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10 Sustainability
and organization tries to identify the link between poverty levels, the environment,
colonization, and sustained natural resources exploitation. So, it is easily argued
that environmental sustainability acts as a prerequisite for poverty alleviation
through sustainable economic growth. This is relevant because nowadays there is
an individualistic lifestyle obsessed with personal needs, status, work, destruction,
and materialistic wealth, without regarding the environment and its disintegration.
When an investigation tries to demonstrate themes such as employment or the levels
of poverty, they are often referred to as “hard” social problems because they are
tangible, one can easily see how impoverished a community is. However, social
sustainability often studies “soft” elements that are more difficult to measure, for
example, whether or not a community is happy. Moreover, the ways in which the
indicators are portrayed could often be done by specific companies or political
groups, thus making it more difficult to obtain independent results.
Social sustainability is similar to sustainable development because they work
towards the same goal: to provide a sound sustainable environment for the individuals that form part of the communities of a specific area (Vallance et al. 2011).
This type of development tries to improve the capacity to create healthy and livable
communities while also maintaining human and labor rights and keeping an eye on
how corporate governance works towards a better working environment. The aim
of this is to ensure that future generations can have access to the same amount or
greater social resources. When a community improves the quality of living , it is
also helping future generations understand the core of what is meant by a good
community. So, in broader terms, social sustainability’s aim is to have a supported
infrastructure for social, cultural, working, and health systems in order to allow
individuals to evolve by providing them with the necessary tools to do so.
Also, within social sustainability there is a great amount of energy spent on
identifying the positive and negative aspects that businesses have on people. This
is usually done when reviewing how companies influence employees or how they
treat the environment and its customers. It is fair to say that by improving a
business’ sustainability , the greater sustainability within that community will also
be achieved because a conscious customer will consume from a conscious business.
Furthermore, by improving the community’s well-being, it gives an opportunity
for individuals to become resilient , so a constant flow of energy is consciously
portrayed on health, housing , transport, relationships, work, education, spirituality,
governance, and environment because the community has a deep commitment to
improving the quality of life for all its citizens.
Thus the main objective is to constantly improve these things, because a strong
and inclusive society can be built, but only if the responsibility is shared between
the government, the community, and of course, businesses. For example, if a
government sets a good and viable option for businesses to develop, and this
business takes advantage of the scheme and performs on a sustainable matter, it
will create conscious customers who are acting in a sustainable manner too. In other
words, it is a win-win situation for everybody involved. When one studies social
development, several key definitions and concepts need to be understood. They are
discussed below.
10 Sustainability
and organization tries to identify the link between poverty levels, the environment,
colonization, and sustained natural resources exploitation. So, it is easily argued
that environmental sustainability acts as a prerequisite for poverty alleviation
through sustainable economic growth. This is relevant because nowadays there is
an individualistic lifestyle obsessed with personal needs, status, work, destruction,
and materialistic wealth, without regarding the environment and its disintegration.
When an investigation tries to demonstrate themes such as employment or the levels
of poverty, they are often referred to as “hard” social problems because they are
tangible, one can easily see how impoverished a community is. However, social
sustainability often studies “soft” elements that are more difficult to measure, for
example, whether or not a community is happy. Moreover, the ways in which the
indicators are portrayed could often be done by specific companies or political
groups, thus making it more difficult to obtain independent results.
Social sustainability is similar to sustainable development because they work
towards the same goal: to provide a sound sustainable environment for the individuals that form part of the communities of a specific area (Vallance et al. 2011).
This type of development tries to improve the capacity to create healthy and livable
communities while also maintaining human and labor rights and keeping an eye on
how corporate governance works towards a better working environment. The aim
of this is to ensure that future generations can have access to the same amount or
greater social resources. When a community improves the quality of living , it is
also helping future generations understand the core of what is meant by a good
community. So, in broader terms, social sustainability’s aim is to have a supported
infrastructure for social, cultural, working, and health systems in order to allow
individuals to evolve by providing them with the necessary tools to do so.
Also, within social sustainability there is a great amount of energy spent on
identifying the positive and negative aspects that businesses have on people. This
is usually done when reviewing how companies influence employees or how they
treat the environment and its customers. It is fair to say that by improving a
business’ sustainability , the greater sustainability within that community will also
be achieved because a conscious customer will consume from a conscious business.
Furthermore, by improving the community’s well-being, it gives an opportunity
for individuals to become resilient , so a constant flow of energy is consciously
portrayed on health, housing , transport, relationships, work, education, spirituality,
governance, and environment because the community has a deep commitment to
improving the quality of life for all its citizens.
Thus the main objective is to constantly improve these things, because a strong
and inclusive society can be built, but only if the responsibility is shared between
the government, the community, and of course, businesses. For example, if a
government sets a good and viable option for businesses to develop, and this
business takes advantage of the scheme and performs on a sustainable matter, it
will create conscious customers who are acting in a sustainable manner too. In other
words, it is a win-win situation for everybody involved. When one studies social
development, several key definitions and concepts need to be understood. They are
discussed below.