Sustainability why is it important

Such a business is sustainable because it contributes to the health of the structure within which it operates, thereby helping construct an environment in which the business can thrive. A sustainable business adheres to the triple bottom line , a term coined in by John Elkington, the founder of a British consultancy called SustainAbility.

The three components of the triple bottom line are profits, people, and the planet. According to the scientific journal Environmental Sustainability , an island of plastic twice the size of Texas approximately 1. This plastic harms marine life, and microplastics in seafood can end up in humans. Unchecked CO2 emissions are projected to contribute to a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius by , which will cause sea levels to rise and catastrophic weather events to increase.

Now is the time for businesses to become part of the solution, cut down on emissions and waste, and contribute to cultivating a livable planet. The case for sustainability is strong. To become sustainable, your business must engage everyone who can contribute. Every individual can take steps to live and work more sustainably, but when it comes to improving sustainability in business, there are some people who are in a unique position to effect change. Effecting change throughout an organization takes organizational leadership training and skills to make effective top-down decisions.

Business owners and leaders who possess organizational skills have the savoir faire to make strategic sustainability decisions that benefit the business, its employees, its customers, and the planet. Leaders are perhaps the most important link in the chain. Owners and executives have the intellectual acumen to identify the most effective sustainability strategy and initiatives, as well as the power to change policy and spur innovation.

Administrators, managers, and supervisors have unique insights into the day-to-day operations of a business. The future of business administration requires preparation to solve complex problems via unique perspectives, and the combination of skill and expertise to think of creative sustainability solutions. Admins, managers, and supervisors can provide valuable insights; because of their more hands-on role, they have a different perspective and understanding of how to improve business sustainability.

The HR department at your organization can play an important role in the development, creation, and implementation of company-wide sustainability policies. They can help ingrain these policies into the company culture and create a lasting shift in your business. The HR team can act as a cultural ambassador, helping employees and new recruits feel recognized and valued as key drivers in efforts toward sustainability.

Because these employees were working with the product directly, they knew exactly what could be improved. Encourage employees to speak up and share their thoughts about how your business can become more sustainable.

The results could contribute to both sustainability and profitability. Here are just a few of the many benefits of operating a more sustainable business:. You can reduce your business costs by going green. For instance, using more efficient lighting or creatively reusing existing materials will save money. Most businesses pay off the cost of panels in five to seven years.

The federal government even offers tax credits, rebates, and savings for going green. Reputation management in business is about establishing a good image by aligning messages with actions. Also, use reusable food storage containers to pack your food safely while reducing waste. Every year, thousands of sea turtles, seabirds, and other marine mammals die because of plastic. So cut down on your plastic waste by using reusable bags when and avoiding plastic-made products.

Plastic is not biodegradable, so it ends up in landfills unless reused by a brand committed to sustainability. Recycling is the very least everyone should be doing at this point. Simply make sure you have a recycle bin in your home, business, etc. All waste companies now offer recycling pick up with trash pick up so there is really no excuse! Would love to know what your thoughts are on sustainability.

Do you try to live a sustainable lifestyle? Do you choose to support businesses that make sustainability a priority? Try Oshen Salmon for a fresh and sustainable protein choice. Handling Tips Other Salmon Wellness. Entree Main Course. Wellness Why Is Sustainability Important? The Ripple Effect Learn More. Why Is Sustainability Important? Here are the major benefits of embracing sustainability: Ensures a Future For All Regardless of who we are, where we live, and what we do, we all have a moral obligation to each other, our future generations, and other species to sustain the planet.

Reduced Energy Usage Sustainable business practices lead to a significant reduction in long-term energy costs. A Healthy Habitat For All In the long-term, our society benefits from improved water and air quality, reduced landfills, and increased renewable energy sources. Societal Impact Encouraging the conservation of natural resources deeply penetrates not only your company standards and brand, but also employees and their families.

There are three core pillars of sustainability: economic development, social development, and environmental protection. Economic development refers to giving people what they wish for without negotiating the quality of life and reducing the financial weight of doing what is right.

Social development is about the mindfulness and legal protection of human health from pollution and toxic activities of businesses and organizations, as well as upholding access to basic natural resources without compromising the quality of life. Environmental protection focuses on how ecosystems should be both studied and protected, and how technology can help ensure a greener future.

In , Pearson Education released their Sustainability Plan to focus on integrating social and environmental issues into every aspect of their business. Their plan consists of three focus areas: to increase the number of learners reached, to enhance the future of learning, and to be a trusted partner. The first pillar, Reach More Learners , strives to improve accessibility and affordability of services and products as well as collaboration to reach unwarranted learners.

This corresponds with social development and upholding access to basic resources, like education. The sustainable development professional network thinks, acts and works globally. In , the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development met to discuss and develop a set of goals to work towards; they grew out of the Millennium Development Goals MDG that claimed success in reducing global poverty while acknowledging there was still much more to do.

The SDG eventually came up with a list of 17 items 8 which included amongst other things:. Finally, it acknowledged the concept of nature having certain rights - that people have stewardship of the world and the importance of putting people at the forefront of solving the above global issues 9 through management of the environment and of consumption for example, reducing packaging and discouraging food waste as well as promoting the use of recyclable materials.

Humans have, since the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution and maybe even before then, been a consumer rather than a replenisher of environmental resources. From hunter-gatherer societies that moved into an area to use up its resources in a season before setting up camp or moving on, only to return the following year to do the same, the development of a surplus economy saw permanent settlements.

Slash and burn farming replaced natural wilderness often with uniform crop plantation 11, p and camps gave way to settlements, then eventually villages, towns and cities which would put pressure on the environment. Sometimes, the environmental pressures forced people into making these changes in the first place growing human population being one of those pressures and often eventually they had to move on to somewhere new where the environmental could better sustain them and their practices, or make further changes to their existing environment.

There was no real concept of sustainable living, even if the people of the distant past understood that soil had a maximum fertility that could be exhausted and replenished with livestock.

It is widely acknowledged that many societies collapsed due to an inability to adapt to the conditions brought on by these unsustainable practices Whether that was introducing alien species that upset the balance of the ecosystem, cutting down too many trees at once or even a failure to adapt to natural fluctuations in the climate, we are far more aware in the modern world about the potential damage caused by human action. Cultural change often led to survival of those societies beyond what might have been expected under the circumstances 11, p Though some Renaissance and Enlightenment philosophers would express concern about resources and over-population and whether these were sustainable in the long term, these people were not taken seriously at the time other than as a hypothetical question.

It would take until the 20 th century before we would understand the impact that we could have on our environment. Environmental damage, pollution, destabilising soils by cutting down trees, fossil fuels and other environmental issues led to a growing concern about the environment and whether we were or could damage our own ecosystem. Today, their remit is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information" By the late 20 th century, the science of climate change was firmly established.

We knew by the s about the problems of the greenhouse effect and the destruction of the ozone layer 12 and coming very late in the century, an awareness of the notion that some of our resources - particularly fossil fuels - were finite and that we should make efforts to move to renewable methods of power.