This book blends theory and practice to support courses in corporate social responsibility (CSR), business and society, and environmental management and sustainability. Based on her extensive work with companies, the author offers engaging readings and teaching cases that address key challenges for business today - measurement, supply chain management, public policy, and stakeholder pressures. Part I focuses on the macro-level and provides an overview of concepts such as the green economy, eco-industrial parks, corporate social responsibility (corporate citizenship), nanotechnology, and sustainable consumption. Part II provides specific frameworks and tools for sustainability management and measurement at the company level. Part III includes detailed teaching cases of several well-known firms. The main theme is that business is a key player in achieving a more sustainable development, yet its practices are often narrow in focus or shortsighted. The text provokes discussions around issues such as: Is business sustainability possible in a market economy focused on increasing consumption? Should a product or service be called "green" when it puts at risk the health and safety of workers? What can U.S. policymakers learn from their European counterparts when it comes to protecting human health and the environment? How can we ensure that the benefits of nanotechnology exceed its risks? How can sustainability indicators be used as a tool to advance sustainability by companies and policymakers? The book provides a flexible, up-to-date supplementary teaching tool for undergraduate and graduate students, executive education courses, and certificate programs. Intended Audience: Primarily undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in environmental management, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, or business and society; as a supplementary text in professional education and certificate programs in environmental management, corporate citizenship, sustainability, and CSR.

Textbook on the sociological aspects of business in the USA, with particular reference to the social role of the enterprise in modern society - covers such issues as pollution control, social responsibility, alienation and community relations, etc., and includes case studies. References.

This book offers a critical analysis of core concepts that have influenced contemporary conversations about environment-society relations in academic, political, and civil circles. Considering these conceptualizations are currently shaping responses to environmental crises in fundamental ways, critical reflections on concepts such as the Anthropocene, metabolism, risk, resilience, environmental governance, environmental justice and others, are well-warranted. Contributors to this volume, working across a multitude of areas within environmental social science, scrutinize underlying worldviews and assumptions, asking a common set of key questions: What are the different concepts able to explain? How do they take into account society-environment relations? What social, cultural, or geo-political biases and blinders are inherent? What actions or practices do the concepts inspire? The transdisciplinary engagement and reflexivity regarding concepts of environment-society relations represented in these chapters is needed in all spheres of society—in academia, policy and practice—not the least to confront current tendencies of anti-reflexivity and denialism.

The subject of this volume is the human economy and its coevolutionary relationship with the natural world. This relationship is examined in three broad types of societies; hunter--gatherers, agriculturalists, and modern market economies. A growing body of scientific evidence has made it clear that the current human impact on the environment is far above the level that can be maintained without causing profound changes in the biophysical world to which we belong. The new fields of ecological economics and evolutionary economics can help us understand the relationship between the economy, society and the environment and may help us to formulate effective policies to manage these changes.

This short book sets out to explore the concept of nature in the context of a changing reality, in which the extent of our transformation of the environment has become evident: What is nature and to what extent has humanity transformed it? How do nature and society relate to one another? What does the idea of a sustainable society entail and how can nature be understood as a political subject? What is the Anthropocene and how does it affect nature as both an idea and a material entity? Has nature perhaps “ended?” In addressing these questions, the author delivers a concise but meaningful study of contemporary understandings of nature, one that goes beyond the limits posed by a single discipline. Adopting a truly comprehensive perspective, the work incorporates classical disciplines such as philosophy, evolutionary theory and the history of ideas; new and mixed approaches ranging from environmental sociology to neurobiology and ecological economics and the emerging area of the environmental humanities and represents a growing branch of political thought that views nature as a new political subject.

A comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the conceptual tools used to explore real-world environmental problems Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, Third Edition demonstrates how theoretical approaches such as environmental ethics, political economy, and social construction work as conceptual tools to identify and clarify contemporary environmental issues. Assuming no background knowledge in the subject, this reader-friendly textbook uses clear language and engaging examples to first describe nine key conceptual tools, and then apply them to a variety of familiar objects—from bottled water and French fries to trees, wolves, and carbon dioxide. Throughout the text, highly accessible chapters provide insight into the relationship between the environment and present-day society. Divided into two parts, the text begins by explaining major theoretical approaches for interpreting the environment-society relationship and discussing different perspectives about environmental problems. Part II examines a series of objects, each viewed through a sample of the theoretical tools from Part I, helping readers think critically about critical environmental topics such as deforestation, climate change, the global water supply, and hazardous e-waste. This fully revised third edition stresses a wider range of competing ways of thinking about environmental issues and features additional cases studies, up-to-date conceptual understandings, and new chapters in Part I on racializd environments and feminist approaches. Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, Third Edition: Covers theoretical lenses such as commodities, environmental ethics, and risks and hazards, and applies them to touchstone environment-society objects like wolves, tuna, trees, and carbon dioxide Uses a conversational narrative to explain key historical events, topical issues and policies, and scientific concepts Features substantial revisions and updates, including new chapters on feminism and race, and improved maps and illustrations Includes a wealth of in-book and online resources, including exercises and boxed discussions, chapter summaries, review questions, references, suggested readings, an online test bank, and internet links Provides additional instructor support such as suggested teaching models, full-color PowerPoint slides, and supplementary teaching material Retaining the innovative approach of its predecessors, Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, Third Edition remains the ideal textbook for courses in environmental issues, environmental science, and nature and society theory.

This Handbook discusses the main issues, research, and theory on business and the natural environment, and how they impact on different business functions and disciplines