Business Question

Overview

In this module, you have begun exploring how sustainability can be considered in various contexts and within the first sustainability pillar: social justice. Throughout the rest of this course, you will explore two more pillars—business and environmental quality—and will incorporate your knowledge about all three pillars into your project. In this Module Three project draft, you will begin working on your project by examining a scenario and considering sustainable practices related to the scenario.

Directions

First, consult the Project Guidelines and Rubric to review the scope of the project and the provided scenarios.

Next, choose a scenario. To do this, review the Scenario Profiles document, which provides information related to the scenarios, including the organization profile and related case study. Choose a scenario for this Module Three assignment carefully, because you will use the same scenario for the project.

Then, with your chosen scenario in mind, address the assignment prompts below by completing the corresponding sections in the Project Template.

Note: You can find the Project Guidelines and Rubric and the Scenario Profiles document in the assignment information section of this course.

Specifically, you must address the following:

Sustainable Practices

You will look at the interconnectedness of environmental issuesand human behavior as it relates to your chosen scenario. To do this, you will look at both how the environmental systems in use impact the community as well as how the community use impacts the environmental systems in place. You will also look at the group’s overall bias in addressing sustainability in your community.

Describe how environmental systems in use in your chosen scenario impact human behavior.

Consider ecosystems, cultural systems, and organizational systems in your response.

Describe the impact of the current resource use on the environment.

What resources does the group in your scenario use?

1. What is the impact on the environment?

Describe how human ideology impacts behavior regarding environmental systems.

What policies or vision impact the environmental systems in use within your chosen group?

1. Think about your chosen group. What behaviors do they practice regarding the environmental systems?
2. Explain the role of cultural bias in your chosen group’s approach to global sustainability.

What are some of the biases within the group that impact the use of the resources discussed in the scenario?

Project Template
[Note: To complete this template, replace the bracketed text with your own content. Remove this note
before you submit your paper. As you work on this template, keep in mind the related documents,
found in “Assignment Information.”
• Project Guidelines and Rubric
• Scenario Profiles
Part One: Sustainable Practices
[Note: You will complete this section for the assignment Module Three Project Draft One. Remove this
note before you submit your paper.]
Describe how environmental systems in use in your chosen scenario impact human behavior.
[Insert text.]
Describe the impact of the current resource use on the environment.
[Insert text.]
Describe how human ideology impacts behavior regarding the environmental systems.
[Insert text.]
Explain the role of cultural bias in your chosen group’s approach to global sustainability.
[Insert text.]
Part Two: Profile
[Note: You will complete this section for the assignment Module Five Short Paper: Project Draft Two.
Remove this note before you submit your paper.]
Describe the value of sustainability practices in human and environmental systems.
[Insert text.]
Explain the relationship between sustainable systems and human equity in the context of the related
profile.
[Insert text.]
Describe how conflict resolution is used in the profile to support sustainability.
[Insert text.]
Explain how cultural systems relate to sustainability within the profile.
[Insert text.]
Part Three: Actionable Steps
[Note: You will complete this section for the assignment Module Five Short Paper: Project Draft Two.
Remove this note before you submit your paper.]
Explain why sustainability improvement is needed in your chosen group.
[Insert text.]
Describe how the perspectives of the various stakeholders of your chosen group provide a context to
improve sustainability practices related to the concerns of the group.
[Insert text.]
Explain how cultural diversity in your chosen group can be of value in addressing sustainability issues.
[Insert text.]
Describe actionable steps your chosen group could take for each pillar of sustainability.
[Insert text.]
References
[Include any references cited in your paper in full APA format. Don’t forget to include in-text citations as
well.]
IDS 150 Scenario Profiles
Introduction
In this course, you will choose a scenario for your project. Below is information related to each scenario,
including the organization profile and related case study.
Scenario 1: Business
Scenario from Project Guidelines and Rubric
You were recently hired as Director of Sustainability at McBurrow Mining, a local mining company. In
this role, you will be working to guide the Board of Directors to understand how policies, vision, and
manufacturing processes relate to sustainability and environmental issues. Once they gain that
understanding, they will want to see how this has worked in other companies facing similar issues. By
reading the McBurrow Mining profile, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in
action. In the Project Template, you will describe some actionable steps the board could take for each
pillar of sustainability.
Organization Profile
McBurrow Mining was founded in 1960 by the McBurrow family, a family that has mined the area for
decades in central West Virginia. They were able to make a name for themselves by employing workers
at a higher rate than most big competitors and working on specialty mining projects. Nearly 60 years
later, McBurrow Mining has 250 full-time employees, and they are solely focused on mining rare earth
minerals (REMs) all over the world. During the last decade, they have been seeing an average revenue of
$5 million per year but know that to grow, they need to improve their organization. The new CEO, the
great-great-granddaughter of the founder, wants McBurrow Mining to be the primary sustainable
mining company in the region while increasing revenue; you have been hired as a Director of
Sustainability to help achieve this goal. Please read the case study below of a sustainable Canadian
mining organization.
Case Study Summary
Sustainable mining is about balance. Mining natural resources is a natural fact of life as humans extract
resources to live and thrive in their environment. Sustainability in mining is complex, as these resources
are limited and don’t just grow back, so mining companies, engineers, and government officials work
together to focus on mining responsibly. This means they aim to meet the three tenets of sustainable
mining—minimize waste and maximize the number of natural resources mined, reduce negative
disturbances to the environment, and reduce the environmental footprint by helping the land recover
after mining. Canada is a global leader in sustainable mining and has introduced mandatory policies and
regulations aimed at ensuring minerals and resources are mined sustainably. Highlighted in this profile is
an example of how a mining company mined coal while adhering to the three tenets of sustainable
mining, which resulted in a nicely reclaimed landscape with abundant vegetation planted and a new
water tower for the local community.
Additional Resources
• Shapiro Library Reading: How home country industry associations influence MNE international
CSR practices: Evidence from the Canadian mining industry
• Reading: Sustainable Mining – a Case Study in Canadian Practice
Scenario 2: Social Justice
Scenario from Project Guidelines and Rubric
You live in a neighborhood with an active community organization. You and your neighbors are very
concerned about inequity, as the city is spending money on improving road conditions in some areas,
but not others. One of your neighbors asked you to join them in attending a community action meeting
to address these observations in the form of an informational campaign. By reading the Elm Glen city
profile, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the Project Template,
you will describe some actionable steps the organization could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Organization Profile
Elm Glen is a primarily residential neighborhood in a mid-sized city. It is a densely urban area with a
diverse population. About a quarter of the people in the community speak a language other than
English as their primary language. The median family income is average compared to the rest of the city.
The neighborhood is served by public transportation and is home to a commercial strip along Academy
Boulevard. The neighborhood has a community organization called the Elm Glen Community
Association, which is made up of a small group of residents of the neighborhood who work to make sure
the area is safe and well maintained by the city. The neighborhood has a mix of streets, with some
generally more well maintained than others. Members of the community association have observed that
the city has prioritized spending money on repairing broken sidewalks, clearing sewer drains, and
beautifying medians in some areas, while neglecting other areas. In looking at the environmental
concerns they have for the neighborhood, the association has decided to look at the specifics of the
Flint, Michigan, water crisis to see what issues, missteps, and obstacles the city encountered in
addressing that crisis. They will then use that information to help determine the steps they should
recommend the city takes to prevent inequity in addressing the concerns of the neighborhood.
Case Study Summary
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is a case of governmental negligence and environmental injustice. As
a sustainability pillar, environmental justice relates to the human impact on environmental quality and
its unfairly distributed impacts. Flint’s mishandling of the water supply in 2014 adversely affected the
drinking water supply of 100,000 people, and the impacts disproportionately fell on those with little
resources to effectively provide themselves with safe drinking water. The city’s governmental leaders
failed in providing the basic necessity of water to its residents, resulting in tragic lead poisoning, which is
especially dangerous to children. As you will read in detail, the Flint water crisis is about much more
than lead water pipes; it is about intentional environmental injustice. In the aftermath of the tragedy,
we have learned lessons about promoting environmental justice in sustainability decision-making.
Additional Resources
• Reading: US Census Bureau Quick Facts: Flint city, Michigan
• Shapiro Library Reading: A Case Study of Environmental Injustice: The Failure in Flint
• Shapiro Library Reading: Flint Water Crisis: Overview
Scenario 3: Environmental Quality
Scenario from Project Guidelines and Rubric
You are a member of your college’s Environmental Science Quality Club. The group has decided they’d
like to move forward with a campaign to help inform and educate the campus community on what
environmental quality is, how it should look on campus, and what actionable steps the campus
community could take to encourage environmental quality practices. By reading the Environmental
Science Quality Club profile, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In
the Project Template, you will describe some actionable steps the club could take for each pillar of
sustainability.
Organization Profile
At a local college, the Environmental Quality Club’s goal is to educate the college community and local
community on issues facing the environment. It is mostly made up of environmental science majors and
minors. The Environmental Quality Club has mainly focused on the outdoor quality issues around
campus and in the local community. Many recent reports came out about the poor indoor quality in
many of the academic buildings and residence halls on campus. It was found that many of these
buildings and halls still had asbestos in the walls and ceilings, as well as dangerous mold that the college
has ignored for decades due to lack of funds to remodel and renovate. The college lacks any
sustainability plan to help mitigate this very dangerous indoor air quality due to the asbestos. As a
member of the Environmental Quality Club, you were referred to the following case study to help lead
the charge and educate the campus community on the need to improve the indoor air quality.
Case Study Summary
Indoor air quality is important to consider, as many people spend much of their time indoors. A team at
the Faculty of Civil Engineering building on the campus of Technical University of Kosice in Slovakia
investigated the indoor environment quality (IEQ) of classroom environments. The study aimed to assess
the impact of various factors, including temperature, humidity, air quality, and lighting, on the comfort
and well-being of students and teachers. The results of the study showed that the IEQ in the classroom
was generally satisfactory, but there were some issues with temperature and humidity that needed to
be addressed. The authors suggest that improving the IEQ in classrooms, through increasing natural
ventilation or installing environmental control systems in the building, can have a positive impact on the
health and productivity of students and teachers.
Additional Resources
• Shapiro Library Reading: Investigation of Indoor Environment Quality in Classroom – Case Study