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Product essentiality: an introduction
Abstract
This paper introduces the concept of product essentiality within sustainable operations management studies. It investigates the influence of location, gender, and family income on the perception of essentiality of ordinary goods and services. A total of 81 items, were classified according to a binary position of 'essential' or 'superfluous' by business students in both Brazil and UK. The results show there is no significant difference in perception either concerning gender or income in both countries. The only aspect that shapes the essentiality perception is culture. Our study contributes to the debates on operations sustainability and design of sustainable products and processes.
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The biochemical basis for the essentiality of copper, the adequacy of the dietary copper supply, factors that condition deficiency, and the special conditions of copper nutriture in early infancy are reviewed. New biochemical and crystallographic evidence define copper as being necessary for structural and catalytic properties of cuproenzymes. Mechanisms responsible for the control of cuproprotein gene expression are not known in mammals; however, studies using yeast as a eukaryote model support the existence of a copper-dependent gene regulatory element. Diets in Western countries provide copper below or in the low range of the estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intake. Copper deficiency is usually the consequence of decreased copper stores at birth, inadequate dietary copper intake, poor absorption, elevated requirements induced by rapid growth, or increased copper losses. The most frequent clinical manifestations of copper deficiency are anemia, neutropenia, and bone abnormalities. Recommendations for dietary copper intake and total copper exposure, including that from potable water, should consider that copper is an essential nutrient with potential toxicity if the load exceeds tolerance. A range of safe intakes should be defined for the general population, including a lower safe intake and an upper safe intake, to prevent deficiency as well as toxicity for most of the population.
During the UNCED conference in Rio de Janeiro 1992 unsustainable consumption and production patterns were identified as one of the key driving forces behind the unsustainable development of the world (Agenda 21, chapter 4). These consumption and production patterns are based on the European model of industrialisation, spread around the globe in the age of colonisation and brought to extremes by the upper-class of industrialised societies, in particular in the United States, but also in a number of countries in the South. Therefore, all states of the world share the task of developing sustainable consumption and production patterns, while particular responsibility rests with the industrialised nations of Europe, North America and Japan. They, and the thriving but small rich elite in the transition countries and in the South, form a global consumer society, with shared products, lifestyles and aspirations. As it is essential to support the transition towards sustainable development by providing the proper information in an operational manner, the UNCED conference has called for the development of suitable means of information, and in particular for the development of sustainability indicators applicable throughout the world (Agenda 21, chapter 40). The UNDESA set of indicators for changing consumption and production patterns offers helpful advice in this regard but still lacks the theoretical underpinning needed to consistently complete it by defining the few still missing indicators. This paper undertakes to suggest such a methodology based on the environmental space concept. It derives a set of science based indicators from this approach which are easily applicable in everyday life and analyses the environmental relevance of the consumption clusters chosen for analysis as well as the relevance of the phenomena characterised by the indicators suggested. As households are just one actor in the field of consumption, a qualitative assessment of influences is performed and the result depicting the key actors for each environmentally relevant consumption cluster is presented as an actor matrix. Finally, the indicators derived are compared to those suggested by UNDESA, finding striking similarities. Based on this convergence in approaches the paper explains how the methodology developed could be used to develop the missing indicators UNDESA has been calling for.
As the world’s natural resources dwindle and critical levels of environmental pollution are approached, sustainability becomes a key issue for governments, organisations and individuals. With the consequences of such an issue in mind, this paper introduces a unifying approach to measure the sustainability performance of socio-economic systems based on the interplay between two key variables: essentiality of consumption and environmental impact. This measure attributes to every system a ‘fitness’ value i.e. a quantity that reflects its ability to remain resilient/healthy by avoiding ecological, social and economic collapse as it consumes the available resources. This new measure is tested on a system where there is a limited supply of resources and four basic consumption types. The analysis has theoretical implications as well as practical importance as it can help countries, organisations or even individuals, in finding better ways to measure sustainability performance.
This paper elaborates in what way a dynamic perspective on reserves, resources and geopotential is necessary to provide robust estimates on resource availability. We introduce concepts of essentiality, criticality and economic scarcity and discuss for the case of phosphorus (P) how they are defined and may be measured. The case of P is considered in detail as P an essential element for global food security with a highly dissipative use and is geographically unevenly distributed across the globe. We distinguish and relate the complementarity between physical and economic scarcity and discuss limits and potential of static indicators such as static lifetime, Hubbert curve applications, and the Herfindahl–Hirschman-Index of P for predicting future availability of these resources. We reveal that these static indicators are – in general – not valid approaches to predict physical scarcity of resources. Geological data show that though the P reserves have not been systematically and completely assessed on a global scale, the static lifetime of P is high. When acknowledging socio-economic and technological dynamics, and available geological facts, statements predicting physical scarcity or a peak in P production within a few decades are unlikely to be accurate or valid. We elaborate that some simplified indicators such as static lifetime or the Hubbert curve based prediction of peaks may serve as screening indicators preceding early warning research, which may induce increased mining activities, technology innovation or other actions. However, in general, these simplified indicators are not valid approaches to predict physical scarcity of resources. Although one day there may be a supply-driven P production peak, demand-driven production plateaus and multiple peaks are probable in the near future. Given its geopotential, essentiality, and the learning curve of efficient fertilizer use, P is subject to demand-driven market dynamics. Thus, a symmetric decline and unavoidable shortage of P in the next decades are unlikely. This insight does not refute the need to close the anthropogenic P loop. Activities associated with P production and consumption use has a significant pollution potential in part because of the dissipative nature. The paper reveals the necessity to mitigate risks (such as economic scarcity, especially for poor farmers) of both short-term price peaks and longer lasting step-changes in price, e.g. due to knowledge gaps of technological adaptation in energy and water management or other reasons of insufficient supply-demand dynamics management. The complexity of this task necessitates a transdisciplinary approach.
Scenarios are a useful tool to help think about and visualise the future and, as such, are utilised by many
policymakers and practitioners. Future scenarios have not been used to explore the urban context in
much depth, yet have the potential to provide valuable insights into the robustness of decisions being
made today in the name of sustainability. As part of a major research project entitled Urban Futures, a
toolkit has been developed in the UK to facilitate the use of scenarios in any urban context and at any
scale relevant to that context. The toolkit comprises two key components, namely, (i) a series of
indicators comprising both generic and topic area-specific indicators (e.g., air quality, biodiversity,
density, water) that measure sustainability performance and (ii) a list of characteristics (i.e., 1–2-
sentence statements about a feature, issue or small set of issues) that describe four future scenarios. In
combination, these two components enable us to measure the performance of any given sustainability
indicator, and establish the relative sensitivity or vulnerability of that indicator to the different future
scenarios. An important aspect of the methodology underpinning the toolkit is that it is flexible enough
to incorporate new scenarios, characteristics and indicators, thereby allowing the long-term
performance of our urban environments to be considered in the broadest possible sense.
How effectively business deals with the challenges of sustainability will define its success for decades to come. Current
sustainability strategies have three major deficiencies: they do not directly focus on the customer, they do not recognize
the looming threats from rising global over-consumption, and they do not take a holistic approach. We present a framework
for a customer-centric approach to sustainability. This approach recasts the sustainability metric to emphasize the outcomes
of business actions measured holistically in term of environmental, personal and economic well-being of the consumer. We introduce
the concept of mindful consumption (MC) as the guiding principle in this approach. MC is premised on a consumer mindset of
caring for self, for community, and for nature, that translates behaviorally into tempering the self-defeating excesses associated
with acquisitive, repetitive and aspirational consumption. We also make the business case for fostering mindful consumption,
and illustrate how the marketing function can be harnessed to successfully implement the customer-centric approach to sustainability.
KeywordsSustainability–Customer-centric sustainability–Mindful consumption
This ‘‘Note from the field,’’ is an edited version of a policy brief summarizing the key findings from the first half of the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange network (SCORE!) for the policy programs in the field of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). We
recommend a framework for action to change to SCP that mentions the key domains to include food, mobility, and energy use/housing (the last two clearly related to urban development). It should use a systemic perspective on the SCP challenge and differentiate between developed,
fast developing, and base of the pyramid economies. SCORE! focuses mainly on developed economies, and here we propose to differentiate between: (1) measures that fit with mainstream beliefs and paradigms. Here, governments could make operational agreements on implementation of instruments like green public procurement, stimulating ecodesign, etc. (2) Problems where a rough agreement on goals exists, but where change is radical, or means are uncertain, and hence planning difficult. Here, governments could foster visioning, experimentation, and support
e.g. international collaboration in leapfrogging programs. (3) Problems that outright clash with the mainstream beliefs and paradigms. Here, governments could foster informed deliberation on the more fundamental issues related to markets, governance and growth.
In light of the theoretical implications from ecological economics and industrial ecology, increased efforts should be undertaken by policy makers to make consumption “reasonable”. To remain sustainable, “reasonable” decisions should take into account the long-term survival of ecosystem and acknowledge the fact that the existence of human species ultimately depends on it. Two additional objectives should complement “reasonable” consumption: (1) changing product systems so that products are properly managed at the end of their useful lives. (2) making products more environmentally friendly. A case study of the Integrated Product Policy of the European Union reveals that it addresses the above objectives selectively. The general conclusions are that “reasonable” behaviour is challenged by conflicting interests of various market actors, that economic reasoning should complement environmentally “reasonable” behaviour, and that “reasonable” consumption should indeed be discussed in conjunction with “reasonable” production.
The paper reviews some of the many initiatives and efforts to build networks and institute policies promoting sustainable production and consumption (SPAC) values and practices in North America since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. It analyzes a selection of SPAC initiatives in Canada and USA from the NASCA/CEC database, drawing also on interviews with representatives from government, businesess, consumer and environmental organizations on their experience and efforts to “take the lead” in influencing public opinion and behavior as well as government and corporate policy towards SPAC.
The increasing utilization of heavy metals in modern industries leads to an increase in the environmental burden. Nickel represents a good example of a metal whose use is widening in modern technologies. As the result of accelerated consumption of nickel-containing products nickel compounds are released to the environment at all stages of production and utilization. Their accumulation in the environment may represent a serious hazard to human health. Among the known health related effects of nickel are skin allergies, lung fibrosis, variable degrees of kidney and cardiovascular system poisoning and stimulation of neoplastic transformation. The mechanism of the latter effect is not known and is the subject of detailed investigation. This review provides an analysis of the current state in the field.
Risk assessment of essential trace elements examines high intakes resulting in toxicity and low intakes resulting in nutritional deficiencies. This paper analyzes the risk assessments carried out by several U.S. governmental and private organizations for eight essential trace elements: chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc. The compatibility of the toxicity values with the nutritionally essential values is examined, in light of recently derived values, termed Dietary Reference Intakes, set by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine. The results show that although there are differences in the values set by the different organizations, increased coordination has resulted in values that are more compatible than revealed in past evaluations.
The argument against a reductionist approach for measuring sustainable development performance and the need for methodological pluralism
- A Gasparatos
- M El-Haram
- M Horner
Gasparatos, A., El-Haram, M., & Horner, M. (2009, September). "The argument against a reductionist
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pluralism". In Accounting Forum, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 245-256.
Human scale development: conception, application and further reflections
- M Max-Neef
Max-Neef, M., (1991). Human scale development: conception, application and further reflections. The
Apex Press, New York, USA, pp. 114.