Over these past 3 days, I have learned a lot about sustainability. I believe that I am a sustainable person, I do not eat meat because of the harm it has on the environment, I use a reusable water bottle, I try to walk instead of a car at school, I try to recycle, etc. Before these past three days, I really just thought about sustainability on a smaller scale. It has been interesting to me to learn about sustainability on a larger manufacturing scale rather than my own personal relationship with sustainability.  We started by discussing the basics of sustainable supply chain management practices and used the Beer Game to see some of the life cycles of production. We learned about circular economy which is a strategy to optimize resources used within industries where sustainability can be achieved (recycling, sharing, leasing, refurbishing). This type of economy helps reduce resources. We also talked a lot about the Cradle to Grave vs Cradle to Cradle analogy which I found very interesting. Before this course, I believe I could only really see the cradle-to-grave analogy because as the consumer, I rarely got to see and understand the production side of things. Now after learning about cradle-to-cradle and all of the brands that are cradle-to-cradle certified, I am interested to learn more about these brands and more inclined to purchase from these brands.

The brand project we had to do was also one of my favorite things we did in class this week. Paige and I choose the brand Aveda and I had no idea all of the eco-friendly practices they have implemented into their business. I used to use Aveda products when I was younger but ended up switching over time. This project made me want to look back into Aveda products because of how hard they are trying to be a sustainable brand and all of the effort they have put in. It was really fascinating to see a large brand able to successfully implement sustainability within its business and thrive from it.

On top of everything we have been learning in class, we had a guest speaker–Yuri Arthur– who is a diplomat at the US Embassy here in Greece. She along with her two colleagues’ presentation was one of my favorite parts of class time these past three days. They kept the presentation lighthearted, and informational, yet also kept a level of formality. They were interesting and although that is not a field I am interested in, it was awesome to hear more about their lives!