Framing Sustainability Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Completion requirements
Even as humans have sought to dominate nature, the reality is that business systems and the economy are subsystems of the biosphere. Read this chapter to discover the four key "meta-concepts": sustainable development, environmental justice, earth systems engineering and management, and sustainability science. You will also find practical frameworks and tools businesses can apply to develop sustainable innovation.
What is the difference between eco-efficiency and ecosystem solutions? How can the meta-concepts, frameworks, and tools be applied to identify sustainable business practices?
3.1 Evolutionary Adaptation
Exercises
- Identify a business and describe what operational changes would be made if senior management applied life-cycle analysis sequentially to its operations and supply chain.
- Select a product that you use. Identify as many inputs (energy, materials, and labor) as you can that enable that product to be available to you. Where and how might you apply these ideas to the production and delivery of the product?