My academic and professional expertise is in management, and one consideration missing from standard management education is sustainability. In addition to traditional areas such as finance, human resources, information management and strategy, managers must also learn to control the use of energy, water and other raw materials, and must pay attention to the content and cost of the waste produced by their organizations.
So what exactly is sustainability management? Sustainability management can be broadly defined as the organizational management practices that result in sustainable development. It is a management practice that minimizes environmental impact and maximizes resource conservation and reuse. The depletion of our natural resources is clear and presents challenges for all organizations in the future. Companies such as Wal-Mart and Bank of America are beginning to understand that managing sustainably benefits their profit margin and long term resiliency as well as the environment. I discuss examples of such companies in the posts that follow, taking a specific interest in the economic motivation behind sustainability management. I also discuss the need for sustainability management at the local, national, and global levels and evaluate our progress toward meeting this need.
The Push Behind Corporate Sustainability Management (March 25, 2013)
Lisa Jackson's Departure and the Irrelevance of the EPA to the Obama Team (January 2, 2013)
The Growing Momentum Behind Sustainability Management (October 31, 2012)
Distance Learning and the Future of Education (October 1, 2012)
Hydrofracking Politics and Sustainability Management (May 7, 2012)
Scientific Research and a Sustainable Planet (March 12, 2012)
We Don't Really Know How to Stimulate Sustainable Economic Growth (August 8, 2011)
All Effective Management Must Be Sustainability Management (June 27, 2011)
The Profession of Sustainability Management: Source for Optimism in a Scary World (March 28, 2011)
The Transition to Sustainability Management Is Finally Underway (September 1, 2010)
Changing Obama's Management Style Alone Will Not Prevent the Next Environmental Catastrophe (June 7, 2010)
Preventing the Next Environmental Catastrophe (May 24, 2010)
EPA's Pragmatic Approach to Regulating Climate (February 24, 2010)
The Real Climate Choice Before Congress: Cap and Trade or Command and Control? (January 5, 2010)
Climate Policy and Sustainability Management (December 21, 2009)
Examining Sustainability & Politics: A Collection of Huffington Post Blog Entries by Steven Cohen
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