Amelia Clarke

Student‐led campus climate change initiatives in Canada

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive list of student‐led, campus‐based climate change initiatives, and offers details on many specific cases. The paper also documents the roles students have played and considers the larger youth engagement implications. Many of these initiatives can be replicated elsewhere, thereby providing a starting point for students wanting to begin an initiative or providing ideas for other campus stakeholders wanting to engage students in initiatives.Design/methodology/approach – Campus reports were collected by the Sierra Youth Coalition from 65 Canadian Universities and Colleges. This qualitative information was coded for student‐led climate‐related initiatives, and for the roles students played in those initiatives. The patterns were identified and clustered, and are presented in this paper.Findings – Students were found to be successfully leading eight different types of campus climate change‐related initiatives, both with the support of other campu...

The Campus Environmental Management System Cycle in Practice: 15 Years of Environmental Management, Education and Research at Dalhousie University.

Purpose – To challenge the deliberate strategy approach of the environmental management system (EMS) cycle, and offer a model based on both the practical reality experienced at Dalhousie University and emergent strategy theory. Also, to share some of the lessons learned in the 15 years of environmental management at Dalhousie University.Design/methodology/approach – A case study of environmental management at Dalhousie University between 1990 and 2005 was conducted. Data were collected through 13 interviews with senior management and through 22 interviews with faculty, students and staff.Findings – Two EMS cycles emerged with an overlap in the policy, planning and implementation phases, as well as unpredicted “maintaining implementation” and “renewing” phases. Emergent plans and best practices from other universities fed into the EMS cycle at the implementation and review stages, respectively.Practical implications – An improved EMS model is presented. It includes feedback loops, emergent plans, unrealize...

Outcomes to Partners in Multi-Stakeholder Cross-Sector Partnerships: A Resource-Based View

The prevalence and complexity of local sustainable development challenges require coordinated action from multiple actors in the business, public, and civil society sectors. Large multi-stakeholder partnerships that build capacity by developing and leveraging the diverse perspectives and resources of partner organizations are becoming an increasingly popular approach to addressing such challenges. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are designed to address and prioritize a social problem, so it can be challenging to define the value proposition to each specific partner. Using a resource-based view, this study examines partner outcomes from the perspective of the strategic interest of the partner as distinct from the strategic goal of the partnership. Based on 47 interviews with representatives of partner organizations in four Canadian case studies of community sustainability plan implementation, this article details 10 resources partners can gain from engaging in a multi-stakeholder partnership.

Lack of Stakeholder Influence on Pollution Prevention A Developing Country Perspective

In a developing country context, this study explores environmental awareness, stakeholder influence strategies, and pollution prevention roles among 11 local, civil society groups (e.g., environmental nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] is one grouping; media and press is another grouping). A theoretical framework that builds on the social movement literature and is more inclusive of a developing country context is offered. In essence, awareness-raising is also considered a stakeholder influence strategy. Based on surveys conducted in Chittagong, Bangladesh, the results of this empirical study show that 10 of the 11 groups were environmentally aware; however, only the environmental NGOs were willing to influence the other groups. The environmental NGOs were actively raising awareness, but they were not directly influencing firms or the federal government on pollution prevention. These findings challenge the generalization of current stakeholder influence theory to a developing country context and raise concerns about the capacity of local civil society to encourage pollution prevention.

Implementing a Developing Country’s Global Environmental Commitments: Industry Perspectives on Potential Pollution Prevention Programs in Bangladesh

This chapter is positioned in the literature that discusses the tension between global environmental commitments and local implementation from the perspective of a developing country. It focuses on the implementation of international conventions, treaties and protocols signed and ratified by Bangladesh, as evidenced by the existence of related programs. The programs examined in this study were proposed by the Asian Development Bank in 1994, based on international best practices for industrial pollution prevention. The chapter also frames the regulatory, market-based and voluntary initiatives on a policy continuum from compliance, cooperative and collaborative approaches and compares the perceived existence of these approaches. The business perspectives of these programs are analyzed in the tannery, pulp and paper, fertilizer, textile and cement industries. Results show that although there are environmental regulations for preventing industrial pollution in Bangladesh, they are not as effective or comprehensive as they could be. The study also found that voluntary programs and economic incentive programs are present to a very limited extent. This study raises questions as to how to improve the implementation of global governance initiatives to which countries like Bangladesh make commitments.

Greening the Local Economy Through Municipal Sustainable Procurement Policies: Implementation Challenges and Successes in Western Canada

This chapter increases our understanding of procurement policies as a means of greening the local economy. The content provides an overview of the literature on current sustainable procurement practices being undertaken in Europe and North America. In addition, it details the sustainable procurement policy implementation experiences of municipalities in Western Canada, and offers practical lessons.

Cross-Sector Partnerships for Systemic Change: Systematized Literature Review and Agenda for Further Research

The literature on cross-sector partnerships has increasingly focused attention on broader systemic or system-level change. However, research to date has been partial and fragmented, and the very idea of systemic change remains conceptually underdeveloped. In this article, we seek to better understand what is meant by systemic change in the context of cross-sector partnerships and use this as a basis to discuss the contributions to the Thematic Symposium. We present evidence from a broad, multidisciplinary systematized review of the extant literature, develop an original definition of systemic change, and offer a framework for understanding the interactions between actors, partnerships, systemic change, and issues. We conclude with some suggestions for future research that we believe will enhance the literature in its next phase of development.

Wired for Innovation: Valuing the Unique Innovation Abilities of Emerging Adults

This conceptual article argues that young people’s brains are “wired for innovation” and that society should better engage this age-group to access its innovation potential. Research published in the neuroscience and developmental psychology literature shows that between 15 and 25 years of age adolescents and emerging adults possess traits of successful innovators. They are collaborative, creative, observant, curious, willing to experiment, willing to challenge the status quo, risk-takers, action oriented, and visionary. In addition, Millennials and Generation Z are coming of age in a context that provides them with innovation ability during adolescence and emerging adulthood beyond that of previous generations. This article proposes that organizations able to effectively engage young people will be more innovative. Also, when young people are meaningfully engaged, society is more likely to find solutions needed to tackle social, environmental, and economic challenges.

Environmental sustainability practices in South Asian university campuses: an exploratory study on Bangladeshi universities

Environmental sustainability practices in universities can play an important role in helping society form a sustainable future. In this study, the roles that Bangladeshi universities play in terms of sustainability practices on their campuses are scrutinized, as well as the challenges these universities face. The existing research on campus sustainability practices in Asia is reviewed, and a new exploratory study is put forth on environmental sustainability practices in the higher education institutions of a developing country—Bangladesh. The Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework used in Canadian universities was taken as basis for determining potential environmental management indicators. Results show that environmental management practices (i.e., environmental education, research, governance and operations) are present only to a very limited extent in higher education institutions in Bangladesh.

Lack of Stakeholder Influence on the Greening of Industry:A Developing Country Perspective

Due to the low wages, numerous companies are operating factories in Bangladesh. While social concerns have made the news, these industrial units are also polluting communities and ecosystems on a d...