Prelims

Half Title Page

INTEGRAL ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

Series Page

Contributions to

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT, PEACE ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT VOLUME 26

SERIES EDITOR

MANAS CHATTERJI

BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Military Missions and Their Implications Reconsidered: The Aftermath of September 11th, edited by G. Caforio and G. Kümmel

Managing Conflict in Economic Convergence of Regions in Greater Europe, by F. Carluer

Cultural Differences between the Military and Parent Society in Democratic Countries, edited by G. Caforio

Conflict and Peace in South Asia, edited by M. Chatterji and B. M. Jain

War, Peace, and Security, edited by J. Fontanel and M. Chatterji

Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution, edited by G. Caforio, G. Kümmel and B. Purkayastha

Regional Development and Conflict Management: A Case for Brazil, by R. Bar-El

Crisis, Complexity and Conflict, by I. J. Azis

Putting Teeth in the Tiger: Improving the Effectiveness of Arms Embargoes, edited by M. Brzoska and G. A. Lopez

Peace Science: Theory and Cases, by P. Gangopadhyay and M. Chatterji

Advances in Military Sociology: Essays in Honor of Charles C. Moskos (Two Volume Set), edited by Giuseppe Caforio

Arms and Conflict in the Middle East, by Riad A. Attar

Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal, and Political Perspectives, edited by Benjamin E. Goldsmith and Jurgen Brauer

Conflict, Complexity and Mathematical Social Science, by Gordon Burt

Frontiers of Peace Economics and Peace Science, edited by Manas Chatterji, Chen Bo and Rameshwar Misra

Ethnic Conflict, Civil War and Cost of Conflict, edited by Raul Caruso

Governance, Development and Conflict, edited by Manas Chatterji, Darvesh Gopal and Savita Singh

New Wars, New Militaries, New Soldiers? Conflicts, the Armed Forces and the Soldierly Subject, edited by Gerhard Kümmel and Joseph Soeters

Cooperation for a Peaceful and Sustainable World, Part 1, edited by Chen Bo, Manas Chatterji and Hao Chaoyan

Cooperation for a Peaceful and Sustainable World, Part 2, edited by Li Junsheng, Chen Bo and Hou Na

Nuclear Disarmament: Regional Perspectives on Progress, edited by P. M. Kamath

Understanding Terrorism: A Socio-economic Perspective, edited by Raul Caruso and Andrea Locatelli

The Evolving Boundaries of Defence: An assessment of recent shifts in defence activities, edited by Renaud Bellais

Business, Ethics and Peace, edited by Luk Bouckaert and Manas Chatterji

Emotions, Decision-Making, Conflict and Cooperation, authored by Urs Luterbacher

Title Page

Contributions to

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT, PEACE ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT VOLUME 26

INTEGRAL ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

EDITED BY

OVE JAKOBSEN

University of Nordland

LASZLO ZSOLNAI

Corvinus University of Budapest

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2017

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78714-464-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78714-463-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78714-936-6 (Epub)

ISSN: 1572-8323 (Series)

List of Contributors

Foreword

In this volume, we address questions pertaining to the relationship between business, the natural environment, ethics and spirituality. While traditional economic theory generally assumed firms maximize profits, it has long been acknowledged that other factors may be important to understanding firm activities. The role of ethics and spirituality in society is clearly significant; yet economists have traditionally had little to say on these topics and how they intersect with economic activity. We present contributions from eminent scholars in economics, philosophy, business and spirituality to try to begin to address this gap.

Manas Chatterji

Binghamton, NY, USA

Preface

This book, ‘Integral Ecology and Sustainable Business’, is a collection of chapters from economists, business scholars, philosophers, lawyers, theologians and practitioners who are working in Europe, North America and Asia. The work sets out to highlight the meaning of sustainability in relation to both human and non-human life. It offers a series of new and invigorating approaches to sustainable business practices and sustainability leadership.

In May 2016, the Annual European SPES Conference on ‘Integral Ecology, Earth Spirituality and Economics’ met in Bodo, Norway, under the auspices of the Center for Ecological Economics and Ethics of the Bodo Graduate School of Business, University of Nordland, and in association with the European SPES Institute and the Business Ethics Center of the Corvinus University of Budapest.

Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (Praise Be: On the Care of Our Common Home) provided an excellent opportunity and impetus for building a conversation between spirituality, ecology and business. Integral Ecology proposed in the encyclical integrates concerns for people and the planet. Integral Ecology shows a path to sustainable development through frugal consumption, acknowledging the intrinsic value of nature and, for sure, the promotion of social equality.

Here is a selection of the papers presented at our conference in Bodo. We hope the readers will find among them the inspiration to reconsider the role of humanity in nature and to look again, or perhaps for the first time, at the interconnection between ethics, spirituality and ecology, and, hopefully, seeing them in new, creative and progressive ways which will have an impact on their thinking and practice.

Ove Jacobsen

Laszlo Zsolnai

Editors

Acknowledgement

The editors would like to thank David Beake for his dedicated work for improving the English of the chapters of the book.