A week ago, I submitted final grades for the undergrad students in my "Environmental Sustainability and Innovation" business class. As I read their final reflection papers, in which these young engineering and business students wrote about their thoughts regarding environmental sustainability I was hopeful. Most of them were leaving the course concerned, but hopeful. Aware of the challenges we face, the science behind it, and the role that individuals, governments and corporations play (and have played, and must play in the future) in this space, these students were optimistic about the role that they personally could play in protecting our planet.
We studied Life Cycle analysis. We ran footprint calculations. We looked at government regulations. We cheered the Paris Accord. We read the newspapers. We talked, and talked, and talked... trying to look at as many sides of the issues we could. We watched politicians state that climate change might not be real... but then we read the papers and looked at the data, and felt that research and education would prevail. I did my damnedest to prepare my students to be global citizens and to empathize with or fellow humans and our shared fate.
And yesterday I watched as the president of the United States willingly told the rest of the planet that we don't care about that shared fate. And I cried. However, as a parent, as a human, as an engineer, as a teacher, as an American... tears aren't enough. Now we need action.
If the US government isn't going to take care of our planet, we clearly need to take care of it ourselves- and seriously reconsider what our government should look like. If you don't agree with the current actions? Elect people who you do agree with. Better yet, help get those individuals elected. Applying for jobs after last week's graduation? Start asking future employers tough questions about their environmental impacts and actions.
To my students: Grades are in. Homework is no longer graded, but all the actions we discussed in our Environmental Sustainability and Innovation business class? It's time for you to do them all. Because you care. Not because I put it in an assignment. It was an honor to spend the semester with you. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all do with your careers- and with our shared planet home.
So here is your final ENTR490 assignment: Il est maintenant temps de prendre soin de notre planète parce que nous devrions, non pas parce qu'on nous dit que nous devons le faire. Bonne chance.