SUSTAINABILITY

The issue of sustainability came into light in the early 50s to 60s where early environmental
movements started. The book written by Rachel Carson shade light on this issue. In her book Silent
Spring (1962) she wrote “Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes
unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings area strangled silent where once there
were filled with the beauty of birds songs”- ( Carson 1962 :103). In this book she was talking about
the impacts of pesticides. This was like an eye opener when the book was published in 1972, it got the
attention of the UN head of states who came up with the UN Conference on Human Environment and
one of the principles was that “The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora
and fauna and especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the
benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate”
(UNEP).

Sustainability is a very vague term different people have their own perception of the word
‘Sustainability’, the way people define sustainability depends on where they come from or what they
do. Engineers will have a different view compared to social scientists or anthropologists.

In general sustainability is the use of the available resources efficiently and effectively without
compromising the future generation. The world wide acceptable definitions of sustainability are
“Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting
ecosystems.” (IUCN, WWF and UNEP, 1991). “A sustainable society is one that can persist over
generations, one that is far seeing enough, flexible enough, not to undermine either its physical or its
social systems” Meadow et al (1972). A sustainable development means “meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs”- The
Bruntland Report ( WCED, 1987, p8)

Supply Chain Sustainability

According to Svensson (2007), sustainable supply chain management gives emphasis on the
integration of economic, environmental and social elements of the organizations’ practices. It is the
management of raw materials and services from suppliers to manufacturers/ service providers to
customers and back with improvement of the social and environmental impacts explicitly considered.
(1, 1) With sustainable supply chain, companies gain competitive advantage by differentiating
themselves, creating new products, cutting costs and increasing their reputation. (1,1) As opposed to
past days where the supply chain only balanced the cost and service levels, now sustainability is the
third element of the supply chain strategy which focuses on the environmental, ethical and social
areas. (2, 1)

References:
Carson, R. (1962) Silent Spring: Houghton Mifflin. Viewed 17/11/2010
http://hpolepole.net/Discourses%20on%20Sustainable%20Development.pdf

Holloway, S.L. Rice, S.P. and Valentine, G., 2007. Key Concepts in Geography. Sage
Publications:London

UNEP (1972), Declaration of the United Nations Conference on Human environment, Stockhom,
Sweden. viewed 17/11/2010 http://www.un-documents.net/unchedec.htm

IUCN, UNEP, WWF (1991): Caring for the Earth. A Strategy for Sustainable Living. Gland,
Switzerland. Viewed 17/11/2010 http://www.ecoglobe.ch/sustain/e/iucn8723.htm

http://www.civilandgeotechnicalengineers.info/sustainability-an-engineering-definition/ . Viewed
17/11/2010

Svensson, G., 2007. Aspects of sustainable supply chain management: conceptual framework and
empirical example. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 12 (4), 262-266.
Available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?
articleid=1611269&show=abstract [Accessed 5 November 2010].