Socially responsible and sustainable practices

Global climate change and its consequences, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions, in turn resulting in flooding and droughts, pose a serious and ever-increasing threat to our health and economies, and water and food supplies for billions of people (IPCC 2014). Global climate change is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – CO₂ being the best-known GHG. However, these emissions also cause other problems, such as acidification of our soil and oceans, which in turn further damage the functioning of ecosystems. Together with, for instance, other types of emissions (of hazardous substances) and deforestation this can lead to habitat loss and thus biodiversity loss, but also to erosion and, ultimately, further increases in GHG emissions. If you combine these and many more environmental problems facing us now and in the (near) future with the unequal division of wealth across our globe and our apparent limited ability, and oftentimes even inability, as a society to tackle these problems, it is not difficult to see how all this could result not only in the collapse of specific ecosystems, but also in the disruption and even collapse of our social systems. It is now also widely acknowledged that ‘it is not human technology so much as patterns of human activity that are challenging the sustainability of human development’ (Parrish 2007: p. 846). Consequently, we, as humanity, are faced with the urgent challenge of moving beyond discussions on the concept of sustainability and focusing our attention on development and implementation of actual socially responsible and sustainable practices – practices that consider social values and notions such as equity and fairness, while accounting for the systemic dimensions of sustainable development, including the limitations of our environment to (continue to) support our development (see e.g. Destatte 2010; Solecki et al. 2015; UNWCED 1987). Given that many of the patterns of human behaviour mentioned earlier relate to the behaviour of (people working in and consuming products and services from) businesses, it goes without saying that striving for sustainable development not only requires effective (governmental and intergovernmental) policies but also a significant contribution from the corporate sector (Moon 2007). Tourism and hospitality are no exception to that rule.