The current demanding business environment requires corporations to act fast in finding effective solutions to problems given the myriad of challenges they face (Dyllick & Hockerts, 2001). The challenges include the impact of climate change on business practices, natural resource consumption, chemical pollution, technological change etc. Moreover, the forces of globalization, heightened concerns about the deteriorating quality of the physical environment and increased stakeholder power are also increasingly having a real influence on business practices (Rainey, 2008). Since 1992, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has encouraged the adoption of the concept of ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) to support business efforts aimed at addressing some of these challenges. The aim of eco-efficiency is to reduce the amount of energy and materials used in production processes to achieve economic and environmental benefits (WBCSD, 2000).

This master thesis, which has been carried out in collaboration with Fairtrade,investigates how sustainable development can be integrated in the mathematicaldiscipline in the Swedish upper secondary school. The study includedfindings on design and disposition, with sustainability themes relatedto Fairtrade. This since Fairtrade is going to use the study as a basis forthe development of an educational material. The results of the study areof interest to teachers and organizations that want to develop educationalmaterial that integrate sustainable development in mathematics education.The main focus of the study has been the teachers? preferences on dispositionand design.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven mathematics teachersin the Stockholm area.

Through this thesis, we want to discuss how the marginalization of people, several precedent political, city planning- and engineering decisions resulted in a catastrophic outcome after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 2005. We also put forward a case study of the Make It Right Foundation, to demonstrate how the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward are involved in the urban development of their community. We would like to draw attention to the power of citizens and how they can influence the urban development of a community after a trauma. This study also focuses on the mission of The Make It Right Foundation: which is to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward with firm concepts on sustainable development where all dimensions are accounted: ecological, social, cultural and economic. The empirical data was collected by a field study in New Orleans 2010-03-22 and semistructured interviews were made during the same days..

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine the use of the concept cultural heritage in Swedish governmental cultural policy. Ten official reports, reaching over a time period of seven years (1997-2004) are examined in the following way: What is cultural heritage? What functions/ values does the cultural heritage have? Whose heritage is a cultural heritage? With some simplification you can say that there are two different views on cultural heritage in the documents. The most common way to refer to cultural heritage is a category of chosen historical objects whose preservation is motivated by their function as sources of information and knowledge about the history and development of the Swedish society.

The major environmental problems that we have today are frequently mentioned in the media today. One example is the ongoing debate regarding global warming and its causes and consequences. There are also several other problems in our society such as segregation and social tensions. Most agree that we must do something to solve these problems and that we must try to achieve a sustainable development for the entire planet. But how should it actually be done and what trade-offs, compromises, sacrifices and changes must be made?The purpose of this paper is to examine how these issues are being dealt with in Swedish city planning.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the ideology behind Sida's cultural aid by using postcolonial theory. We want to analyse the discourse on cultural aid that is found mainly in Sida's publications. The interpretation of the sources is made with a hermeneutic base and by using postcolonial theory in combination with Paul Ricoeur's theories on the function of ideology: 1. ideology as distortion, 2. ideology as legitimation, and 3.

In 1999 the Swedish Parliament decided about 15 environmental goals aimed to be achieved in time for the next generation. For example physical social planning must be based on programs and strategies how cultural-historical values has been attended, so called programs of cultural heritage. By law the Swedish municipalities are responsible for reaching these goals by creating program of cultural heritage. But only a few of the municipalities have these programs, meaning that many municipalities need to create programs of cultural heritage in the next five years.The aim of this report is to present a model of analysis on programs of cultural heritage in municipalities for preservation and development of cultural environments. By testing the model on the municipalities of Osby and Tomelilla methods on how to create a new program of cultural heritage or how to complete existing documents are formulated.One of the conclusions is that one document, program of cultural heritage, functions as landscape analysis, model of cultural valuation and strategy of developing cultural values.

There are currently 2160 buildings in Sweden that are protected by law with the designation as a cultural heritage building, which is the strongest protection that can be obtained for a building of cultural historic significance. The purpose of this thesis is to research how strong and sustainable the protection of such a designation is and how you can motivate a revocation. Furthermore, this thesis aims to give an overall insight into all cases where there has been a revocation.To achieve the protection of a designation as a cultural heritage building, the object has to be of outstanding interest on account of its cultural historic value. In the first part, this thesis gives a short historic background of the cultural heritage law and its terms, like outstanding interest and cultural historic value. The County Administrative Board's documents about revocation are the main source for this research.There have been 24 cases of revocation and the frequency of such cases has increased in the past ten years.

During the 90s most companies organized and adopted routines for their environmental work. This work included for example eco-efficiency improvements and the introduction of environmental managing systems. At the UN conference in Rio in 1992 the concept Sustainable development was defined, but it was not until about the year of 2000 that companies in Sweden shifted their work from environmental management to sustainable management. A consequence of this is that they now have to focus on environmental aspect in conjunction with social and economic aspects.The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of what a change of focus to sustainable development means for companies. Has the environmental work suffered in the competition with social/economical aspects under the new sustainable focus? How will the new way of working affect the balance between environmental and social aspects? Changes were studied in five companies by analysing their annual-, environmental- and sustainability reports and through interviews of sustainable managers.

The thesis "Jaummuov?rrie Flower Meadow: An Assessment of Species Diversity and Cultural History," provides a detailed botanical examination of Jaummuov?rrie flower meadow in the Ammarn?s area, focusing on its biodiversity and cultural significance. The study aims to evaluate the species richness of the meadow and explore its role in the cultural heritage of the region. In addition to its ecological importance, the thesis delves into the cultural history of Jaummuov?rrie flower meadow, tracing its significance to the local community and traditional practices.

Sustainable development has become the ideology of the twentieth first century. As an important concept and as a framework of political action, sustainable development can at this point be considered as the very symbol of a paradigm in the international debate over environmental issues and the threats of climate change. But what does the concept of sustainability actually suggest? This thesis uses discourse analysis in order to examine the Swedish learning for sustainable development as to three different discourses on the national arena: the government and the municipals of Piteå and Växjö respectively. When the study foremost concerns official policy documents that contain associations with the study area, the methodology used takes into consideration both language, signs, metaphors and so called story lines.

Sustainable development has become the ideology of the twentieth first century. As an important concept and as a framework of political action, sustainable development can at this point be considered as the very symbol of a paradigm in the international debate over environmental issues and the threats of climate change. But what does the concept of sustainability actually suggest? This thesis uses discourse analysis in order to examine the Swedish learning for sustainable development as to three different discourses on the national arena: the government and the municipals of Piteå and Växjö respectively. When the study foremost concerns official policy documents that contain associations with the study area, the methodology used takes into consideration both language, signs, metaphors and so called story lines.

This thesis is about sustainability within chemistry, the so-called, green chemistry. With this work  I seek to combine green chemistry with sustainable  development  and find methods for teaching green chemistry in a laboratory environement.  I have designed  and tested two labs with ingredients of green  chemistry and sustainable development in my study. I wanted to determine if my design model  leads to conception for the students. The students have through forms and interviews declared their perspective on the education and their conception. In a laboratory environment the pros of a laboratory way of work should be recognized.

The primary purpose of this degree project was to investigate teachers conceptions about education for sustainable development and their education within the area. Teachers from Sweden and California have taken part and one of the aims with this study was to look if any differences could be found depending on what country the teachers came from. Therefore, this study has used a qualitative approach where conception maps and interviews have been used to get a result. Furthermore, the result showed that none of the differences that was found can be linked to the participants home country. The study also showed that several of different teaching traditions and educations philosophies was represented.

The purpose of this thesis is to study to what extent the UN millennium development goals have influenced Sweden?s development policy. The research method that I have used is a qualitative text analysis and I have studied the ideas in governmental texts and millennium development goals reports from 1995-2008.My hypothesis is that the basic ideas that has symbolized Sweden?s development policy has not changed much since the adoption of the millennium development goals in year 2000. This hypothesis is based on different ideas that the basic perspectives in international development policy are rather constant.My conclusion is that many of the areas that are affected by the millennium development goals already are prioritized areas within Swedish development policy, for example poverty reduction and gender equality.