The Roots of Sustainability

January 15, 2005 | John R. Ehrenfeld | Social Responsibility

Management literature today abounds with stories about the business case for sustainability. Yet, the author suggests, much of business’s efforts in the name of sustainable development at best only temporarily slow society’s continuing drift toward unsustainability. Indeed, he argues, that the term “”sustainable development”” has become an oxymoron. The problem really stems from management’s failure to see unsustainability as a deep-seated systems failure and to appreciate the extent to which radical thinking and action are required to embark upon a sustainable trajectory. Over time, the business community has gotten in the habit of ignoring the source of the problem, and now it risks gradually losing the ability to think deeply about it in order to produce the right kind of solutions. Drawing on systems dynamics, philosophy, psychology and social theory, this article seeks to answer a critical question: Can anything be done to radically transform the way that businesses work?

Purchase Options

PDF $6.95

PDF + Permission to Distribute $5.90

Educator and Student Discounts Available. Learn more »

SELECT c.parent_id, c.format_id
                    FROM products AS p, products AS c
                    WHERE p.prod_id = c.parent_id AND
                        c.avail_id IN ('A','B','D') AND
                        c.type_id = 'V' AND
                        (
                            c.sku = 'the-roots-of-sustainability' OR
                            if(c.format_id = 'Certificate', '', p.url_friendly) = 'the-roots-of-sustainability'
                        )
                    LIMIT 1

SELECT `products`.`parent_id`
FROM (`transaction_lines`)
JOIN `products` ON `products`.`sku` = `transaction_lines`.`sku`
JOIN `product_categories__products` ON `products`.`parent_id` = `product_categories__products`.`prod_id`
WHERE `products`.`avail_id` = 'A'
AND TO_DAYS(transaction_lines.updated_at) < (TO_DAYS(NOW()) - 90)
AND `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` IN ('300')
GROUP BY `products`.`parent_id`
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC
LIMIT 6

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `foreign_key_table` =  'products'
AND `foreign_key_column` =  'prod_id'
AND `foreign_key_value` =  '1499'
AND `kind` =  'image_600x600'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `foreign_key_table` =  'products'
AND `foreign_key_column` =  'prod_id'
AND `foreign_key_value` =  '1499'
AND `kind` =  'gallery_image'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`

SELECT *
FROM (`products`)
WHERE `avail_id` IN ('A', 'B', 'C', 'H')
AND `parent_id` = '1499'
AND `type_id` = 'V'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`, `title`

SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position
FROM (`media`)
WHERE `foreign_key_table` =  'products'
AND `foreign_key_column` =  'prod_id'
AND `foreign_key_value` =  '1500'
AND `kind` =  'thumbnail'
ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`

SELECT `product_categories__products`.`cat_id`
FROM (`product_categories__products`)
JOIN `product_categories` ON `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` = `product_categories`.`cat_id`
WHERE `product_categories__products`.`prod_id` =  '1499'
AND `product_categories`.`parent_id` =  1
AND `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` NOT IN (1, 261)

SELECT `cat_id` AS id, `parent_id` AS parent, `status_id`, `name`, `description`, `url_friendly`, `page_title`, `meta_keywords`, `meta_description`, `position`, `updated_at`
FROM (`product_categories`)
WHERE `cat_id` != 1
ORDER BY `parent_id`, IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`, `name`

Loading Time: Base Classes	0.0006
My Controller Construct	0.0003
Build Nav	0.0005
Controller Execution Time ( Products / Route )	0.0377
Total Execution Time	0.0384

0.0007	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0004	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0009	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0006	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0004	SELECT * FROM (`carts`) WHERE `cart_id` = 'd2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956' ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
0.0002	SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS cat_id FROM (`product_categories`) WHERE `status_id` = 'A' AND `url_friendly` = 'the-roots-of-sustainability' AND `parent_id` = 1
0.0058	SELECT c.parent_id, c.format_id FROM products AS p, products AS c WHERE p.prod_id = c.parent_id AND c.avail_id IN ('A','B','D') AND c.type_id = 'V' AND ( c.sku = 'the-roots-of-sustainability' OR if(c.format_id = 'Certificate', '', p.url_friendly) = 'the-roots-of-sustainability' ) LIMIT 1
0.0002	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = 1499
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '1499'
0.0003	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '1499' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0002	SELECT `cat_id` FROM (`product_categories__products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '1499'
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`product_flags__products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '1499'
0.0002	SELECT `sku` FROM (`products__xsell`) WHERE `prod_id` = '1499' ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`
0.0086	SELECT `products`.`parent_id` FROM (`transaction_lines`) JOIN `products` ON `products`.`sku` = `transaction_lines`.`sku` JOIN `product_categories__products` ON `products`.`parent_id` = `product_categories__products`.`prod_id` WHERE `products`.`avail_id` = 'A' AND TO_DAYS(transaction_lines.updated_at) < (TO_DAYS(NOW()) - 90) AND `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` IN ('300') GROUP BY `products`.`parent_id` ORDER BY COUNT() DESC LIMIT* 6
0.0002	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '4706'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '4706'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '4706' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0001	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '5'
0.0003	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '5'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '5' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0001	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '2875'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '2875'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '2875' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0001	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '3907'
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '3907'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '3907' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0001	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '969'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '969'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '969' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0001	SELECT `parent_id` FROM (`products`) WHERE `prod_id` = '297'
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `products`.`prod_id` = '297'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`authors`) JOIN `products__authors` ON `authors`.`author_id` = `products__authors`.`author_id` WHERE `products__authors`.`prod_id` = '297' ORDER BY `sort` ASC
0.0003	SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position FROM (`media`) WHERE `foreign_key_table` = 'products' AND `foreign_key_column` = 'prod_id' AND `foreign_key_value` = '1499' AND `kind` = 'image_600x600' ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`media`) WHERE `media`.`media_id` = '735'
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`mime_types`) WHERE `mime_types`.`extension` = 'jpg'
0.0001	SELECT * FROM (`media_metadata`) WHERE `media_id` = '735'
0.0002	SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position FROM (`media`) WHERE `foreign_key_table` = 'products' AND `foreign_key_column` = 'prod_id' AND `foreign_key_value` = '1499' AND `kind` = 'gallery_image' ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`
0.0005	SELECT * FROM (`products`) WHERE `avail_id` IN ('A', 'B', 'C', 'H') AND `parent_id` = '1499' AND `type_id` = 'V' ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`, `title`
0.0002	SELECT `c`.`format_id`, `c`.`price`, `c`.`sale_price` FROM (`products` AS c) WHERE `c`.`prod_id` = '1500' LIMIT 1
0.0002	SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS media_id, position FROM (`media`) WHERE `foreign_key_table` = 'products' AND `foreign_key_column` = 'prod_id' AND `foreign_key_value` = '1500' AND `kind` = 'thumbnail' ORDER BY IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`
0.0002	SELECT `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` FROM (`product_categories__products`) JOIN `product_categories` ON `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` = `product_categories`.`cat_id` WHERE `product_categories__products`.`prod_id` = '1499' AND `product_categories`.`parent_id` = 1 AND `product_categories__products`.`cat_id` NOT IN (1, 261)
0.0004	SELECT `cat_id` AS id, `parent_id` AS parent, `status_id`, `name`, `description`, `url_friendly`, `page_title`, `meta_keywords`, `meta_description`, `position`, `updated_at` FROM (`product_categories`) WHERE `cat_id` != 1 ORDER BY `parent_id`, IF(position = 0, 1, 0) ASC , `position`, `name`
0.0003	SELECT * FROM (`product_categories`) WHERE `status_id` = 'A' AND `parent_id` = 1 AND `cat_id` NOT IN (1, 261) ORDER BY `name`
0.0002	SELECT * FROM (`site_settings`) WHERE `option_key` = 'announcement'

HTTP_ACCEPT	/
HTTP_USER_AGENT	Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
HTTP_CONNECTION
SERVER_PORT	443
SERVER_NAME	mit-sloan.rarebirdinc.com
REMOTE_ADDR	3.145.116.239
SERVER_SOFTWARE	Apache
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE
SCRIPT_NAME	/index.php
REQUEST_METHOD	GET
HTTP_HOST
REMOTE_HOST
CONTENT_TYPE
SERVER_PROTOCOL	HTTP/2.0
QUERY_STRING
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING	gzip, br, zstd, deflate
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR

session_id	df79e93a64d2f247d863254e93da707a
ip_address	3.145.116.239
user_agent	Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
last_activity	1739459143
user_data
cart	Array ( [cart_id] => d2518c37177fbdb8853659119fddc956 [subtotal] => Array ( [Physical] => 0 [PDF] => 0 [Zip] => 0 [Audio] => 0 [Video] => 0 [Digital Replica] => 0 [eBook] => 0 [Certificate] => 0 [Print Sub] => 0 [Digital Sub] => 0 [Combo Sub] => 0 [Shippable] => 0 ) [item_count] => Array ( [Physical] => 0 [PDF] => 0 [Zip] => 0 [Audio] => 0 [Video] => 0 [Digital Replica] => 0 [eBook] => 0 [Certificate] => 0 [Print Sub] => 0 [Digital Sub] => 0 [Combo Sub] => 0 [Shippable] => 0 ) [contains_books] => 0 )

base_url	https://mit-sloan.rarebirdinc.com/
index_page
uri_protocol	AUTO
url_suffix
url_allowed_suffixes	Array ( [0] => html )
language	english
charset	UTF-8
enable_hooks	1
subclass_prefix	MY_
permitted_uri_chars	a-z 0-9~%.:_\-
allow_get_array	1
enable_query_strings
controller_trigger	c
function_trigger	m
directory_trigger	d
log_threshold	4
log_path	/var/www/mit-sloan.com/logs/
log_date_format	Y-m-d H:i:s
cache_path
encryption_key	pIck\|3j@rZ
sess_cookie_name	ci_session
sess_expiration	7200
sess_expire_on_close
sess_encrypt_cookie
sess_use_database	1
sess_table_name	sessions
sess_match_ip
sess_match_useragent
sess_time_to_update	3000
cookie_prefix
cookie_domain	.mit-sloan.rarebirdinc.com
cookie_path	/
cookie_secure
global_xss_filtering
csrf_protection
csrf_token_name	csrf_test_name
csrf_cookie_name	csrf_cookie_name
csrf_expire	7200
compress_output
time_reference	local
rewrite_short_tags
proxy_ips
globals	Array ( [org] => SMR [company_name] => MIT Sloan Management Review [cs_address_1] => 238 Main Street E48-570 [cs_address_2] => [cs_city] => Cambridge [cs_state] => MA [cs_zip] => 02142 [cs_phone] => 617-253-7170 [cs_fax] => 617-258-9739 [cs_hours] => 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. [EST] Mon. - Fri. [cs_email] => smr-help@mit.edu [triliteral_email] => orders@triliteral.org [mit_issues_email] => smr-issues@mit.edu [order_confirm_email] => smr-noreply@sloan.mit.edu [webmaster_email] => webmaster@rarebirdinc.com [inventory_recips] => developer@rarebirdinc.com [meta_description] => MIT Sloan Management Review's online store [meta_keywords] => [copyright] => Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2025. All rights reserved. [ga_account] => [recaptcha] => Array ( [public_key] => [private_key] => ) [enable_users] => [doc_root] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web [media_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/media [data_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data [csv_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/csv [ini_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/ini [pdf_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/pdf [certificate_pdf_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/certificate_pdf [audio_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/audio [video_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/video [zip_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/zip [epub_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/epub [mobi_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/web/../data/mobi [cli_path] => /var/www/mit-sloan.com/application/controllers/cli [title_suffix] => - MIT SMR Store [seo] => Array ( [default_title] => MIT SMR Store [og_image] => http://mit-sloan.rarebirdinc.com/assets/images/mit-smr-social-default.png ) [default_meta] => Array ( [description] => MIT Sloan Management Review's online store [keywords] => [copyright] => Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2025. All rights reserved. [author] => MIT Sloan Management Review ) [main_site_url] => http://sloanreview.mit.edu [license_agreement_pdf_url] => /pdf/MgmtReportLicensingAgreement.pdf [permission_to_copy_min_qty] => 5 [adminbghex] => #c9c9c9 [adminfghex] => #e9e9e9 [adminac1hex] => #a9a9a9 [default_product_thumbnail] => /assets/images/MITSMR_cover.jpg [default_product_cover] => /assets/images/MITSMR_cover.jpg [sendgrid_api_key] => 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 )
template	Array ( [default_layout] => layouts/application [enable_view_path_comment] => 1 )
sfg	Array ( [debug] => 0 [log] => 1 [notify] => 1 [timeout] => 10 [test_mode] => [remote_host] => api.sfgnetwork.com [remote_port] => 443 [remote_uri] => /websvcapps/services/https/process_xmlrpc.php [remote_method] => process_xmlrpc [services] => Array ( [ecommerce_order] => Array ( [user] => 122f2eb252faa4e4b86193e483bd2b52 [pass] => 21598fa307e843648856f0c3f41bfbc5 ) [product_status] => Array ( [user] => 1ec0e02302ef35e38fb75f6d13670357 [pass] => 36375bce7741df326faec39f71240d5e ) ) )

The Roots of Sustainability

You may also be interested in:

Can We Amplify the Good and Contain the Bad of Social Media?

Sustainability Lessons From the Front Lines

Creating Shared Value at NestlÌ©

Driving Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

Does It Pay To Be Good?

Bridging the Sustainability Gap