Abstract
The term sustainability in environmental context or in terms of planet Earth came into our serious consciousness in the late 1980s as a result of the world acclaimed Brundtland Report (1987) of the World Commission on Environment and Development. This was after Rachel Carson’s book of 1962 on the excessive use of pesticides in agriculture and the Stockholm Conference on the Environment of 1972. The term and all that it’s about has become indispensable in all we do when it comes to the future survival of this great planet of ours. This chapter explores sustainability in global terms. It explains what the term means from its many dimensions, what all global citizens—corporate and individuals need to do to ensure that both current and future generations of all inhabitants of our planet live comfortably during their respective era on earth. It also takes a look at sustainability of the oceans and their importance in the livelihood and survival of the citizens of our blue planet. The chapter also delves into the two sets of UN goals—the 8 MDGs 2015 and the 17 SDGs 2030 from their sustainability perspectives. It concludes by looking at the future of sustainable practices and actions which all citizens of planet earth must continue to take.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bigelow, C. A. https://www.holganix.com/blog/what-does-sustainability-really-mean. Accessed 8 November 2019
Bilkovic, D. M., Havens, K. J., & Zaveta, D. (2016). Ecological and economic effects of derelict fishing gear in the Chesapeake Bay 2015/2016 Final Assessment Report, Revision 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21220/V54K5C.
Blowfield, M. (2013). Business and sustainability. Oxford: Oxford University.
Borunda, A. (2019). Ocean acidification, explained. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/oceans/critical-issues-ocean-acidification/
Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Towards the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizon, July/August, 39–48.
Carroll, A. B. (2016). Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: Taking another look. International Journal of Corporate social Responsibility,1, 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40991-016-0004-6.
Dahlman, L., & Lindsey, R., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2020). Climate change: Ocean heat content. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-ocean-heat-content
Desforges, J.-P. W., Galbraith, M., & Ross, P. S. (2015). Ingestion of microplastics by zooplankton in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-015-0172-5.
Elkington, J. (1997). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Oxford: Capstone.
Environmental Defense Fund. (2013). https://www.edf.org/blog/2013/10/08/5-ways-climate-change-affecting-our-oceans
Good, T. P., June, J. A., Etnier, M. A., & Broadhurst, G. (2010). Derelict fishing nets in Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits: Patterns and threats to marine fauna. Marine Pollution Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.09.005.
Hoegh-Guldberg, O., et al. (2010). The impact of climate change on the world’s marine ecosystems. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1189930.
Idowu, S. O. (2009). Practicing corporate social responsibility in the UK and Northern Ireland. In S. O. Idowu & W. Leal Filho (Eds.), Global practices of corporate social responsibility. Heidelberg: Springer.
Idowu, S. O. (2012). Corporate social responsibility: A capitalist ideology? International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 1(2), 239–254.
Jambeck, J., et al. (2015). Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1260352.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2015). Impact of ‘ghost fishing’ via derelict fishing gear.
Royer, S., Ferrón, S., Wilson, S., & Karl, D. (2018). Production of methane and ethylene from plastic in the environment. PLoS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200574.
Scheld, A. M., Bilkovic, D. M., & Havens, K. J. (2016). The dilemma of derelict gear. Scientific Reports, 6, 19671.
Shen, M., et al. (2019). Can microplastics pose a threat to ocean carbon sequestration? Marine Pollution Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110712.
Van Cauwenberghe, L., & Janssen, C. R. (2014). Microplastics in bivalves cultured for human consumption. In Environmental Pollution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.06.010.
Winston, A. S. (2019). The World in 2030: Nine megatrends to watch. MIT Sloan Management Review.https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-world-in-2030-nine-megatrends-to-watch/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sm-direct
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hogan, E., Idowu, S.O. (2021). The Drive Towards Global Sustainability in the Second Millennium: An Indispensable Task for the Survival of Planet Earth. In: Idowu, S.O. (eds) Current Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68386-3_40
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68386-3_40
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68385-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68386-3
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)