Sustainability

The term sustainability expresses the human desire for an environment that can provide for our needs now and for future generations. Our collective journey to find a way to live harmoniously with each other and within our social, economic, and ecological environments is a quest for sustainability.

Sustainability is a compelling societal goal with widespread public appeal. However, what the term implicitly conveys and what it explicitly means are not necessarily the same. Finding a specific definition of sustainability that is broadly acceptable is difficult because it is about values that vary among groups and over time.

The quest ultimately requires decisions about what to sustain, for whom, for how long, at what cost, and how. Clearly, this is not a simple task because issues of generational equity are involved (that is, balancing the distribution of benefits and costs within this generation and across future generations).

Sustainability is not absolute because it is dependent on social values and involves multiple dimensions and scales, including those of time and space. As we become more aware of cross-scale interactions, decision makers increasingly seek a triple bottom line from which tradeoffs can be more clearly defined and simultaneous social, economic, and ecological benefits can be achieved and maintained over time. Given the range of human values and differing objectives for future social, economic, and ecological conditions, engaging in a public discourse about sustainability is critical.

Creating a process for dialogue and the development of a shared vocabulary are critical to moving sustainability from semantic debate to application.

Information above gleaned from the website below:

http://www.fs.fed.us/institute/monitoring/Sustainability_monitoring.htm 

Smart Coast is looking to create a process for dialogue and networking within the business community in order to move sustainability toward practical application.

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Sustainable Business in Coastal Alabama

On September 22^nd, 2009 Smart Coast hosted a workshop called "The Midas Touch: How big companies are turning Green into Gold." The participation and interest in sustainable business practices by the attendees shows that the timing is right for good dialogue to begin around the issue of sustainable business practices.

The presenter, Bill Stough, gave a good basis for why leading companies are adopting business practices that consider the environment, the economy, and the social equity issues. He showed how these companies turn those decisions into higher profits and increased customer base.

Most of the attendees said that they would begin or increase the effort to use more sustainable business practices and many were interested in continuing the dialogue and sharing best practices in the region. There was a real air of excitement about networking with other businesses that were open to new ideas and new ways of doing things.

Smart Coast would like to hear from any business that may have any plans to implement green initiatives. Our intention is to create a Green Coast Business Directory which will promote businesses who recognize that our natural environment is important to them and the region by the practices they employ.

So let us hear from you: info@smartcoast.org

Five Sustainable Business Policies from the Breakout Session at the Workshop

1) Our corporation shall provide safe working environment and utilize sustainable materials and efficient methods to enhance productivity. We shall implement continual process improvement to provide the highest quality product to our customer and greater profits to our shareholders.

2) Our company will promote sustainability by reducing waste and conserving resources through a program of education and awareness that will increase in in effectiveness and be reinforced with incentives.

3) We, as a company, can begin our journey towards sustainable practices by appointing a team who will evaluate and measure out use of materials, our generation of waste and who will develop recommendations for improvement for the betterment of ourselves and our environment and stake holders.

4) Our company will capitalize on opportunities to positively impact environmental sustainability by reducing consumption of all materials, recycling to the maximum extent possible and measuring progress to ensure continued improvements.

5) Our company will control waste water output by recycling rinse water used to produce products, collecting them daily, and blending this mixture with other ingredients bi-monthly to manufacturer a 100% recycled cleaner. Packaging for this initiative will be 100% recycled material and marketed as a reduced cost, safe alternative cleaner. All marketing and advertising materials will also be produced on 100% recycled paper explaining the history and origination of this project.

A Message from Bill Stough, CEO of Sustainable Business Research Group

The journey towards sustainable development requires that businesses, governments and individuals take action, i.e., changing consumption and production behaviors, setting policies and changing practices.

Businesses have to find innovative ways to be profitable and at the same time improve the environmental performance of production processes and products.

The Coastal Region of Alabama has been fortunate in the recent global economic downturn but the future sustainability of the regional economy can be strengthened by the implementation of sustainable practices by businesses in the region.

Bill Stough