Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Explain how human and environmental systems are interconnected
Explain how sustainable systems balance social, economic, and environmental needs
Analyze approaches to address a sustainability issue
Overview
Throughout this course, you have explored how sustainability can be considered in various contexts and within the three pillars of business, social justice, and environmental quality. In previous modules, you have explored these pillars, drafted parts that will be included in this project, and received feedback on that work. For your project, you will incorporate the knowledge gained and the feedback given on your drafts for one of the following scenarios and its related profile. You will also look at actionable steps that others have taken that could be looked at for your chosen group.
Scenario #1: Business
You were recently hired as Director of Sustainability at McBurrow Mining, a local mining company. In this role, you will be working to guide the Board of Directors to understand how policies, vision, and manufacturing processes relate to sustainability and environmental issues. Once they gain that understanding, they will want to see how this has worked in other companies facing similar issues. By reading the McBurrow Mining profile linked in the Supporting Materials section, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the template, you will describe some actionable steps the board could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Scenario #2: Social Justice
You live in a neighborhood with an active community organization. You and your neighbors are very concerned about inequity, as the city is spending money on improving road conditions in some areas, but not others. One of your neighbors asked you to join them in attending a Community Action Meeting to address these observations in the form of an informational campaign. By reading the Elm Glen city profile linked in the Supporting Materials section, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the template, you will describe some actionable steps the community group could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Scenario #3: Environmental Quality
You are a member of your college’s Environmental Science Quality Club. The group has decided they’d like to move forward with a campaign to help inform and educate the campus community on what environmental quality is, how it should look on campus, and what actionable steps the campus community could take to encourage environmental quality practices. By reading the Environmental Science Quality Club profile linked in the Supporting Materials section, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the template, you will describe some actionable steps the club could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Directions
Based on your chosen scenario, respond to each part below by completing the Project Template. Each scenario will require you to demonstrate your understanding of sustainable practices, the potential impacts and influences on decisions made in sustainability, and the actionable steps you could take to address sustainable issues for your chosen group. You will use the Scenario Profiles linked in the Supporting Materials section to support your work on the project. This document contains descriptions of the related group for each scenario, as well as a relevant case study that relates to the sustainability issue.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Part One: Sustainable Practices
In this section, you will look at the interconnectedness of environmental issues and human behavior as it relates to your chosen scenario. To do this, you will look at both how the environmental systems in use impact the community as well as how the community use impacts the environmental systems in place. You will also look at the group’s overall bias in addressing sustainability in your community.
Describe how environmental systems in use in your chosen scenario impact human behavior.
Consider ecosystems, cultural systems, and organizational systems in your response.
Describe the impact of the current resource use on the environment.
What resources does the group in your scenario use?
What is the impact on the environment?
Describe how human ideology impacts behavior regarding environmental systems.
What policies or vision impacts the environmental systems in use within your chosen group?
Think about your chosen group; what behaviors do they practice regarding the environmental systems?
Explain the role of cultural bias in your chosen group’s approach to global sustainability.
What are some of the biases within the group that impact the use of the resources discussed in the scenario?
Part Two: Profile
In this section, you will use a provided profile related to your chosen group to consider how organizations or groups mentioned in the profile have improved (or not improved) their sustainability practices.
Describe the value of sustainability practices in human and environmental systems.
What are the short-term benefits of implementing sustainable practices in your chosen group’s related profile?
What are the long-term benefits of implementing these sustainable practices?
Explain the relationship between sustainable systems and human equity in the context of the related profile.
In what ways did your profile highlight the relationship between sustainable practices and human equity?
Describe how conflict resolution is used in the profile to support sustainability.
What examples of conflict resolution were evident in your profile?
How were the conflicts resolved (or not) in your profile? How did resolving conflicts impact sustainable practices?
Explain how cultural systems relate to sustainability within the profile.
What cultural systems were predominant in your profile? What role did culture play in sustainability efforts in your profile?
Part Three: Actionable Steps
In this section, you will focus on describing actionable steps related to sustainability for your chosen group. To do this, you will highlight the current state of your chosen group’s sustainability practice and then describe actionable steps for each pillar of sustainability.
Explain why sustainability improvement is needed in your chosen group.
What areas of sustainability are needed in your chosen group?
What are the benefits for your chosen group if they improve sustainability practices?
Describe how the perspectives of the various stakeholders of your chosen group provide a context to improve sustainability practices related to the concerns of the group.
How do the perspectives within the group influence efforts made to improve sustainability practices?
Explain how cultural diversity in your chosen group can be of value in addressing sustainability issues.
Recommend actionable steps your chosen group could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Reflect on what you know about your chosen group and sustainability. What are some actions that could be taken to improve sustainability?
For each pillar of sustainability, what are some benefits of improving sustainability practices within your chosen group?
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Submit your completed Project Template for grading. No sources are required. However, if you choose to use sources, they should be cited according to APA style.
