{"id":2278,"date":"2020-03-31T12:30:16","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T12:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gronenonline.com\/_gronen1\/?p=2278"},"modified":"2020-03-31T12:32:20","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T12:32:20","slug":"what-is-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gronenonline.com\/_gronen1\/2020\/03\/31\/what-is-essential\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Essential?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Blogger<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Sarah Birrell Ivory<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Director, Centre for Business, Climate Change, and Sustainability<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Email: sarah.ivory@ed.ac.uk<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is Essential?<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a question my family and I have asked many times in recent weeks, as Covid-19 forces us to reconsider both the meaning of that word, and the values that drive different people\u2019s answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Collectively, as a society, asking this question has led to us facing some fairly uncomfortable truths about human nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starting with the most serious-level, many of us would list \u2018the protection of human life\u2019 as essential, made more apparent by the cruelty of this virus targeting the most vulnerable who lack defences to fight it. And so it is left to those of us with health, strength, agency, and influence to use this to protect others. Sometimes just by staying at home and changing our behaviour, other times changing our business purpose, and other times by demonstrating these values as leaders of our communities and nations.<\/span><\/p>\n

But while the protection of human life may appear of the essential list for many, it has become apparent that this is not necessarily for all. We have seen an emerging narrative in some places which does not subscribe to this as an essential. Human life is not deemed essential when saving it will require behaviour change, will cost too many jobs, or will impact the economy. In this narrative, the (economic) protection of the many is more essential than the lives of the few.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, as a sustainability and climate change scholar, I can\u2019t help but draw a parallel here. We are told that the (economic) protection of the many \u2013 or at least, of the most wealthy in society \u2013 is more essential than the lives of the \u2018few\u2019\u2026 except that those vulnerable to this other crisis are not \u2018few\u2019. There are millions at risk of sea level rises either directly or indirectly through inundation of arable land, there are low lying islands literally planning their escape routes to dry land as they lose their nations, and there are already water-stressed continents who see no light \u2013 or rain \u2013 at the end of the tunnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this question of \u2018essential\u2019 has another less dramatic interest to me. What businesses are \u2018essential\u2019? And are there different levels of \u2018essential-ness\u2019? So while existing ventilator, sanitiser, and PPE manufacturers are essential, so are those with the ability to pivot into these areas. In a \u2018war effort\u2019 type mentality, we see essential businesses now include car and vacuum manufacturers making ventilators, high end fashion brands sewing PPE, and distilleries and breweries sourcing ingredients for hospital-grade hand sanitiser.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This draws on the business strategy theory of strategic agility which I have written on in relation to sustainability in the past (Ivory and Brooks, 2018<\/a>). Strategic agility requires<\/span><\/p>\n