand our perspective to see that our economic systems are embedded within and defined by the broader ecosystem, and how might that awareness inform our business strategies? How can we use the concepts, tools, and methods of systems thinking and organizational learning to expand our capacity for sustainable development in our businesses and communities? How can we align our technologies with scientific principles for sustainability as we create products and services that will benefit society in the long term? |
 Two Potential Futures The Systems View of Business: Seeing Constraints as Opportunities Global Warming: Problem or Opportunity?
The Automobile Industry
The Logging and Power Industries The Triple Bottom Line Two Views of Sustainability The Fishing Industry
The Sustainability Challenge as "Limits to Success"
The Complexity of Sustainability Decisions The Systems Conditions New Mental Models for Sustainability Business and Sustainability: Success Stories Pollution Prevention
Product Stewardship
Clean Technologies
Sustainability Vision A Closer Look at the Business Success Stories What Next: Standing in Two Worlds |
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