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Sustainability Workshop Series

Sustainability Workshop Series

The Sustainability Workshop Series is a training program open to all SCU faculty and staff. Over the course of five workshop sessions, participants will learn about sustainability through multiple lenses, gain knowledge to integrate sustainable behaviors in professional and personal life, and develop strategies for building a more inclusive campus.

Workshop participants listen to a presentation on the Sustainability Compass

Upcoming Workshop Dates

  • Navigating Sustainable Development

    Thursday, February 23
    12:00 – 1:30pm
    SCDI 3110

    This workshop is an introduction to the Sustainability Compass, Sustainable Development Goals, and systems thinking.

    Learning outcomes:

    • Define Sustainable Development, the Triple Bottom Line, the Sustainability Compass, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    • Classify the SDGs into their respective Compass points.
    • Gain the ability to recognize and understand relationships, analyze complex systems, and think of how systems are embedded within different domains and scales (systems thinking competency).
  • "E" is for Economy

    Thursday, March 16
    12:00 – 1:30pm
    SCDI 3110

    This workshop introduces the human systems that convert resources into food, shelter, technologies, industries, services, money, and jobs and economic modules for regeneration.

    Learning outcomes:

    • Define the Doughnut and circular economy.
    • Understand how SDGs 7, 8, 9, and 12 advance sustainable economic and business activity.
    • Gain the ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interests and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge, and contradictions (normative competency aka values thinking).
  • "N" is for Nature

    Thursday, April 13
    12:00 – 1:30pm
    SCDI 3110

    This workshop covers natural ecological systems and environmental concerns, from ecosystem health and nature conservation to resource use and waste. ​​

    Learning outcomes:

    • Identify the causes and effects of climate change.
    • Understand how SDGs 13, 14, and 15 advance protections for the planet’s climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
    • Gain the ability to understand and evaluate multiple futures – possible, probable, and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes (anticipatory competency aka futures thinking).
  • "S" is for Society

    Thursday, May 4
    12:00 – 1:30pm
    SCDI 3110

    This workshop covers the institutions, organizations, cultures, norms, and social conditions that make up our collective life as human beings.

    Learning outcomes:

    • Define identities and intersectionality.
    • Understand how SDGs 5, 10, 11, and 16 focus on issues and actions that affect groups and communities.
    • Gain the ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives, and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to, and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem-solving (collaboration competency aka interpersonal thinking).
  • "W" is for Well-Being

    Thursday, May 25
    12:00 – 1:30pm
    SCDI 3110

    This workshop covers the ingredients to individual health, happiness, and quality of life.

    Learning outcomes:

    • Identify the eight dimensions of wellness.
    • Understand how SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 advance healthy and happy lives.
    • Gain the ability to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield (strategic competency aka strategic thinking).

Sign up for any of the workshops

Participants are welcome to attend one or several of the workshop sessions.

Navigate here to RSVP RSVP

About the Compass framework

A green, blue, yellow, and red compass with the words, Nature, Environment, Society, and Well-Being written inside

We understand sustainability through the framework of four points of a compass: N (Nature), E (Environment), S (Society), and W (Well-Being). This concept was developed by Alan AtKisson as a systems-thinking approach to sustainability, and is now used to teach students around the world through the organization Compass Education.