What do you think others should include in their sustainability goals? It is important for everyone to understand and participate in sustainability in order for our species to continue living on our Earth. It shouldn't be a chore to make choices that benefit our home, it should voluntary. A lot of times people feel pressure from others to make certain changes that may not serve them. ANY decision or change you make towards a sustainable life is valid and is acceptable. Some may choose to make many big changes at once and that is totally acceptable. What is not acceptable, however, is making others feel inadequate in comparison. That being said, here are some changes you can consider making if you find that they serve you: Going vegan; the meat industry is one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions due to gas release from animals like cows, pigs and chickens. The more animals produced the emissions released. The farming industry also makes up a large part of water use. If you don't want to go vegan, simply cut down on your meat consumption. Choosing alternatives to cars; this too cuts down of the gases released into or atmosphere. Buy second-hand clothes; fast fashion has contributed to pollution through emissions, water usage and there is an abundance of waste produced by production as well as people not properly disposing of their old clothes. They're not trash! Participate is elections; choosing people to represent us who also believe in the preservation of our home is a way to make a big difference. We currently have people in office who don't believe humans are the source of the damage being done. This has led to big corporations getting away with destroying our environment for money with little to none repercussions. There are so many more ways to contribute to the cause, please share any other suggestions you may have!

Today's Challenge is to list your organization's sustainability goals. As an undergrad SOS students, an employee of the School of Sustainability and a member of Constellation, sustainability consumes my life. I love being surrounded by people who care about our home as much as I do, it makes me forget that there are people who don't. Since I'm apart of so many organizations that have very similar, if not the same, goals, I'm going to make one list for them all. Paperless - Although all of my files are electronic, there are times at my job where printing is the best way to distribute so end up using paper. How unfortunate! We're working on getting devices at our events so we don't have to use paper Zero Waste - This is a personal goal as well as one for my organizations. Being conscious of how much waste we create is essential in cutting down our carbon footprint. My job is located in Wrigley and we only have two trashcans on our floor, one in the bath room and one in the kitchen. All other waste bins are compost and recycle. Diversity - This can be a interesting aspect to implement within organizations. It is a shame that there had to be a legal requirement to include people of color in workspaces, this should've just been a given. It is even more of a shame that this leads to quotas and people being hired solely because of the color of their skin to fulfill a requirement, it makes people feel as though that is their only attribute. It is important to make sure all perspectives are included, however, it is also important to acknowledge all effects this may lead to. Holistic Thinking - The last thing I would like to list is the mindset of holistic thinking. What I mean by this is looking at your goals as a department or organization as a whole, not looking at just one part. One decision made in one part of a department can affect the other. One thing all of the teams that I am apart of do is they look at how many effects their decision has on the whole project, goal, team and evaluates if there is another solution. I encourage you all to share some of the ways your organizations are meeting your goals with me, I'm sure there are some we haven't yet thought about! <3