The Language of E4S

Entrepreneurial Leader
It is the entrepreneurial spirit that has created the robust Entrepreneurs for Sustainability community that exists today. E4S defines an entrepreneur not strictly in the start-up sense.Entrepreneurs are also change agents. They are indeed people who initiate, organize, operate, assume the risk and reap the potential rewards for a new business venture. But they are also innovators who recognize opportunities and organize resources to take advantage of emerging opportunities. Whether they are looking to build their own venture or innovate within an existing company, what they share in the E4S context is a belief that business can be a force for change and for good.

Sustainability
"Sustainability is an economic, environmental and community design strategy that starts by transforming buildings, businesses and products and ends up transforming our community." -- Holly Harlan, Founder and President, E4S

Basic E4S Definition: Living and conducting business in a way that honors future generations right to the same or better quality of life that we have today.

Other Definitions:

• The framework for an economic transformation as powerful as the industrial revolution.
• A philosophy that emphasizes an improved quality of life through the integration of economic, environmental and community values. Many explain the area of sustainability as the overlap between these three realms - economic, environment and social - through which run all the threads of our region's quality of life.
• From a business point of view sustainability means measuring the triple bottom line - creating and reinventing businesses that are not only economically strong, but also ecologically sound and socially just.
• Creating products, services, buildings and communities that improve our quality of life while maintaining the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations.
• An organizing principle being adopted by leading cities around the world in order to make them greener, healthier, and more prosperous.
• The link between economic development and a wise use of our community's social and environmental resources.
• Designs that work for all species and all generations.
• Sustainability is ushering in new markets such as green building, organic foods, and new forms of transportation. Sustainability improves operational efficiency, reduces costs and fosters new design paradigms. Sustainability is creating a healthier people, healthier communities and a healthier planet.
• Often explanations are limited to the environmental or green movement. While indeed preserving and protecting the world's natural resources for future generations is the inspiration, the real magic of sustainability comes from the integration of environmental efforts, social and economic development - a whole-systems approach to building our region's future.
• "A community is sustainable when it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." - City of Cleveland web site

Whole-Systems Thinking
Whole-systems are often discussed in the context of the natural ecosystem. Products, services, whole industries and communities can be looked at with whole systems thinking. A whole-system view examines how various factors relate to each other and work as a whole. Much of what is currently designed uses a linear, take-make-waste process. Nature designs in whole-systems. There is no such thing as waste in nature rather one organism's waste is another's food. When viewed from this vantage point what was once a liability now becomes an asset. Only our vantage point needed to change.

The health of our planet, our community and our economy are inextricably linked. Environmental stewardship, community livability and economic prosperity are often analyzed separate from one another. The philosophy of sustainability suggests that when whole-systems thinking is embraced - integrating all three aspects into our designs - only then will we fully realize the promise of the future.

What will it take for large corporations to become a force for global transformation? If you ask almost any of the cutting edge corporate change makers, he or she is likely to answer with three words: whole systems change. What this means is actually quite complex-demanding transformation of individuals, corporations, as a whole, and the global economic and political systems in which businesses are embedded. Innovative organizational change makers-and their corporate counterparts-are tackling one of the most complex problems facing humanity: the urgent need for big business to evolve from being a profit-driven machine to a living system working for the future of the planet.

Local Living Economy
The basics of life - food, shelter, clothing, energy, transportation, clean eco-systems (water, air, soil), and waste processing. These are the industries that have begun to shift toward more sustainable practices. All industries are beginning to realize the economic benefits of principles such as striving for more energy efficient buildings and processes. But it is the local living industries where significant shifts are most promising in the short-term.

LOHAS
According to the LOHAS Journal, a publication serving consumers interested in sustainability, the market for sustainable lifestyle products is a $227 billion industry.

Principles of Sustainability

• Natural Step
• Natural Capitalism
• Cradle to Cradle (eco-effective design principles)
• Biomimicry
• 7 Fronts of Sustainability - Interface
• UN Millennium Goals