Search

Despite the growing intersection between sustainability and organisational learning, current empirical research offers limited understanding of specific ways in which an industry learns to be sustainable. This paper explores industry sustainability from an organisational learning perspective in the Eyre Peninsula's fishing industry in Australia. Drawing on organisational learning literature, it argues that a better understanding of how an industry pursues sustainability is necessary if we explore the specific ways in which they learn. The findings from our analysis of data from interviews with 54 participants support and underscore the importance of learning through social networks and interactions, observation, experimentation, experiences and formal education in order to adopt socially, economically and environmentally sustainable practices. To develop a sustainable industry, managers and stakeholders should explore the specific ways in which they learn. This paper advances current studies that seek to understand industry commitment towards sustainability from an organisational learning perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home renovation is a global phenomenon, where households seek to remodel, reconfigure, and retrofit their home. While often a response to the material conditions of a dwelling, such as decay and damage, renovation also as emerges as a practice central to identity creation, sense of home, and leisure. Importantly, improving household sustainability is increasingly driving renovation activities, as governments and households seek to reduce the environmental impact of residential dwellings. Drawing on data collected from a national survey developed by the authors, this paper explores sustainable renovation practices in Australia. The paper provides a three-level analysis of home renovators. First, the paper profiles recent renovators. Second, the extent to which sustainability was considered by recent renovators during the renovation process is investigated. Third, the relationship between personal values placed on household sustainability and the sustainable renovation practices are explored. The analysis reveals that sustainability is an important renovation driver. However, sustainable renovation practices differ between groups of homeowners, with educated and wealthy homeowners most likely to undertake sustainable renovation. Further, those with a stronger commitment to household sustainability are the most likely to include expensive sustainability technologies as part of their renovations. However, it is younger households, who are less committed to the principles of household sustainability, that are most likely to access government subsidies to support the inclusion of these technologies as part of their renovation. The different profiles and actions of these renovator groups reveal a series of challenges and opportunities for governments seeking to promote household sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge co-production enabled via decolonised research approaches can support indigenous leaders to respond to the challenges and opportunities that result from their natural and cultural resource management obligations and strategies. For knowledge co-production to be realised, such research interactions must provide space for Indigenous peoples to position themselves as research leaders, driving agendas and co-designing research approaches, activities, and outputs. This paper examines the role that positionality played in supporting an Indigenous-led research partnership, or knowledge-action system, that developed between indigenous, industry, and research project partners seeking to support development of the Indigenous-led bush products sector in northern Australia. Our chosen conceptualisation of positionality informs sustainability science as a way for scientists, practitioners, and research partners to consider the power that each project member brings to a project, and to make explicit the unique positioning of project members in how they influence project processes and the development of usable knowledge. We locate the research in northern Australia and then articulate how selected research methodologies supported the partnership that resulted in knowledge co-production. We then extend the literature on decolonising methodologies and positionality by illuminating how the positionality of each research partner, and the partnership itself, influenced the research and knowledge co-production processes. In culmination, we reveal how an interrogation of post-project benefits and legacies (e.g., usable knowledge) can enable a fuller understanding of the lasting success of the project and partnership, illustrated with examples of benefits derived by project partners since the project ended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the nature of the emerging purpose ecosystem and its role in transforming and supporting business to help address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We argue that interactions among its 'private actors', who share efforts and belief in changing and redefining the purpose and nature of business by advocating broader non-financial performance outcomes, have the potential to contribute to a wider sustainability-oriented transformation of the business sector. Through interview data collected in the UK and Australia, we identify six main roles that characterise the activities and interactions among its actors and their stakeholders. Our research contributes to expanding knowledge on the emerging phenomenon of the purpose ecosystem and how its actors support the achievement of the UN SDGs by seeking to change the purpose of business and integrating the goals into their operations and engagements with stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the determinants of environmental degradation in Australia from 1990 to 2017, using ecological footprint analysis and the well-established logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method. Additionally, decoupling factor analysis was performed to examine the link between environment related variables (CO2 emissions and ecological footprint) and their determinants such as real income and population. The decomposition analysis considered the impact of five different factors on CO2 emissions: income effect, population, energy intensity, energy structure, and carbon intensity. For decoupling factor analysis, the link between ecological footprint and its two determinants, real income and population, was examined. Furthermore, the possible decoupling between CO2 emissions and these determinants was also analyzed, because CO2 emissions are the main cause of the country's increasing ecological footprint. The present study has a more comprehensive approach because it analyzes the factors affecting environmental degradation in Australia by assigning two proxies (CO2 emissions and ecological footprint) as dependent variables. The results confirmed that Australia's ecological reserve substantially declined over the past three decades due to deforestation and energy industries. The LMDI results demonstrated that income effect, population, and carbon intensity were the main factors that raised Australia's CO2 emissions, whereas the energy intensity factor substantially curbed them. The reducing impact of energy structure on CO2 emissions was minimal; thus, Australia was not able to prevent an upward trend in CO2 emissions. Lastly, an analysis of Australia's CO2 emissions according to economic activities was conducted for the period between 1990 and 2017 in order to understand other factors that may have affected environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the article is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the concepts of landscape management in Australia, the challenges face by the agricultural production landscapes, and the history of the country's agricultural policy.

In the last decade, Australian federal and state governments' commitment to the economic rationalist imperatives of performance measures, accountability for outcomes, and value-for-money has driven significant change in the Australian not-for-profit community services sector. In an environment shaped by neoliberal-inspired government policies and a renewed government commitment to austerity, Australian not-for-profit community service organizations are now, more than ever, actively engaged in a variety of income-generating strategies to achieve and/or maintain economic sustainability. Central to this process is meeting the dual challenge of succeeding financially in a competitive environment and simultaneously serving mission. In this context, it is time to more closely examine the impact of these challenges, in particular the implications for the organizational values of not-for-profit community service providers themselves. This paper reports on a qualitative study of fourteen not-for-profit community service organizations, their core purposes, and their strategies for economic sustainability. In addition to the new data presented here, this paper contributes to the broader theoretical framework-the lens of value pluralism, which, we argue, provides a sharper focus on the relationship between mission and margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maintenance of safe and reliable water supplies presents a challenge for communities across the world. This paper responds by exploring how five large food and beverage producing organisations operating in Australia were able to develop some focus on water management at a time of acute drought. Despite weak economic and regulatory drivers, a heterogeneous range of responses was developing across all five organisations. Drawing on Laughlin's (Organ Stud 12(2):209-232, ) model of organisational change, we argue that each reshaped or developed archetypes and subsystems to enable a focus on improving efficiencies. Some were motivated by little more than compliance and so the extent of change was limited. A sense of community pressure was able to drive some change to interpretive schemes in two of the five organisations. Broad cultural change, supported by clear board level mandate, became critical to the survival of new practices. We also demonstrate that management level staff with a passion to champion water efficiency can be instrumental in driving change. This paper contributes to our understanding of water management, and to the factors needed to embed developing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticide use is pervasive and intensive in agricultural production. Certain food activists, producers, and public health researchers contest pervasive pesticide use on the basis that it is unsustainable for human health, the environment and the control of pests in growing food. In Australia government has largely left the resolution of this contestation to consumer choice. Yet the use of pesticides is barely visible to those consuming the products. This paper uses the example of strawberries to trace back how consumption choices are framed by regulatory choices in which consumers have little engagement. Strawberries have traditionally been a highly pesticide-intensive crop. The results highlight the limits of consumer choice as a method of deliberative democratic engagement with issues of agrifood sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Altered flow regimes remain one of the most serious threats to ecological sustainability of estuarine fish populations throughout the world. Estuary Perch (Percalates colonorum) is an estuary-dependent fish native to south-eastern Australia. The species is highly valued by recreational fishers and has greatly declined in abundance in recent decades. Strategies to recover populations include the use of environmental flows. We developed an age-based stochastic matrix population model based on the ecology of the species to explore the likely benefits of present and constructed environmental flow rules on recruitment and population response of the species in the lower Snowy River for 20 years into the future. The model outcomes indicate that the present environmental flow rules produce minimal population response and are of little benefit to recruitment of Estuary Perch. The flow prescription that produced the best modelled outcome, and that was most risk adverse to decline of females, was the annual release of 3 × 15,000 ML/day flow events, spaced 30 days apart in late winter/spring. Our approach highlights the importance of considering the whole life cycle of a species and identifying the key life history traits that can be influenced to achieve the desired conservation outcome. Although the model developed here was used to test management activities at a single site (and for a single species), it provides a novel approach that may be tailored to test and guide management activities aimed at benefiting similar flow-dependent species in estuaries throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans depend on earth's ecosystems and in the Anthropocene, ecosystems are increasingly impacted by human activities. Sustainability—the long-term integrity of social–ecological systems—depends on effective environmental stewardship, yet current conceptual frameworks often lack empirical validation and are limited in their ability to show progress towards sustainability goals. In this study we examine institutional and local stewardship actions and their ecological and social outcomes along 7000 km of Australia's coastline. We use empirical mixed methods and grounded theory to show that the combination of local and institutional stewardship leads to improved ecological outcomes, which in turn enhance social values and motivate further stewardship to form a virtuous cycle. Virtuous cycles may proceed over multiple iterations, which we represent in a new spiral model enabling visualisation of progress towards sustainability goals over time. Our study has important implications for collaborative earth stewardship and the role of policy in enabling virtuous cycles to ultimately realise sustainable futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experiences of female farmers in the Australian context who neither married into nor were born into farming and how they construct their farmer identity. Drawing on interviews with seventeen first generation female farmers it demonstrates a detraditionalized farmer identity created in response to concern for environmental and social sustainability. They are enabled by an online, global community of practice and shifting narratives of what constitutes responsible farming. Participants leveraged their skills from previous occupations to their farming enterprises to internalize a managerial and entrepreneurial farming identity. First generation female farmers have been empowered as new actors in Australian agriculture, reflecting a disruption in traditional patterns of gendered privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of organizational tensions can facilitate the simultaneous advancement of economic, social, and environmental priorities. The approach is based on managers identifying and managing tensions between the three priorities, by employing one of the three strategic responses. Although recent work has provided a theoretical basis for such tension acknowledgment and management, there is a dearth of empirical studies. We interviewed 32 corporate sustainability managers across 25 forestry and wood-products organizations in Australia. Study participants were divided into two groups: (1) those considered effective at corporate sustainability and (2) a status-quo group. Contrary to current theory, our findings showed that acknowledgment of organizational tensions was widespread in the Australian forestry and wood-products industry and not limited to those managers who are effective at managing corporate sustainability. What differed was the degree to which managers did something about the perceived tensions—with the effective group more consistently acting to manage and resolve paradoxical scenarios. Our findings suggest that existing theoretical constructs of tension management may not adequately capture the individual-level complexity involved with managing tensions in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective partnerships across different stakeholders are essential to the collaboration required for learning cities to contribute to sustainable development. Through partnerships, formal educational institutions, such as schools and universities, play a vital role in establishing and sustaining learning cities, often by facilitating the meaningful participation of different local community members. The research presented in this article examines the characteristics of effective school-community partnerships in the literature and compares it to the results of a three-year research study which examined 16 case studies of school-community partnerships in the state of Victoria in Australia. Using participatory action research, the researchers identified four approaches to implementing partnerships for sustainability, explored challenges to achieving an idealised partnership, and made recommendations for establishing successful partnership networks. The researchers propose that partnerships be viewed as a dynamic resource rather than merely a transactional arrangement that addresses the identified challenges of time, funding, skills and personnel. Furthermore, the use of “partnership brokers”, such as local government or non-government organisations, is recommended to expand the current school-centred approach to partnerships. These insights aim to contribute to providing quality education and lifelong learning through partnerships - outcomes crucial for establishing and sustaining learning cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Early Childhood is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study combines conceptual and empirical review of the literature around interuniversity collaborations to identify known models and applications, and enablers and barriers impacting on their sustainability, to inform development of a collaborative public health teaching programme in Australia. A range of literature was explored in this study, including commentary on appropriate theoretical frameworks, exploratory studies, descriptive analyses and specific case study investigations. There was a dearth of literature that compares the factors that ultimately lead to success or failure of the models of collaboration identified. Further research investigating how different types of collaboration affect particular barriers and enablers, and how certain types of collaborations are more sustainable than others, is required. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the transition to integrated reporting by a customer-owned bank (referred to as Goodbank) and identifies the drivers of this transition, thereby providing insights for other businesses seeking to engage in such reporting. Practice theory provides a theoretical lens for this study. A case study approach encompassing in-depth interviews and documents analysis enabled the data to be collected for this research. This study finds that a customer-owned business context enables innovative approaches to reporting. An understanding of reporting and recognition of the potential value of integrated reporting, basic guidelines for such a practice, and organisational ethical values and goals based on a combination of economic, social and environmental considerations matched by an organisational structure that embeds economic, social and environmental responsibilities rather than treating these as separate silos, enabled Goodbank to transition to integrated reporting and differentiate itself from its competitors and other organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved public awareness of the environment and available technologies will continue to highlight the importance of sustainable housing in the coming years. Despite this potential, the majority of new housing development is still 'project homes' with few tangible sustainability measures. Different housing stakeholders tend to have different perceptions and priorities on sustainability. To promote the uptake of sustainable housing products, a study of the multi-dimensional issues affecting the implementation of sustainable housing is necessary. This research investigates multiple factors that influence key stakeholders' decision-making toward sustainable housing adoption. Drawing insights from combined questionnaire and interview studies, 12 critical factors and their inter-relationships are identified based on professional views in the Australian housing industry. The mutual influences, or driving force and dependency, of these factors are further investigated via interpretive structural modeling to distinguish those requiring prominent and immediate attention. A hierarchical model is developed to help key stakeholders prioritize actions when implementing sustainable housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the emergence of leadership during implementation of a water saving initiative in the rural community surrounding Barren Box Swamp in the Murray Darling Basin, Australia. Qualitative data analysis indicated that the system elements affecting the type of leadership to emerge included the extent to which the groups were engaged in the process, the level of access to resources, and the level of investment in the outcomes of the project. Although these results reinforced key aspects of complex problem-solving through collaboration, they demonstrated varying degrees and types of both engagement and leadership within the case community. Given the current finding that these varying elements can coincide within one system, this case suggests that each community's characteristics, resources and context will determine the optimal combination of leadership style and level of collaboration needed to facilitate sustainable community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overheated outdoor environments adversely impact urban sustainability and livability. Urban areas are particularly affected by heat waves and global climate change, which is a serious threat due to increasing heat stress and thermal risk for residents. The tropical city of Darwin, Australia, for example, is especially susceptible to urban overheating that can kill inhabitants. Here, using a modeling platform supported by detailed measurements of meteorological data, we report the first quantified analysis of the urban microclimate and evaluate the impacts of heat mitigation technologies to decrease the ambient temperature in the city of Darwin. We present a holistic study that quantifies the benefits of city-scale heat mitigation to human health, energy consumption, and peak electricity demand. The best-performing mitigation scenario, which combines cool materials, shading, and greenery, reduces the peak ambient temperature by 2.7 °C and consequently decreases the peak electricity demand and the total annual cooling load by 2% and 7.2%, respectively. Further, the proposed heat mitigation approach can save 9.66 excess deaths per year per 100,000 people within the Darwin urban health district. Our results confirm the technological possibilities for urban heat mitigation, which serves as a strategy for mitigating the severity of cumulative threats to urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]