Giorgos Kallis, Joan Martinez‐Alier and Richard B. Norgaard
This paper sets out to investigate the potential contribution of the inter‐disciplinary field of ecological economics to the explanation of the current economic crisis. The root…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to investigate the potential contribution of the inter‐disciplinary field of ecological economics to the explanation of the current economic crisis. The root of the crisis is the growing disjuncture between the real economy of production and the paper economy of finance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors trace the epistemological origins of this disjuncture to the myths of economism – a mix of academic, popular and political beliefs that served to explain, rationalise and perpetuate the current economic system.
Findings
The authors recommend ending with economism and developing new collective and discursive processes for understanding and engaging with ecological‐economic systems.
Originality/value
The authors embrace the notion of sustainable de‐growth: an equitable and democratic transition to a smaller economy with less production and consumption.
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RICHARD NORGAARD and MICHAEL RILEY
Regulatory lag is that time between a utility's request for new rates and the granting of the rates by utility commissions. The impact of inflation and regulatory lag is…
Abstract
Regulatory lag is that time between a utility's request for new rates and the granting of the rates by utility commissions. The impact of inflation and regulatory lag is presented. The relationships between regulatory lag, asset life, construction costs and utility return requirements are examined with implications for utility management, shareholders and consumers. Possible solutions to the problem of regulatory lag result. A major conclusion is that regulatory lag causes utility managers to act inefficiently and increase consumer costs to the point where the elimination of regulatory lag would be beneficial to consumers as well as investors.
Silvia Baiocco and Paola M.A. Paniccia
This paper aims to better understand how business model innovation (BMI) occurs in the context of sustainable entrepreneurship, emphasizing the dialectical nature of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to better understand how business model innovation (BMI) occurs in the context of sustainable entrepreneurship, emphasizing the dialectical nature of entrepreneurial relationships. To do so, key interdependencies and reciprocal influences between internal/firm-specific and external/environmental factors underlying BMI for sustainability are analysed through co-evolutionary lenses.
Design/methodology/approach
A co-evolutionary framework is developed and applied to a longitudinal business model (BM) analysis of 15 Italian widespread hotels, which creatively use historic villages at risk of abandonment to establish their hotels.
Findings
Largely influenced by the interplay between internal and external factors, BMI of widespread hotels occurs through multilevel co-adaptations, which are recognised as virtuous by all stakeholders involved. Effective variations of the BM value elements are selected resulting in circular economy practices, which are retained for successful BMI, radical (first) and incremental (thereafter). Knowledge of specific local and multi-local conditions, time awareness and a future-oriented temporal perspective, by both entrepreneurs and policymakers, favour this dynamic.
Practical implications
Developing targeted policies and practices based on increased organisational knowledge supported by indicators can help in selecting and retaining successful variations of BMs appropriately in/with time with positive effects on firms' performance and sustainable development.
Originality/value
This study provides a novel co-evolutionary framework that explicitly links sustainable entrepreneurship and BM concepts in the accommodation sector. It further proposes a dynamic and holistic explanation of BMI for sustainability from which the crucial roles of the time-knowledge binomial and circular practices emerge.
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Brijdeep S. Bhasin, Thorunn Bjarnadottir, Varsha N. Das, Maia M. Dock, Emily E. Pullins, Jon R. Rosales, Suzanne Savanick, David M. Stricherz and Lark A. Weller
The second Earth Summit renewed attention to sustainable development and environmental concerns worldwide; in our university, however, attention has been minimal. In response…
Abstract
The second Earth Summit renewed attention to sustainable development and environmental concerns worldwide; in our university, however, attention has been minimal. In response, several campus organizations collaborated to raise awareness on campus and in the local community by hosting a year‐long, nine‐event series of speakers and panels, each related to a chapter of Agenda 21. In addition to raising awareness among our constituency, we sought to increase our initiative's sustainability. Towards these ends, we developed 11 objectives, monitoring our success at achieving these objectives throughout the year by using surveys of participants, panelists, and collaborators. Here we reflect on the series’ impact based on evaluation analyses, and an assessment of how well we reached our goals. We close this paper with a discussion of our case study as a means to evolve sustainability interests at institutions of higher education into functional sustainability networks, initiatives and educational programs.
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Abstract
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Mandy Meikle, Jake Wilson and Tahseen Jafry
This paper aims to contribute to the ethical debate over roles and responsibilities to address the injustices of climate change and its impacts. The current impasse over taking…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the ethical debate over roles and responsibilities to address the injustices of climate change and its impacts. The current impasse over taking action may lie in the very different ways people view the world and their place in it. The aim is to explore some profound contradictions within differing strands of knowledge feeding into common understandings of climate justice.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review of appropriate peer-reviewed and “grey” literature was conducted with a view to defining the term “climate justice”.
Findings
In addition to there being no single, clear definition of climate justice, a fundamental schism was found between what indigenous peoples want to see happen and what industrialised nations can do with respect to both the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation to defining climate justice, and reason for publishing, is the lack of peer-reviewed work on this topic.
Practical implications
This paper has many practical implications, the most fundamental of which is the need to reach a consensus over rights to the Earth’s resources. If humanity, within which there are many societies, chooses to follow a truly equitable path post 2015, industrialised countries and corporations will need to move away from “endless growth economics”. The ways in which climate justice might be operationalised in future are considered, including the concept of a “climate-justice” checklist.
Originality/value
While the reconciliation proposed in this paper might be considered idealistic, unless it is acknowledged the Earth’s resources are limited, over-exploited and for all people to use sustainably, thus requiring a reduction in consumption by individuals relatively affluent in global terms, climate negotiators will continue talking about the same issues without achieving meaningful change.
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The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…
Abstract
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.
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This paper posits the need for English language arts (ELA) teachers to foster students’ use of languaging about their relations with ecosystems and peers, leading to their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper posits the need for English language arts (ELA) teachers to foster students’ use of languaging about their relations with ecosystems and peers, leading to their engaging in collective action to critique and transform status-quo systems impacting the climate crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the current theory of languaging theory and research that focuses on the use of languaging to enact relations with ecosystems and others and voice emotions for transforming communities and reducing emissions contributing to climate change.
Findings
This review of languaging theory/research leads to identifying examples of teachers having students critique the use of languaging constituting status quo energy and community/transportation systems, respond to examples of characters using languaging in literary texts, using languaging in discussing or writing about the need to address climate change, critiquing languaging in media promoting consumption, using media to interact with audiences and using languaging through engaging in role-play activities.
Originality/value
This focus on languaging in ELA classrooms is a unique perspective application of languaging theory, leading students to engage in collective, communal action to address the climate crisis.