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6E- Life-Cycle Management (MO2/13) Sustainable development quo vadis:ndash: a life-cycle thinking paradigm is needed. Saur, Konrad1, Fava, James2, 1 Five Winds International, Donzdorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany2 Five Winds International, Philadelphia, PA, USA ABSTRACT- This paper discusses the importance of life-cycle thinking and its related tools for encouraging change in current patterns of design, production and consumption. It highlights a need to develop and make available tools for putting life-cycle thinking into practice. Current consumption and production patterns are unsustainable, and a new way of approaching environmental problems is needed in order to address this problem. While current command and control practices will still be needed, additional frameworks, tools and approaches must be developed and implemented if we are to move society towards more sustainable patterns of production and consumption. Life-cycle thinking offers a conceptual framework and has led to the development of a set of tools and approaches that can help move society towards the broad goal of sustainability. It has been demonstrated through numerous practical examples that bringing life-cycle thinking into mainstream decision making processes makes business sense. There is a demand for information on best available methods, models and factors for characterizing the impacts of a wide range of product systems on humans and ecosystems and on the consumption of resources and land use. Simplified tools and training are essential for promoting life-cycle thinking for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in developing countries and in countries with economies in transition. Key words: Systems perspective, Sustainable production, Life Cycle Thinking |
