Category: ids

Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Explain how human and environmental systems are interconnected
Explain how sustainable systems balance social, economic, and environmental needs
Analyze approaches to address a sustainability issue
Overview
Throughout this course, you have explored how sustainability can be considered in various contexts and within the three pillars of business, social justice, and environmental quality. In previous modules, you have explored these pillars, drafted parts that will be included in this project, and received feedback on that work. For your project, you will incorporate the knowledge gained and the feedback given on your drafts for one of the following scenarios and its related profile. You will also look at actionable steps that others have taken that could be looked at for your chosen group.
Scenario #1: Business
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 linked in the Supporting Materials section, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the template, you will describe some actionable steps the board could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Scenario #2: Social Justice
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 linked in the Supporting Materials section, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the template, you will describe some actionable steps the community group could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Scenario #3: Environmental Quality
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 linked in the Supporting Materials section, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action. In the template, you will describe some actionable steps the club could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Directions
Based on your chosen scenario, respond to each part below by completing the Project Template. Each scenario will require you to demonstrate your understanding of sustainable practices, the potential impacts and influences on decisions made in sustainability, and the actionable steps you could take to address sustainable issues for your chosen group. You will use the Scenario Profiles linked in the Supporting Materials section to support your work on the project. This document contains descriptions of the related group for each scenario, as well as a relevant case study that relates to the sustainability issue.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Part One: Sustainable Practices
In this section, you will look at the interconnectedness of environmental issues and 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?
What is the impact on the environment?
Describe how human ideology impacts behavior regarding environmental systems.
What policies or vision impacts the environmental systems in use within your chosen group?
Think about your chosen group; what behaviors do they practice regarding the environmental systems?
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?
Part Two: Profile
In this section, you will use a provided profile related to your chosen group to consider how organizations or groups mentioned in the profile have improved (or not improved) their sustainability practices.
Describe the value of sustainability practices in human and environmental systems.
What are the short-term benefits of implementing sustainable practices in your chosen group’s related profile?
What are the long-term benefits of implementing these sustainable practices?
Explain the relationship between sustainable systems and human equity in the context of the related profile.
In what ways did your profile highlight the relationship between sustainable practices and human equity?
Describe how conflict resolution is used in the profile to support sustainability.
What examples of conflict resolution were evident in your profile?
How were the conflicts resolved (or not) in your profile? How did resolving conflicts impact sustainable practices?
Explain how cultural systems relate to sustainability within the profile.
What cultural systems were predominant in your profile? What role did culture play in sustainability efforts in your profile?
Part Three: Actionable Steps
In this section, you will focus on describing actionable steps related to sustainability for your chosen group. To do this, you will highlight the current state of your chosen group’s sustainability practice and then describe actionable steps for each pillar of sustainability.
Explain why sustainability improvement is needed in your chosen group.
What areas of sustainability are needed in your chosen group?
What are the benefits for your chosen group if they improve sustainability practices?
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.
How do the perspectives within the group influence efforts made to improve sustainability practices?
Explain how cultural diversity in your chosen group can be of value in addressing sustainability issues.
Recommend actionable steps your chosen group could take for each pillar of sustainability.
Reflect on what you know about your chosen group and sustainability. What are some actions that could be taken to improve sustainability?
For each pillar of sustainability, what are some benefits of improving sustainability practices within your chosen group?
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Submit your completed Project Template for grading. No sources are required. However, if you choose to use sources, they should be cited according to APA style.

Directions
In this journal assignment, you will reflect on your consumption habits and the role they play in sustainable development.
First, consider your consumption habits over two or three days. You may use the optional Consumption Tracker Template (located in Supporting Materials) to record your daily consumption. By tracking your consumption for a few days, you will be better prepared to describe your habits and explain your discoveries about them.
Then, use Video Note to record your responses to the prompts below. Video Note is recommended for this assignment, but you may optionally submit your journal as a written document. See specifications in the What to Submit section.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Describe your consumption habits over two or three days.
How much water, food, gas, electricity, and so forth did you consume each day, and how did you consume it? Use your best estimate when measuring your consumption.
Did you consume more than you needed?
Explain what you discovered about your consumption habits.
Are your consumption habits better or worse than you may have expected? If so, how?
Did you notice any trends in your consumption habits or waste habits? If so, what were they?
How do your consumption habits relate to sustainable development as a whole?
Describe some changes in your behavior that could reduce consumption or improve sustainability.
What can you change now?
What can you change over time?
How can these changes reduce consumption or improve sustainability?
What are the pros and cons of these changes? (For example, it would be more sustainable for trees if you used fewer paper towels, but your reduced usage of trees might not be enough to offset the water you consume and pollute to clean reusable towels.)
What to Submit
Submit your journal as a 2- to 3-minute video note. If you need assistance using the Video Note tool, please refer to the resources in the Start Here module. No sources are required.
Instead of using video note, you may optionally submit your journal as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. No sources are required.

Directions
In this short paper, you will describe actionable steps that organizations, governments, or people can take to address a sustainability issue.
First, identify a business or organization. You may use the same business or organization you chose for the Module Four discussion, but this is not required.
Then, address the prompts below. Specifically, you must address the following:
Describe the impact of the business or organization on the environment.
How is the business or organization helping the environment, and how is it hurting the environment? (For example, some theme parks recycle regularly and landscape with only edible plants, but they still use single-use plastic cups.)
Describe actions that can be taken to help the business or organization become more sustainable.
What can the business or organization do to improve sustainability?
What policies or standards could help improve the business or organization’s sustainability?
What can people from outside or inside the business or organization do to help improve the business or organization’s sustainability?
What to Submit
Submit your paper as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. No sources are required. However, if you choose to use sources, follow APA citation guidelines when citing sources both throughout and at the end of your paper. While you will not be graded on the quality of your citations in this assignment, you may receive guidance from your instructor on how to properly cite sources.
Alternately, Brightspace allows the use of video notes. You may optionally use the Video Note tool to complete this assignment. If you use Video Note, your video should be 2-5 minutes long. If you need assistance using Video Note, please refer to the resources in the Start Here module.

Directions
In this short paper, you will consider how one type of system—an organization—impacts human behavior. (An organization can include a company, firm, corporation, or institution.) See this module’s resources for examples.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Describe an example from a website, article, or video that illustrates how an organization impacts human behavior.
Which organization did you choose?
Which website, article, or video provides an example of how your chosen organization’s practices impact human behavior?
As illustrated in your chosen example, how does the organization encourage certain behaviors?
As illustrated in your chosen example, how does the organization discourage certain behaviors?
Explain how your chosen organization uses an ego or eco approach to leadership. .
Which leadership approach do you think the organization is using in your chosen example?
What behaviors suggest that the organization is using this leadership approach?
How does the organization foster (or not foster) its long-term existence?
What to Submit
Submit your paper as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. You must attribute the source you use. Practice using APA citation format. No other sources are required. However, if you choose to use other sources, follow APA citation guidelines when citing sources both throughout and at the end of your paper.
Alternately, Brightspace allows the use of video notes. You may optionally use the Video Note tool to complete this assignment. If you use Video Note, your video should be 2-5 minutes long. If you need assistance using Video Note, please refer to the resources in the Start Here module.

IDS 150 Module One Short Paper Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Do you have what it takes to be sustainable? Your actions and behaviors can improve sustainability and ensure that future generations can live a life of happiness. For example, your action of conserving electricity and your related behavior of turning off the lights can help reduce power plant emissions and improve air quality. Being sustainable is about more than just you, though. Let’s start by looking at your actions and behaviors. Then, in our next module, we’ll talk about interconnectedness.
Directions
For this short paper, you will write about what sustainability means to you and how your actions and behaviors can impact the environment.
Specifically, you must address the following:
Explain what sustainability means to you.
Consider giving examples of your personal experiences. If you do not feel comfortable sharing your personal experiences, you may use different examples that resonate with you. For instance, you may use media or news examples that reflect what sustainability means to you.
Describe how considering sustainability affects your daily life.
For example, if you think about sustainability when making decisions about transportation, you may decide to use public transportation instead of driving a vehicle with no passengers. This could save you money on gas, but it might pose other issues related to convenience or time management.
Describe decisions you could consider making about a sustainability issue like the above example, along with the positive and negative impacts of the decisions on your daily life.
Describe how your daily actions and behaviors can impact the environment.
For instance, if you choose to use public transportation as in the example above, your daily commute could support sustainability by reducing carbon emissions that harm the environment.
Describe how your daily actions and behaviors related to the decisions you described above (or other decisions) can help or harm the environment.
What to Submit
Submit your paper as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. No sources are required. However, if you choose to use sources, follow APA citation guidelines when citing sources both throughout and at the end of your paper. While you will not be graded on the quality of your citations in this assignment, you may receive guidance from your instructor on how to properly cite sources