Business View Magazine - September 2015

6 Business View - September 2015 Business View - September 2015 7 Editor’s Note This past June, the Vatican released Laudato Si,’ Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, subtitled “Care for Our Common Home.” It was a revolutionary statement from the leader of the Catholic Church that called on people of all faiths to consider their relationship to the planet as a whole. That same month, U.S. President, Barak Obama outlined his “Climate Action Plan,” a wide array of actions his administration will take to help reduce carbon pollution, increase energy efficiency, expand renewable and other low-carbon energy sources, and strengthen resilience to extreme weather and other climate impacts. It is laudable that these two world leaders are vigorously pursuing both philosophical and actionable initiatives to help combat global warming due to the extensive burning of the fossil fuels that power the world’s economies, while simultaneously advocating for programs and concepts that will promote environmental sustainability. Many believe that humanity is at a crossroads regarding the potential devastation that climate change could wreak upon the planet, and that we have only a small window of opportunity to make sure that the Earth remains habitable far into the future. As the President remarked, “We are the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and the last that will be able to do anything about it.” One generation that has been working assiduously on these important issues for many years are the young people who are currently attending, or have recently graduated from, colleges and universities across America. Over the past several weeks, Business View Magazine has talked to repre- sentatives from many college Sustainability Offices to discover just what these schools are doing to help promote environmental sustainability both on their campuses and in the wider community. Based on an individual school’s size, budget, student population, and faculty and administration involvement, we’ve learned about several areas that each college or university is, more or less, involved in. They include the following: • Greening the campus – These are ways in which a school’s sustainability office and its students promote concepts and initiatives that help lessen the negative environmental impacts made by the school’s physical plant and/or its inhabitants. They include retrofitting buildings to decrease energy use, such as changing light bulbs, weatherizing, using renewables for power generation, etc.; recycling programs in resident halls and dining rooms; re-designing landscaping to use less water; making campuses bicycle friendly; etc. • Infusing the curriculum with sustainability concepts – Adding sustainability ideas and theories across the wider curriculum and/or requiring that every student take a course in sustainability or environmental science in order to graduate. • Moving beyond the campus – Many schools use their monetary and/or human resources to infuse sustainability concepts and programs within the communities in which they are situated. These include such things as community gardens, educational outreach programs, weatherizing off- campus homes and buildings, working with local social and governmental agencies to coordinate mutually beneficial initiatives, etc. • Research - Utilizing their campuses as sustainability laboratories, some schools have been able to quantify the energy savings they have made as a result of the programs they initiated. These energy savings translate into saved dollars. This type of research can then be used for future advocacy purposes. • Training sustainability professionals – Some colleges and universities offer undergraduate degrees and/or certificates, as well as graduate degrees in environmental and/or sustainability studies. These students can then go on to careers in government or industry applying their gained knowledge for the benefit of society, in general, or the companies they work for, in particular. Obviously, all of the above programs and initiatives are important to everyone who attends the schools where they exist, as well as to the rest of us who share a common environment. But the last bullet point on the list should be very significant to the readers of Business View Magazine. In 2015, it should now be obvious to every business person that sustainability is not only important for the sake of protecting the planet, it is vital in terms of protecting a company’s bottom line. Saving energy saves money – there is no argument, there. Every school we’ve spoken to has demonstrated either projected or actual savings that have accrued from the environmentally-friendly programs they have put in place. And what takes place on campus is transferable to the world at large. So as the years go on, it will be the wisest business enterprises that reach out to employ these young, sustainability professionals who will then be able to inculcate a very simple paradigm into a company’s environmental operations, as well as its balance sheet: “You can do well, by doing good.” Al Krulick Editor-in-Chief For business in Hinton the sky ’ s the limit! Find your footing Commute with other trailblazers 780 865 6004 www.venturehinton.ca venture@hinton.ca Venture Hinton Deliver your peak performance