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20 • Green Project Management

Social

Bearable Equitable
Sustainable
Environment Economic
Viable

Figure 2.1
Interrelating life cycles. Adapted from A. J. G. Silvius, J. van der Brink, and A. Köhler,
“Views on Sustainable Project Management,” In Human Side of Projects in Modern
Business, IPMA Scientific Research Paper Series, ed. Kalle Kähköhnen, Abdul Samad
Kazi, and Mirkka Rekola, 2009, p. 26 (Helsinki, Finland: IPMA). With permission.
If we agree that sustainability does have the aspect of “the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs,” it begs the question: have
we even begun to accomplish—or even properly consider—that? Politics
aside, looking at sustainability in projects, the project manager needs to
evaluate the project through the concept of an “environmental lens.”

the environmental lens

An assertion from EarthPM is that “project managers must view their
projects through an environmental lens. This increases the project man-
ager’s (and the project team’s) long-term thinking and avails the project
of the rising green wave of environmentalism.” It is through that lens
3
that the project manager will view the various aspects of the product of
the project and the project’s processes as well, to ensure that what can be
done to increase greenality will be done. The higher the greenality of the
project, the lower the impact of the project itself on the environment, and
the greater the sustainability of the project’s product.

the CyCle oF sustainaBility
While we are talking sustainability, there is another concept, called the
cycle of sustainability. A perfect cycle of sustainability utilizes everything it