"Environmental Stewardship and Corporate Social Responsibility"
22 - 23 February, 2013.
Dept. Of Environmental Studies, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
Issues that are all pervasive - hunger, environmental degradation, sanitation, access to safe drinking water, right to education, healthcare - issues that threaten mankind per se, not differentiating between the east and the west, the haves and the have-nots, or the industrial and the agrarian are approaching a critical point. Unfortunately, mankind's response to such self-induced threats, to date, has been sporadic at best and rather unfocused.
The primary reason behind this looming crisis is the lack of stewardship. Stewardship entails (among other things) the building of bridges that link the industrial and the academic worlds, so that we can work together to address some of the daunting problems that humanity is currently facing. There is no other way to systematically improve the living conditions of those who are poor and under served, and to ensure that the integrity of the environment is preserved in the long term.
How should we go about achieving this cooperation? Perhaps the key lies in reaching a common understanding about what the term "stewardship" really means. If we interpret it as the responsibility of taking proper care of something belonging to someone else, and if we adopt this idea as our guiding principle, our most immediate challenge will be to explore how to incorporate environmental stewardship into the practices and policies that are commonly subsumed under the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Accomplishing something like this will be no easy task, since it requires a truly global outlook that extends well beyond quick fixes and short-term solutions.In order for such a perspective to prevail, it will be necessary to creatively combine industrial expertise and resources with academic insights about the environmental, social and ethical implications of corporate policies and decisions. This kind of collaboration is absolutely essential, because the problems we are facing are so complex that neither the industry nor the academia can tackle them alone. The only way forward is to create a unified response that will genuinely reflect the ideals encapsulated in the term"environmental stewardship". If we manage to do so, we will have reason to hope that the future will be cleaner, greener, healthier and more prosperous.
This conference seeks to bring together participants from the academia,the corporate sector, NGO's and government institutions,in order to initiate a conversation about some of the critical problems that we must confront over the next few decades. We envision a broad and constructive exchange of opinions, in which particular attention will be devoted to issues related to alternative renewable energy sources. This is an area where collaboration between the various organizations represented at this meeting can be especially fruitful, and it is our hope that such interactions will begin to take shape during the conference.
22 - 23 February, 2013.
Dept. Of Environmental Studies, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
Issues that are all pervasive - hunger, environmental degradation, sanitation, access to safe drinking water, right to education, healthcare - issues that threaten mankind per se, not differentiating between the east and the west, the haves and the have-nots, or the industrial and the agrarian are approaching a critical point. Unfortunately, mankind's response to such self-induced threats, to date, has been sporadic at best and rather unfocused.
The primary reason behind this looming crisis is the lack of stewardship. Stewardship entails (among other things) the building of bridges that link the industrial and the academic worlds, so that we can work together to address some of the daunting problems that humanity is currently facing. There is no other way to systematically improve the living conditions of those who are poor and under served, and to ensure that the integrity of the environment is preserved in the long term.
How should we go about achieving this cooperation? Perhaps the key lies in reaching a common understanding about what the term "stewardship" really means. If we interpret it as the responsibility of taking proper care of something belonging to someone else, and if we adopt this idea as our guiding principle, our most immediate challenge will be to explore how to incorporate environmental stewardship into the practices and policies that are commonly subsumed under the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Accomplishing something like this will be no easy task, since it requires a truly global outlook that extends well beyond quick fixes and short-term solutions.In order for such a perspective to prevail, it will be necessary to creatively combine industrial expertise and resources with academic insights about the environmental, social and ethical implications of corporate policies and decisions. This kind of collaboration is absolutely essential, because the problems we are facing are so complex that neither the industry nor the academia can tackle them alone. The only way forward is to create a unified response that will genuinely reflect the ideals encapsulated in the term"environmental stewardship". If we manage to do so, we will have reason to hope that the future will be cleaner, greener, healthier and more prosperous.
This conference seeks to bring together participants from the academia,the corporate sector, NGO's and government institutions,in order to initiate a conversation about some of the critical problems that we must confront over the next few decades. We envision a broad and constructive exchange of opinions, in which particular attention will be devoted to issues related to alternative renewable energy sources. This is an area where collaboration between the various organizations represented at this meeting can be especially fruitful, and it is our hope that such interactions will begin to take shape during the conference.