Sustainability History Project

[This post written by Jonathan F., Paul Quiring, Danny S., and Angelo S.]

We were lucky enough on Oct. 14 to have Dianne Riley from the CLF come to our class to introduce us to The Equity Atlas and she opened up a lot of ideas about what needs to be worked on in our community to improve sustainable living. One of the most overlooked aspects of sustainability is equity. While the majority of people working in the field of sustainability focus on the environmental aspect, equity is something that needs more attention in order for future generations to be sustainable too.

The idea of redefining the indicators of success plays a large role in developing social sustainability from the standpoint of corporate responsibility. There are many contrasts and difficulties that are faced when striving for both economic and social sustainability among corporations and business. This dilemma is largely due to the fact that economic success and social responsibility often times do not go hand in hand. Because the measure of success in the corporate world is mostly profit driven, social responsibility takes a back seat to making money. This is where the indicators of success could use change, or at least a tweaking. Society as a whole can demand corporate accountability and social responsibility, because as the consumers we have the ultimate say. If consumers demanded contributions to the development of social sustainability from corporations, and didn’t consume products from these corporations if they did not comply, the indicators of success would surely change and the reality of economic and social sustainability going hand in hand may emerge.

Cartoon from filipspagnoli.wordpress.com.

One such indicator is Gross domestic product. Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measurement used to determine growth by finding the sum of all goods and services. The problem with this method of measuring growth is that it considers all products and services as a whole. GDP does not take areas in declining social-economical situations into consideration. The fact that GDP is rising does not accurately represent all areas. One region could be thriving and causing the GDP, while smaller communities could be struggling, obtaining less and less equity. GDP is also unable to account for volunteer work and other unpaid labor. Another huge problem with GDP in regards to sustainability is the inclusion of exploitation of natural resources. The growth of our country and the quality of life should not be a represented the number of forests destroyed, or how much oil we pump out of the ground and pollute the environment with.

So the question quickly becomes, how should governments and corporations deal with the problem of sustainability relating to equity? Kristen Magis and Craig Shinn point out that the process of sustainability redistribution should take place through a democratic government.[1] Democratic means are especially important as it reflects the underlying desires of the entire populace not just the rich elite with a disproportionate share of equity. Jan Bebbington and Jessie Dillard directly attack the mentality of businesses as they pertain to sustainability.[2] They point out that sustainable development, when evaluating corporations, should not simply be focused on if they are contributing to fixing hot topics for the poorest or most needy of society. “This notion leads to a focus on specific pressing social issues, such as poverty alleviation, women’s emancipation, control of AIDS, education, access to safe drinking water, and sanitation services. While these are important, they should not overshadow sustainable practices throughout all society” (Bebbington and Dillard 161). Specifically that companies should focus their sustainable development in a way that would directly impact the community they reside in.

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[1] Kristen Magis and Craig Shinn, “Emergent Principles of Social Sustainability,” in Jesse Dillard, Veronica Dujon, and Mary C. King, eds., Understanding the Social Dimension of Sustainability (London: Routledge, 2009), 15-44.

[2] Jan Babbington and Jesse Dillard, “Social Sustainability: An Organizational-Level Analysis,” in Jesse Dillard, Veronica Dujon, and Mary C. King, eds., Understanding the Social Dimension of Sustainability (London: Routledge, 2009), 157-173.

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