Sustainability’s simple question: Who needs a job?

BY SCOTT BRADLEY

Professional growth in the Sustainability arena (Green Jobs) is expanding rapidly. ESU offers dozens of curricula focused on sustainable issues.  While environmental topics are obvious, many come up short when they try to find Sustainability in other courses. But keep an open mind; it’s there, I assure you. Sustainability’s cornerstones of Economy, Environment, and Equality can be found throughout ESU’s programs.

Taking a closer look at the sustainable nature of ESU, we find social sciences addressing Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, and of course Economics.

In math and the sciences, we find Statistical Analysis, Biology of all types, Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Science, Agriculture, and more.  Business addresses management and logistics for an emerging sustainable future and the Arts, Media, and Communications present our concerns, while History records our passing.

ESU programs anchor us in the present while offering us a future of balanced economies and healthy environments.

The most challenging cornerstone is Equality. It demands that we look beyond the present and find ways to share resources and success with others, the world over. As a society, we need to apportion the cost of environmental impact appropriately so that businesses carry their load, but also to motivate everyone to conserve and innovate.

Businesses and governments must secure the future through the application of effective public policy, innovation, and the creation of sustainable processes not yet developed.

Society needs to step back from the edge on topics like shale and oil sands development by engaging alternative energy, solving water and food issues through local programs for conservation and production, developing infrastructure that will serve and protect us, and working with the developing world to give them full rights to their resources while finding alternative paths for their economic development.

If there was ever something worth standing up for, it’s sustainability…and ESU’s community is not on the cusp of this issue; it’s at its heart.

Our regional water supply is mostly surface sourced and much of our food comes from thousands of miles away, impacting our carbon footprint beyond computation.

Energy production in our State is addressing short term needs, instead of long term solutions; our economy needs to find its footing and sustainability offers several options to do just that.

“Who needs a job?”  We all do, and every ESU curriculum offers a future in sustainable process development.

No matter your chosen path—business, sociology, engineering, public policy, mathematics, hotel and resort management, logistics, communications, marine biology, economics, or the sciences—sustainability is truly everywhere, and our future truly depends on our finding it.

Look for other ideas for a Sustainable Future on the ESU website under “Sustainability.”

Email Scott at:

skb209@embarqmail.com