The past several years have seen increased awareness of environmental degradation, climate change, and energy concerns—and with good reason; addressing the problem of sustainability is vital if American culture is to both persist and thrive. Because this issue affects all aspects of our lives, it can easily seem overwhelming, encouraging the belief that solutions to these problems lie beyond the scope of individual action. This study seeks to identify legitimate personal responses one can make to issues of sustainability. I approach this subject with an eye toward answering a simple series of questions: Where are we?; How did we get here?; Where are we going?; Is that where we want to go? I briefly investigate the history of the idea of progress, focusing especially on our culture's fascination with and embrace of technological progress. Following this investigation, I examine two works that offer critiques of progress: Thoreau's classic text, Walden, and Wendell Berry's, The Unsettling of America. These texts are chosen for a few reasons. First, a clear tradition of critical inquiry can be traced from Thoreau to Berry. Second, the historical distance between these authors makes a comparison of their work particularly illuminating. Though they are citizens of the same country, speak the same language, and ask similar questions, each author writes in response to different worlds—Thoreau's just beginning to embrace industrial capitalism and technological progress, and Berry's very much the product of that embrace. Most importantly, however, both authors focus on individual action and responsibility. / Master of Arts

This project is a proposal for the design of a house situated on a plot of land within the town limits of Blacksburg. It incorporates ideas drawn from many sources, particularly from this region of Appalachia -- its geology, architectural heritage, building materials, history, Blacksburg's Comprehensive Plan, housing, agriculture and energy resources. An introduction discusses some ideas on architecture followed by chapters which provide the basis upon which the design was developed, then a description of the house design and drawings followed by an analysis of the environmental responsiveness of the design using a computer program called "Energy Scheming." / Master of Architecture

The generally accepted definition of the term sustainability is: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs. While that definition helps to provide a general framework within which to understand the term, it does not begin to explain the more specific initiatives, ideas, strategies and design concepts necessary for an architect, designer or planner to contribute to the process of achieving a sustainable future. As a result, the term sustainability is often misunderstood or even mistrusted within the design professions. The goal of this thesis is to begin the process of generating a comprehensive understanding of the term sustainability within the design community. It asks the question: what does it mean, specifically, and in terms of concrete design strategies for architects, designers and planners to design for sustainability? In that sense the final product is intended to be educational and is designed to communicate information in a visual format that the design community can not only relate to, but be engaged by. The information is presented in a non-linear structure to allow dynamic connections between related pieces of information and between design strategies that solve problems within seemingly different areas. Ultimately, the final product is intended to become a CD rom with dynamic links between information within the presentation and to the Internet. / Master of Architecture

Yes / Sustainable servitisation for organisations, as an indispensable part of their sustainable development, has increasingly come to the attention of both academics and practitioners. Whilst the servitisation literature is diverse and growing, our understanding of what sustainable servitisation is and a holistic view of how it is developed and implemented is limited. To address these gaps, we provide a systematic literature review enabled by an active machine-learning tool using 66 journal articles on sustainable servitisation. We have redefined the term sustainable servitisation based on an in-depth literature analysis. From the purview of sustainable servitisation as a mechanism for organisational change, we also synthesised what is known about sustainable servitisation into a holistic framework. Notably, rather than focusing on how sustainable servitisation can be better designed, as most existing studies have done, we argue that a dynamic and processual view of sustainable servitisation is required to advance theoretical and practical knowledge. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 27 Feb 2025.

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No / The purpose of this paper is to review and highlight some recent examples of embedding education for sustainable development (ESD), within science and related curricula in ways that are meaningful and relevant to staff and students and reflect on different embedding strategies and discourses. A review of recent selected UK and international teaching and learning practice drawing on an expert workshop and link to wider debates about student competencies and embedding ESD in the curriculum. There are a number of practical ways of bringing sustainable development into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related subjects. Successful implementation requires linking teaching activities to the core activities of the STEM discipline. Reformist approaches to curriculum re-orientation are more likely to be successful than calls for radical, transformational models. Embedding ESD into the core curricula of STEM subjects is potentially difficult. This paper highlights practical ways of doing this which can be adopted and introduced within the mainstream of STEM curricula and have a greater chance of being taken up than bolt-on approaches. The treatment of ESD in STEM subjects is relatively under-developed compared to social sciences, humanities and subjects allied to environment. The economic and social significance of STEM subjects means that STEM-related subjects are integral to sustainable development and therefore STEM education must be re-oriented to sustainable development.

Rapportering av hållbarhet blir allt vanligare bland företag och enligt lag måste offentliga företag i Sverige hållbarhetsrapportera. Lagkravet gälller däremot inte universitet och högskolor och det är därför intressant att studera deras frivilliga hållbarhetsrapportering. Den svenska populationen ansågs liten därför studerades även de nordiska grannländerna. Utifrån detta formades syftet, Studiens syfte är att analysera orsaker till svenska universitets rapportering med avseende på hållbarhet. Studien skall även belysa vad och hur svenska universitet hållbarhetsrapporterar och jämföra mot övriga nordiska universitet. Utifrån syftet växte två forskningsfrågor fram, Varför väljer svenska universitet att rapportera hållbarhet eller varför väljer de att inte göra det? Hållbarhetsrapporterar svenska och andra nordiska universitet, i så fall hur och vad rapporterar de om sin hållbarhet?   För att besvara forskningsfrågorna genomfördes en dokumentanalys och en enkätundersökning. Den insamlade empirin kopplades sedan ihop med teorier och tidigare forskning. Studien visar att universiteten och högskolorna rapporterar liknande information inom hållbarhet. Att hållbarhetsrapporteringen inte är utbyggd beror delvis på att det inte finns något krav på att rapportera den. För att utveckla denna studie skulle en noggrannare undersökning bland de nordiska grannländerna kunna göras. Tidigare forskning har konstaterat att hållbarhetsrapportering är under uppbyggnad men behöver utvecklas för att passa universitetens verksamhet. Denna studie har därför tagit fram relevanta indikatorer anpassade för universitetens rapportering av hållbarhet och som kan vara till nytta för uppbyggnaden av den. / As reporting sustainability is becoming increasingly common among corporations and by law Swedish public sector companies has to sustainability report. However this does not apply for universities, which makes it interesting to study their voluntary sustainability reporting. The Swedish population was considered small so the study was expanded to the neighboring Nordic countries. From this the aim was formed, This study aims to analyze the causes of Swedish universities reporting with respect to sustainability. The study will also shed light on what and how Swedish universities sustainability reports and compare with the neighboring Nordic countries. From this two research questions was developed Why do Swedish universities choose to report sustainability or why do they choose not to? Do Swedish and the other Nordic countries report on sustainability, if so how and what do they report on their sustainability? To answer the research questions a document analysis and survey was conducted. Theory and earlier research was then applied to the empirical findings. This study shows that universities sustainability reporting produces similar information. The reason why sustainability reporting isn’t developed is in part due to the fact that there is no requirement to do it. To develop this study further a closer analysis of the neighboring Nordic countries could be conducted. Earlier research has found that sustainability reporting is developing but need to be further developed to suit universities operations. This study has therefore developed relevant indicators adapted for universities sustainability reporting that can be of useful in future development.

Sustainability is one of the key challenges facing society in the twenty-first century. The adoption of sustainable practices in the heritage sector resonates with its long-established objectives to conserve and enhance the historic environment, although its implementation can also present significant dilemmas for the commodification, integrity, authenticity, accessibility and viability of these resources, particularly where sites are tourist attractions. The aim of this thesis was to investigate progress in the adoption of sustainable practices in heritage properties and sites in Devon and Cornwall. The findings were based on the compilation of an inventory of selected heritage resources; an extensive questionnaire survey of managers of historic houses and castles, historic churches, and museums and archives (416 responses), which investigated the extent of, and opinions about, sustainable management approaches; and semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with eight heritage managers, which probed key issues in much greater depth. The results of the research demonstrated some similarities with the adoption of sustainable practices in other sectors, such as the practical issues associated with costs and lack of knowledge. There were also some heritage-specific issues, such as perceived conflicts with protection duties, the consequences of being largely dependent upon volunteer staffing, and the institutional role of larger parent organisations, which have been overlooked in previous research. Most significantly, the results indicated that very few heritage sites produced sufficient surpluses to facilitate investment in sustainable practices that might ultimately enhance their financial viability and fund enhanced conservation activities. Future strategies for the sector as whole must therefore not only deal with capacity-building, such as access to information and training on sector-specific sustainable management, but also address the institutional factors governing heritage in the UK, such as strategic leadership, the most effective models for governance and funding mechanisms for sustainability, and the creation of local and regional heritage networks.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Silva de Souza.pdf: 588771 bytes, checksum: f5afcb0dd11fea5cb3632812df0f43df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-26 / The reflection on the theme development, along with pressure from society in nature, led the growth in awareness of the environmental problems caused by incompatible standards of living through the process of regeneration of the environment. With that sustainable development has become the main choice for today's socioeconomic development. The finding of fact made researchers were in search of a development model that can guarantee the quality of life of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to survive and develop. Several tools have been developed in recent years with the aim of measuring the sustainability of economic and social systems. In an attempt to improve knowledge of sustainability indicators in this study evaluated three of the tools most widely used and recognized in the context of sustainability: the Ecological Footprint, the Dashboard of Sustainability, and the Barometer of Sustainability. The three tools were evaluated in order to identify the main elements of these indicators and their theoretical basis. The ultimate goal is to write a comparative analysis and improve understanding of sustainability indicators mentioned so that you can use these tools more clearly and consciously / A reflexão sobre o tema desenvolvimento, juntamente com a pressão exercida pela sociedade na natureza, levou o crescimento da consciência sobre os problemas ambientais gerados por padrões de vida incompatíveis com o processo de regeneração do meio ambiente. Com isso o desenvolvimento sustentável tornou-se a principal opção de desenvolvimento socioeconômico da atualidade. A constatação deste fato fez com pesquisadores fossem em busca de um modelo de desenvolvimento que possa garantir a qualidade de vida das gerações atuais sem comprometer a capacidade de gerações futuras de sobreviverem e desenvolverem-se. Várias ferramentas foram elaboradas nos últimos anos com o objetivo de mensurar a sustentabilidade de sistemas econômicos e sociais. Na tentativa de melhorar o conhecimento sobre os indicadores de sustentabilidade o presente estudo avaliou três das ferramentas mais usadas e reconhecidas no âmbito da sustentabilidade: o Ecological Footprint, o Dashboard of Sustainability, e o Barometer of Sustainability. As três ferramentas foram analisadas para que se identificassem os principais elementos formadores destes indicadores e seu embasamento teórico. O objetivo final do trabalho é fazer uma análise comparativa e melhorar o conhecimento dos indicadores de sustentabilidade mencionados para que seja possível utilizar essas ferramentas de forma mais adequada e consciente