Sustainability is all around us in many forms. We have bus passes (used or not), the SUB\u00a0burger joint uses recycled paper products to serve up their fried goodness, and of course we all\u00a0like to see what the water bottle count is up to on the water filling stations (did you know Sauder\u00a0has one on the second floor?).<\/p>\n
UBC prides itself on being a catalyst and driver of sustainable\u00a0change. Yet the core business modules never mentioned monetizing the ecosystem. I don’t\u00a0remember any mention of carbon taxes or offsets even. The former is up and coming, a\u00a0possible new driver in the triple bottom line equation. The later has been around for some time,\u00a0yet was not mentioned in any form. Should a country make\u00a0carbon offsets\u00a0mandatory, or drop\u00a0out of their Kyoto obligations (something Canada just did; what are the repercussions?), the companies that do business in that country, with that country\u00a0or near that country will be affected. One thing that the Net Impact Conference did was raise my awareness of how much and how soon the triple bottom line will hit us. When I say us, I mean\u00a0everybody. Whether you believe in global warming, Freeman, corporate social responsibility or\u00a0not, the economic pressures in the capitalist structure will force every business to\u00a0accommodate\u00a0the ecosystem in their future decisions. California instituted a green house gas (GHG) cap-and-trade\u00a0law that will allow individuals and businesses in Washington State, for instance, to trade\u00a0GHG emissions with California based businesses. If you think it is isolated to those “California\u00a0hippies,” think again. Quebec just passed a law and British Columbia and Manitoba are both in\u00a0talks with California to initiate similar systems. These issues are here to stay.<\/p>\n
Carbon and GHG are common topics, so it\u2019s not much surprise that business is having to deal with\u00a0new restrictions. Hazardous waste in general has been monitored and regulated for years in\u00a0one form or another, but the more we understand the effects humans have on the environment\u00a0the more refined our laws become. Water has had some standards on it for decades. Now,\u00a0however, we are understanding (and measuring) how delicately balanced the ocean is, and\u00a0how the entire planet relies on a healthy ocean. We understand now that we cannot simply\u00a0continue to dump our waste in what, at one point, seemed to be an endless sea. This thread of thought continues into developing a better understanding of what pollution actually is. We have\u00a0noise pollution, light pollution, and, something that I learned in conversation with a Net Impact attendee is gaining more and more attention in water\u00a0management,\u00a0temperature\u00a0pollution. But there are creative ways to go about mitigating our\u00a0impact on the environment. Instead of spending millions to cool the waste water from a factory\u00a0another few degrees, the factory can plant trees to shade the water downstream, which has the same effect and costs dramatically less. These are the solutions regulators, business\u00a0people, socially\u00a0conscientious\u00a0people, grandparents, new generations and environmentalists\u00a0must tackle together.<\/p>\n
These are the issues we will face as we enter the workforce, and we need to have pondered, discussed and prepared ourselves for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sustainability is all around us in many forms. We have bus passes (used or not), the SUB\u00a0burger joint uses recycled paper products to serve up their fried goodness, and of course we all\u00a0like to see what the water bottle count … Continue reading