Ecosystem
A dynamic and interdependent living communityof people, parts, or mechanisms that interact with one another. The term was coined by Arthur Tansley, a British Ecologist, who said that ecosystems have the capacity to respond to change without altering the basic characteristics of the system. A business can be viewed as an ecosystem, as can a […]
Eco-Labels
An environmental label or declaration that provides information about a product or service in terms of its overall environmental character, a specific environmental aspect or number of environmental aspects. The information can be used to influence or inform purchasing decisions. Eco-labels may take the form of a statement, symbol, or graphic and be found, in […]
Eco-efficiency
A term for leveraging technological and process changes in order to generate solutions that offer more value than current offerings while reducing resource use and environmental impact throughout the product or service’s life. Ideally, eco-efficiency not only achieves the best possible efficiency in terms of materials and energy used in the creation, use, and disposal […]
Eco-effectiveness
The central strategy in the cradle-to-cradle development method and seeks to create industrial systems that emulate healthy natural systems. The central principle of eco-effectiveness is that “waste equals food.” The concept was developed in response to some of the perceived limitations of eco-efficiency which critics claim only slow down the rate of environmental depletion and […]
