Education is the most powerful tool that can be used for sustainability. Education, personally, economically or socially, is important to improve the status of a business or individual. Sustainability practices reduce environmental problems and save money through awareness and communication. The involvement of individuals, personally or professionally, will help people understand their direct responsibility and impact on the environment. The first thing to do is to reduce costs when businesses are going through difficult times economically.
Many people may think that reducing jobs is the first answer, but they should first consider how to become more sustainable. Innovation mixed with business processes can change the mindset of people and businesses and reduce rising costs. Education plays a vital role in these processes as it changes the way people think. The methodology is to encourage people to perform certain functions not only at work but also in their daily lives. This is a life change, not the subject of the month. If we don't make the changes, our entire environment will suffer the consequences.
Once sustainability is defined, the next steps are action steps. For the remaining core groups, communication is a must about what sustainability means, and this is then cascaded to everyone involved in the company or space. Next comes an action plan on how to be sustainable and the steps involved. Every business is different, but the common points are reducing energy using automatic thermostats, turning off computers, less water and dwindling gas hot water heaters, etc. such elements.
The following statement was written by participants in the calls for the Business Sector Team of the U.S. Education Partnership for Sustainable Development:
To meet the enormous challenges of today and the future, it is important that all undergraduate and graduate university students learn about our environmental and social sustainability challenges and are provided with learning opportunities that enable them to find solutions to these challenges.
We live in a unique time when the decisions of this generation can very well determine the health of the planet for them and future generations. The effects of these decisions will affect quality of life worldwide.
With an interdisciplinary approach, all students need to learn not only the specifics and possible solutions to our sustainability challenges, but also interpersonal skills, systems thinking skills, and change agent skills to effectively help create a more sustainable world. We are looking for these students with sustainability education as future businessmen, employees, consumers, innovators, government leaders and investors. We would like to see this become a requirement for all students.