The following is a guest post from Helen Lewis, author of new book Product Stewardship in Action: The Business Case for Life-Cycle Thinking.
Product stewardship, also referred to as extended producer responsibility (EPR) is the idea that everyone involved in the manufacture, distribution or consumption of a product shares responsibility for the environmental and social impacts of that product over its life cycle.
Ahead of the release of his new book, Somebody Else’s Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design, Robert Crocker examines the pervasive and destructive impacts of our consumption-driven social and economic systems.
Consumerism today represents an unprecedented crisis of values, in ethical, social and material terms. Never before have so many resources and so much energy been used to produce so many goods for so many people. And never before have hundreds of millions of people across the world been so ingeniously encouraged to buy, use and then throw away or upgrade – with increasing rapidity – what they have bought. This has resulted in a world of unsustainable material flows, and a world drowning in waste.
Carolin Becker-Leifhold, University Ulm (carolin.becker-leifhold@uni-ulm.de)
Mark Heuer, Susquehanna University (heuer@susqu.edu)
Greenleaf Publishing and The Textile Institute invite contributions to a forthcomi
ng title, which will address the economic, social, and environmental unsustainability of the fast fashion industry, as well as potential consumer behavior patterns supportive of the emerging eco-fashion industry. The Textile Institute identifies textiles as the second largest industry in the world. The fast fashion segment is notorious for a supply chain that links low wage, often unsafe and environmentally degraded working conditions with cheap chic, fast fashion Western retailers.
In response to the 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy that resulted in the deaths of over 1,100 garment workers, this collection will identify how consumer behavior approaches could shift garment demand toward more sustainable, responsible consumption patterns in the future. To this end, we seek contributions from academics, practitioners, policymakers, business leaders, journalists and entrepreneurs.
The launch of Business as an Instrument for Societal Change: In Conversation with the Dalai Lama took place on the 10th September at the Power & Care (A Mind & Life Dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama) in Brussels. The author of the book, Sander Tideman, presented a copy to HH the Dalai Lama, who commented:
“Of course, this is very good. We need to bring compassion into business; compassion is the best motivation for any activity in the world. It benefits others as well as yourself, including your business”.
While forthcoming on other humanitarian and environmental issues, the Dalai Lama rarely speaks directly on the topics of business, leadership and economics.
The fact that the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) now has almost fifteen hundred signatories including over three hundred asset owners and nearly one thousand asset managers provides evidence that responsible investment is increasingly seen as a standard part of mainstream investment practice. Over the past decade, PRI signatories have encouraged improvements in the environmental, social and governance performance of the companies in which they are invested, and they have made significant investments in areas such as renewable energy.
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Greenleaf Publishing is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of The Responsible Investor Handbook: Mobilizing Workers’ Capital for a Sustainable World, by Thomas Croft and Annie Malhotra. This important title is the latest in Greenleaf’s Responsible Investment Series, edited by Dr. Rory Sullivan. Continue reading
A Greenleaf author has presented research from his forthcoming book, the first to analyze the psychosocial impacts of climate disruption, to a group of experts at the UK Committee on Climate Change (UK CCC).
Bob Doppelt, who is Executive Director of The Resource Innovation, spoke on the theories behind Transformational Resilience to the UK CCC team which advises on links between climate change mitigation and adaptation at the session organized by Greenleaf earlier this week. Continue reading
To celebrate the publication of Globalization and Corporate Citizenship: The Alternative Gaze (Edited by Malcolm McIntosh) we wanted to share Klaus M. Leisinger’s reflective update to his seminal article from 2007: Capitalism with a Human Face. Continue reading
Three major organisations that are producing significant research in the fields of business and environmental sustainability – The Textile Institute; Portland State University; World Association for Sustainable Development – have signed agreements with Greenleaf Publishing to produce future book series.
Join the Sustainability Management Association’s webinar with the world leading expert on sustainable business Dr Wayne Visser, which will focus on how business can be a catalyst for a sustainable future. Dr. Visser will review the essential messages of his new book, Sustainable Frontiers: Unlocking Change through Business, Leadership and Innovation (Greenleaf Publishing, 2015).
Date and Time: September 2, 2015 at 9:00 Pacific Standard Time Zone
Title: Sustainable Frontiers: Unlocking Change through Business, Leadership and Innovation Continue reading
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