Business, consumers and sustainable living in an interconnected world: A multilateral ecocentric approach

Current conceptualizations of environmental responsibility follow a human-c entered approach wherein the natural environment is seen as instrumental to human ends. Environmental responsibility, in this context, emerges primari ly as the preservation and sustenance of nature in a manner that would limi t waste, enhance the aesthetic and spiritual value of nature, and confer ps ychological and economic rewards upon individuals and businesses that follo w a sustainable course of interaction with nature. In contrast, this paper advances an ecocentric approach to sustainable living that ensures the dial ectic between human systems and natural and technical systems by explicitly recognizing nature as central to survival and progress. Environmental resp onsibility within this approach is viewed to be multilateral and institutio nal rather than merely as moral responsibility of business or of government s.