With influential climate activists like Greta Thunberg championing for international environmental justice, it has never been more evident that change is necessary in the way we treat the planet we call home. This Earth Day, and every day, it is crucial that we all engage in sustainable practices that contribute positively and equitably to the well-being of our planet. Change must start somewhere, and that somewhere is with students like us.
Sustainability is a word we often hear, but don’t often understand the extent of the meaning. It encompasses how natural systems work, continue to be diverse, and yield everything required for the environment to remain in balance now and in the future.
There are three core pillars of sustainability: economic development, social development, and environmental protection. Economic development refers to giving people what they wish for without negotiating the quality of life and reducing the financial weight of doing what is right. Social development is about the mindfulness and legal protection of human health from pollution and toxic activities of businesses and organizations, as well as upholding access to basic natural resources without compromising the quality of life. Environmental protection focuses on how ecosystems should be both studied and protected, and how technology can help ensure a greener future. (2019, Mason)
It’s important for everyone to understand the role they can play in achieving sustainability.
In 2015, Pearson Education released their 2020 Sustainability Plan to focus on integrating social and environmental issues into every aspect of their business. Their plan consists of three focus areas: to increase the number of learners reached, to enhance the future of learning, and to be a trusted partner. The ambition behind the plan is the “need for everyone to be a lifelong learner…by enabling better learning and helping to remove barriers to education, we empower learners to be their best selves, and, in turn, build a better life for themselves and those around them.”
The three pillars of Pearson’s plan correspond to the three pillars of sustainability. The first pillar, Reach More Learners, strives to improve accessibility and affordability of services and products as well as collaboration to reach unwarranted learners. This corresponds with social development and upholding access to basic resources, like education.
The second pillar, Shape the Future of Learning, focuses on promoting education for sustainable development, enhancing skills that foster employability and all-encompassing economic growth, and engagement in research, dialogue, and collective action to solve global issues. This falls under economic development by giving the people what they want and reducing the financial weight of doing what is right.
The last pillar, Be a Trusted Partner, aims to protect the natural environment, build a sustainable supply chain, and to respect and support customers, communities, and people. This coincides with environmental protection. Pearson is making efforts to reduce their environmental impact and to support initiatives for sustainable forests. They are committed to doing business with partners who respect the environment and human rights.
Sustainability is the key to a better future. Humans rely on natural resources for business, activities, and survival. Ignoring sustainability can lead to the exhaustion of natural resources.
Sustainability is important to study even if you aren’t an environmental science major. Business majors need to learn about sustainability because it aids in attractiveness to customers and fulfilling Corporate Social Responsibility. Agriculture, nutrition, and public health students need to focus on sustainability in order to learn how to feed a growing population nutritious and quality food. Education majors spread the knowledge of sustainability to the next generation so they can lead change. Every major has a connection to sustainability.
It’s also important to know if the businesses you support incorporate sustainability in their business model, like Pearson does with its 2020 Sustainability Plan. If you don’t agree with a company’s stance or lack of action, you have the power to end your support. You may think your individual power as a consumer is small, but groups of consumers can make a huge difference. It is our duty to make the world a better place.
2019, Mason M, “What is sustainability and why is it important?”. Retrieved from: https://www.environmentalscience.org/sustainability
2016, Pearson Education Sustainability Narrative: https://www.pearson.com/corporate/sustainability/our-2020-plan.html
I am currently seeking a degree in General Studies, which allows me to focus on more than one area. I am pursuing a career in Environmental Sustainability.
When asked “What is Sustainability”, a lot of people will attempt to provide an answer, but when giving their definition they get lost in their explanation. The problem is because there is not an universally agreed definition on what sustainability means. I would define sustainability as, the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. Sustainability is the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance.
I am currently working on a project that explains how I feel about sustainability. I found that because I was not formerly educated in sustainability, I live a very unsustainable life. I am enrolled in a “Sustainability on Campus” course at the University of Michigan and I am learning what I must change to live in a sustainable world. Due to the major implications of the human population using up the Earth’s natural resources, I am determined to change my lifestyle and act as a steward of sustainability, teaching the behavioral changes needed to save our planet.
Not all communities are as serious about sustainability as the University of Michigan. It is a known fact that a failure to incorporate sustainable practices in education, and in business, happen frequently across the United States because sustainability is deemed a complicated process.
It is for this reason that a change must take place. It will require a lifelong lifestyle commitment of learning, research, and commitment to increase the best sustainable practices, to ensure our grandchildren’s children will have a planet that can sustain the punishment that so many people have inflicted.
As a transfer student coming to the University of Michigan, I am hopeful, that I have found a suitable career path in which to pursue. I have chosen to pursue a career as a steward of Sustainability. I have strategized, over what it would take for me gain the necessary skills and background required to pursue a career in sustainability, and have discovered that I would like to work with young children as a steward of sustainability. My attention was brought to the University and I have determined that every year the University of Michigan, brings in a fresh group of students. However, not all of these students have been formerly educated in sustainability. I discovered this problem because of the lack of knowledge I had when asked “what is sustainability”. I was left with my mouth open unable to answer. This is a problem that must be addressed to save our planet.
All children in the United States deserve equal educational opportunities, and to save the planet, sustainability must be incorporated at all levels of education.
My philosophy is, to maximize growth and understanding of sustainability. To do this we must start with our roots, our children. By teaching our children about sustainability, in elementary school, those children will go home, and act as sustainable stewards with their parents. As our children mature, they will grow with the ever-changing protocol, that surrounds sustainability. When ready for their next phases in middle school and high school, they will have developed a foundation on which to grow further in educational sustainability issues.
To educate all our children in sustainability, we must focus on our state and federal legislatures. All children in the United States must have an equal representation in education, and by failing to provide our children with the basic tools to become sustainable, we are preventing our country from becoming sustainable. Encouraging a statewide initiative to provide the children of all communities, education in sustainability is a must. I believe all students should be required to learn about Sustainability, just like English, History, and Mathematics at all levels of education. Educating our children in sustainability is the necessary tool, I feel that will save our planet.
