Resiliency and the Environmental Sustainability Professional
Loading...
Date
2019-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
Practitioners seeking an appropriate application of an environmental sustainability paradigm to 21st century global development challenges and opportunities must cultivate a significant range of professional and personal skills (Wahl 2016). Join us for a deep exploration into the concept of resilience as it relates to careers and to living the life of a specialist in the field of environmental sustainability. Resilient professionals should be prepared to reflect deeply on their motivations to participate in the sustainability movement to effectively work collaboratively to co-design and co-apply locally appropriate solutions. This content is strongly influenced by experiences drawn from Ohio State's Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) linked to leading-edge work on how to design regenerative cultures and facilitate regenerative development that harmonizes human and natural system processes (Mang and Reed 2017).
Description
Practitioners seeking an appropriate application of an environmental sustainability paradigm to 21st century global development challenges and opportunities must cultivate a significant range of professional and personal skills (Wahl 2016). This ignite session consists of a deep exploration into the concept of resilience as it relates to careers and to living the life of a specialist in the field of environmental sustainability. Resilient professionals should be prepared to reflect deeply on their motivations to participate in the sustainability movement to effectively work collaboratively to co-design and co-apply locally appropriate solutions. The content of this presentation is strongly influenced by experiences drawn from Ohio State's Environmental Professionals Network (EPN) linked to leading-edge work on how to design regenerative cultures and facilitate regenerative development that seeks to harmonize human and natural system processes (Mang and Reed 2017). Sustainability is one common term to organize and analyze these concepts. I will draw on Wahl's (2016, p. 40) definition of "sustainability as a dynamic process of co-evolution and a community-based process of continuous conversation and learning how to participate appropriately in the constantly transforming life sustaining processes that we are part of and that our future depends." This definition of sustainability requires that individuals participate and interact in groups and organizations and that they are self- and group-reflective to cooperatively engage with other people and processes that govern our planet's resources. The EPN is a service of the Ohio State School of Environment and Natural Resources with additional support provided by several Ohio State and external entities. This network connects environmental professionals both in-person and online. EPN hosts monthly breakfast programs focused on innovative and pressing environmental topics, such as: controlling nutrient runoff and protecting water quality, achieving clean energy goals, and pests and invasive species. Through this network, participants also have free access to many online networking capabilities, such as marketing, querying, information sharing, and more. Participants are also encouraged to create and share content such as job postings, documents, reports and event announcements. There are, as of October 2018, more than 1,900 members in the EPN's online directory. This kgnite session will tell EPN Director Joe Campbell's perspective on resilience, sourced from many areas of the globe, and connect this to the broader mission of the EPN as a forum for like-minded and diverse networks of sustainability activists to improve the health of our ecosystems and socio-cultural systems.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Joe Campbell, director, Ohio State Environmental Professionals Network, campbell.844@osu.edu (Corresponding Author)
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Joe Campbell, director, Ohio State Environmental Professionals Network, campbell.844@osu.edu (Corresponding Author)
Keywords
professional practice, environmental sustainability, career resiliency, regenerative communities, resilient communities
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 7 (2019).