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1 – 10 of 170Christopher Towers and Richard Howarth
With the context of changing global and local populations and, for example, their composition and distribution, this paper offers insight to food shopping in later life with a…
Abstract
With the context of changing global and local populations and, for example, their composition and distribution, this paper offers insight to food shopping in later life with a focus on Nottingham and Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands. The work is relevant and important due to the specific population makeup of this area and the challenges in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a result of population changes/challenges.
The work takes an interdisciplinary view and draws on literature from both social policy and social care and business and marketing. Using this work as a grounding, and insights to primary research from a wider study in this area, the paper offers discussion and comment on:
the importance of food and food shopping in later life;
issues of, and concerns for, health, well-being, identity and community maintenance and resilience (as a direct result of the challenge to SDG achievement); and
the role(s) and responsibility of business from a core business and wider business/corporate responsibility perspective as a reflection of the above and findings of the work.
the importance of food and food shopping in later life;
issues of, and concerns for, health, well-being, identity and community maintenance and resilience (as a direct result of the challenge to SDG achievement); and
the role(s) and responsibility of business from a core business and wider business/corporate responsibility perspective as a reflection of the above and findings of the work.
Using primary research undertaken by the authors, the paper supports findings from existing work from across social policy and care and business and management – related to the practicalities, challenges and the role of and approaches to food shopping in later life. It specifically offers insight to the efforts made by older food shoppers to maintain their independence and support their choices in a context of interdependence (e.g. within a family, community and environment). The importance social aspects of food shopping (as a counter to isolation and loneliness for example) are also identified and how, for example, the actions of business(es) may undermine the efforts (and resilience) of individuals and communities. “Better” understanding of food shoppers by business and other stakeholders is promoted.
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Richard Howarth, Tabani Ndlovu, Sihle Ndlovu, Petra Molthan-Hill and Helen Puntha
Much of the current literature on integrating sustainability into HEIs is focussed on why HEIs should embrace sustainable development (SD) and what is still missing or hindering…
Abstract
Much of the current literature on integrating sustainability into HEIs is focussed on why HEIs should embrace sustainable development (SD) and what is still missing or hindering work and the integration of efforts. There is much less exploration of how SD has been interpreted at the individual HEI level and action taken as a result. This case study reflects on important elements of the journey Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in the UK has taken to integrate sustainability, focussing on key decisions and activity in 2009/10. In highlighting this, the authors seek to empower those looking to support and/or lead the embedding of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), separately or as part of an integrated effort, in their own institution. Today in 2019, NTU is a global leader in integrating ESD as part of a wider SD agenda. The work which this paper presents, to understand and establish a baseline of key elements of NTU's existing ESD activity and systems, was an important turning point. Activities undertaken to review and assess “where are we now?”, primarily through an institution-wide survey in 2009/10, led to important insights and supported dialogue, as well as the connection and underpinning of core administrative elements of the NTU SD framework and systems. Further recommendations are given in the final section of this paper on other drivers that can help to embed ESD within an HEI.
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The theory of discounting is based on the assumption that people's observed behavior in markets for savings and investment reveals their subjective preferences regarding…
Abstract
The theory of discounting is based on the assumption that people's observed behavior in markets for savings and investment reveals their subjective preferences regarding trade-offs between present and future economic benefits. A person who borrows money at the annual interest rate r, for example, shows a willingness to pay (1+r)t dollars t years in the future to obtain one dollar in the present. On the other side of this transaction, the lender demands (1+r)t future dollars in exchange for each dollar loaned out today. In the logic of this situation, both borrowers and lenders behave as if one dollar of future currency has a “present value” of just . In this expression, the interest rate, r, is interpreted as the prevailing “discount rate” or time value of money.
Richard B. Howarth and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
The first group focuses on climate change science. In the opening chapter of this section, Jerry Mahlman (Senior Research Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research…
Abstract
The first group focuses on climate change science. In the opening chapter of this section, Jerry Mahlman (Senior Research Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research) describes what he terms the “global warming dilemma.” According to Mahlman, the scientific community has reached an effective consensus that immediate and quite aggressive steps would be required to avoid climatic changes that are large in comparison with those observed in the Earth's geological record. Stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, for example, would require permanent emissions reductions of roughly 60–80%. Moreover, the long lags in the Earth's response to changes in the composition of the atmosphere suggests that even this stringent scenario would be insufficient to prevent moderate temperature increases in the coming decades. Based on his reading of the scientific literature, Mahlman concludes that deferring action until climate change has broadly recognized deleterious effects would most likely “lock in” quite profound environmental impacts with effects lasting for centuries and even millennia. In terms of mechanisms, this argument appeals to the view that today's greenhouse gas emissions might use up the Earth's assimilative capacity, thus increasing the length of time that greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere. On top of this, Mahlman notes that most scientific studies have emphasized time scales of one century or less in evaluating climate impacts. But impacts such as sea-level rise, which would be strongly affected by the melting and breakup of glacial formations such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, occur over much longer time horizons with a high degree of irreversibility. This makes climate change an issue of intergenerational fairness that pits present society's willingness to bear significant economic costs against the goal of protecting future generations from environmental harms that are hypothetical and yet potentially catastrophic.
Conservationists claim that future generations are morally entitled to enjoy the benefits of stable climatic conditions. Libertarians argue that polluters are entitled to emit…
Abstract
Conservationists claim that future generations are morally entitled to enjoy the benefits of stable climatic conditions. Libertarians argue that polluters are entitled to emit greenhouse gases in the absence of undue regulation. This chapter explores the implications of these competing value judgements in a numerically calibrated overlapping generations model. Although short-term welfare is significantly higher under a laissez faire scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions remain unregulated, the stabilization of current climatic conditions confers substantial benefits on future generations that augment long-run economic growth. The finetuning of greenhouse gas emissions to achieve Pareto efficiency generates net gains that are small in comparison with the welfare differences between the laissez faire and climate stabilization paths.
Anyone who follows climate change policy debates even casually knows that these debates are shot through with controversy about what ought to be done and who ought to be doing it…
Abstract
Anyone who follows climate change policy debates even casually knows that these debates are shot through with controversy about what ought to be done and who ought to be doing it. What sometimes get lost in these debates, however, are much deeper differences over the nature of the climate change problem itself. That is my focus in this chapter. I will take climate change as a prime example of broader debates over what constitutes “sustainable development” and draw upon different strands of the sustainability literature to show how these disagreements play out in the climate change context.
Richard Howarth and John Fredericks
This article aims to consider different interpretation(s) of small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME)‐environment behaviour and the potential implications for intervention and…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to consider different interpretation(s) of small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME)‐environment behaviour and the potential implications for intervention and change in theory and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is primarily a reflection on a supply‐chain environmental management project and the specific and wider SME literature(s).
Findings
The proposal is that if/when embracing the internal SME dimension and sense‐making processes it is possible to conceive/describe a landscape of SME‐environment intervention and change. Recognition of this landscape is of use to interventionists involved with the facilitation of change(s) and may support improvements in the quality of outcome(s).
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the work is that there is a need to more effectively and appropriately consider the internal SME dimension and sense‐making processes when investigating and describing SME‐environment behaviour and interventions based on such descriptions.
Practical implications
The work will be of interest to interventionists, those who sponsor their work or develop policy and intervention(s) in this area.
Originality/value
This article identifies some of the impacts and implications for change that lead from the consideration of the internal SME dimension and related sense‐making processes; a dimension surfaced in the case project work but not fully engaged in that work or the SME‐environment and related literature.
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