The concept of sustainable development was accepted by the world leaders in Rio de Janerio in 1992. The concept was vague and this is natural when an international consensus has to be achieved. It was also based implicitly on the dominant Western paradigm with its stress on science and technology, its stress on management of technology and the meshing of economics and ecology as the answer to the environmental crisis. Value systems were not included in the concept of sustainable development. The book studies the Eastern paradigm base on the concepts and values of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam and suggests that for a truly global ethic the Western and Eastern paradigms need to be integrated. This can be done through the mediation of modern science easily for the best of the properity.

This book discloses the spiritual dimension in business ethics and sustainability management. Spirituality is understood as a multiform search for meaning which connects people with all living beings and God or Ultimate Reality. In this sense, spirituality is a vital source in social and economic life. The volume examines the spiritual orientations to nature and business in different cultural traditions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. It studies how spirituality and ecology can contribute to transforming contemporary management theory and praxis. It discusses new leadership roles and business models that emerge for sustainability in business and shows how entrepreneurship can be inspired by nature and spirituality in a meaningful way.

Looking beyond the materialistic boundary of the conventional development paradigm, this book identifies our spiritual underdevelopment which is being reflected as self-centeredness and greed, as the root cause of conventional development's failure to alleviate poverty and inequality, achieve sustainability and deliver happiness to humanity.

Looking beyond the materialistic boundary of the conventional development paradigm, this book identifies our spiritual underdevelopment which is being reflected as self-centeredness and greed, as the root cause of conventional development's failure to alleviate poverty and inequality, achieve sustainability and deliver happiness to humanity.

This book aims to examine sustainability and spirituality philosophically with ethics as the balancing force. The goal is to reveal the important intersection between sustainability and spirituality by using spirituality as the invisible guiding hand in the quest for sustainability. The editors and contributors examine old social and economics dilemmas from a new perspective in order to provide alternative approaches to economic and social development. The enclosed contributions cover a broad range of topics such as sustainable development and human happiness, contemporary spirituality, environmental ethics and responsibility, and corporate social responsibility. In addition, the title features real-world case studies and discussion questions that inspire self-reflection and theoretical and empirical deliberation in academic courses and business seminars. Contemporary approaches to economic and social development have failed to address humankind's abiding need for spiritual growth. For material development to be sustainable, spiritual advancement must be seen as an integral part of the human development algorithm. While the policy makers and governments can play their respective role, each one of us has to consciously adopt spirituality and sustainability as a way of life. This book will rely on the spiritual power of individuals to heal themselves and the environment. Featuring interdisciplinary perspectives in areas such as science, marine biology, environmental policy, cultural studies, psychology, philosophy, ecological economics, and ethics, this book will provide extensive insights into the complimentary fields of spirituality, sustainability and ethics.

This book presents new and important research advances in the field of sustainable development which has been defined as balancing the fulfilment of human needs with the protection of the Natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need". The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into four constituent parts: environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, social sustainability and political sustainability.

This collection of research papers, presented at meetings organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT), concerns a variety of issues relating to the area of sustainable development. WIT has a long and very successful record of organising conferences on the topic of sustainability, which requires an interdisciplinary approach. Any sustainable solutions that are derived solely from the perspective of a single discipline may have unintended damaging consequences that create new problems. Thus effective sustainable solutions require the collaboration of scientists and engineers from various disciplines, as well as planners, architects, environmentalists, policy makers, social scientists, and economists. The contents of this book reflect that interdisciplinary approach, and include topics under the main areas of: Sustainable development and planning; Disaster management; Air pollution; Urban transport; Ecosystems and Water resources management.