Based on my interpretation from the article, industrial symbiosis is essentially the process of when a business forms relationships between two or more associations to exchange waste in order to reduce, reuse, recycle this waste. Going off my interpretation an example of this would be a food company giving their scraps of leftover food to a farm for the animals to eat.  So instead of the company throwing away the food they and having it go to waste it is given to the farmers for their animals. This is a great way for businesses to incorporate sustainability into their practices and reducing the amount of waste that is produced. This reminds me a lot of thrifting, thrifting is very popular right now and instead of people throwing away their clothes or house hold items they donate them for others to use.

Economic, spatial, physical, and environmental conditions within the eco-industrial networks may be restricted as a result of industrial symbiosis in Greece, within Greece their spatial scale is relatively small as it operates mainly on the local level and not as much global yet as Greece is just diving into this this in recent years as it has recently focused on being more environmentally friendly from a business perspective. Even though there have been thousands of case studies on this subject in Greece, this study only examines 455 of them, which represent a variety of small and large firms of all sizes, as well as other company types, such as industrial parks. As the businesses looked at may vary in different ways they were analyzed altogether and there were 45 different waste types identified, from both energy and material waste. When first going into this article I didn’t even think of energy waste and only thought of physical material waste, so I can only imagine how much waste isn’t reused/recycled. As we talked about in class there was the closed loop in supply chain this article mentions end of life cycle products within the study. It is interesting to see how all these topics mentioned come together within a business and impact our environment and as I mentioned earlier I was surprised by the different types of waste, the article goes into further detail how the waste is then moved further into several other categories.  Lots of waste is also broken down further in order for it to be passed along further but some items simply can not be reused or recycled again.

Climate change is a topic that has been talked about a lot in school in recent years. I even did a project in my biology class about proposing a way to protect our ecosystem as it is important that we act now on these important topics. As most of Greece is composed of many islands it calls for eco-innovations. 

  Greece focuses on renewable energy and this can be seen throughout the city of Athens as we saw many solar panels as well as wind turbines to promote clean energy. Although these measures have been taken to promote clean energy, in recent years the uptake of clean energy has slowed down tremendously and it is seen as Greece ranks very low compared to other countries within the EU as it is below their average but it is slowly creeping up it. Most of these eco-innovations rely heavily on research activities that are funded by the EU, this is a struggle for Greece as these eco-innovations require technological innovations and that is not Greece’s strong suit. As a result of this there are policies being put into place to help with this struggle, and the first step is the implementation of a circular economy. 

The recent economic crisis within Greece took a large toll on the country and this affected environmental protection within the country. This can be seen through lack of public knowledge on environmental protection innovations, malpractice by authorities, and limited enforcement of laws by local authorities. 

Greece relies heavily on innovation to help with its technological advancements as this is something that Greece struggles with. Most startups go to the EU for patents for better chances of funding which Greece can not provide which is hurting them with the new startups that could help them tremendously with innovation, Greece only has about 4.68 million patents compared to the EU average of 17.31 million. 

Greece is still below average eco-innovation activities as only small or medium sized enterprises use sustainability in Greece is 18% compared to the EU average of 25%. There is more growth in recent years of eco-innovation in different sectors of Greece but they can not be classified as fully developed and sustainable as they are not at their full potential and need improvement. Although Greece is on the right track there is still a lot that needs to be done to bring it to standard especially in comparison to the EU.

At first glance Hydra seems like paradise, it is a small beautiful island that has no cars, no airport, and all the restaurants and hotels are small businesses that are often family owned. So obviously my first impression of Hydra was that it was the perfect place as it was so beautiful and sustainable, but unfortunately after reading the article on Hydra I was wrong. I was stunned to learn that they burn all of their garbage, and these fires from summer can be seen until november. All the wastewater is dumped into the ocean at night, which pollutes the beautiful blue waters. 

As I mentioned Hydra is a gorgeous island with its natural beauty so it obviously attracts many tourists like myself but unfortunately the massive amounts of tourists are corrosive and destructive. Hydra is not sustainable and it promotes the island to its advantage at the price of the island’s sustainability. As a result of this only a small population benefits and gets wealthy while the other half is harmed because of tourism. The main employment relies on tourism which unfortunately pays low and is a seasonal occupation, other jobs on the island that have a low economic benefit such as fishing and agriculture are crashing because of the touristic jobs. Although tourism brings money most of it does not actually stay where it is generated. As this small island gets more popular there are plans to expand its ports and coastlines to bring in bigger cruise ships which will just cause more damage to the island, you can see how in Mykonos and Santonrini thousands of tourists flock the island everyday and prices increase and the authenticity of the island diminishes. 

As these issues rise the younger generations of Hydra can not see a future for themselves on the island but instead a place for the older folks to retire and live on. Unfortunately Hydra can not rely on the higher ups such as the government to come save the island from simply becoming economic profit but instead it needs help from the bottom up, of the people living there that want and need changes. 

As a tourist I loved visiting Hydra and appreciated it more than Mykonos as it was smaller, less touristy, and more authentic. I would love to visit Hydra again in the future and I do not want it to change and become more commercialized because I believe this will ruin the island and what many love about it.

Prior to this class I had never heard of a circular economy and it was a new term to me alongside a linear economy. Circular economies have gained popularity in recent years as they influence governments, businesses, and environmentalists. Traditionally we have learned the 3 R’s since elementary school: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and many believe this is the basis for a circular economy but that is not completely true. If we look at the bigger picture for a circular economy there is much more to it than the traditional 3 R’s. The 3 R’s tie in better with a linear economy where there is a one way flow with a beginning and an end but a circular economy does not have an end because everything produced is transferred and used somewhere else continuously. 

The circular economy works in three steps, 1- Designs out waste and pollution, 2- Keeps products and materials in use, 3- Regenerates living systems. These three steps are very important as they all go hand in hand with each other and keep the loop going in a circular economy while being sustainable for our environment. The motto for a circular economy comes from Antoine- Laurent de lavoiser which is, “Nothing is lost, everything is transformed.” This quote guides the circular economy as its goal isn’t for it to come to an end but instead to create harmony with our economy and our environment to prosper. A circular economy relies heavily on regeneration as all these products and services contribute to systems that can be renewed or replenished continuously over multiple lifecycles and uses.

A circular economy is very important for a sustainable future because it aims to throw away nearly nothing. This is very important as we currently put a lot of waste in our world, especially through consumption. We must take care of this now pollution is on the rise from over consumption as a direct result of our capitalistic society, our world is continuing to grow and we must take care of it. We are currently dominated by a linear economy and this is not sustainable enough as according to the reading only 12% of 300 million metric tons of plastic is reused/recycled which is a very small percentage. As the other 88% goes to waste we are missing out on many opportunities as almost all of the 88% could be transformed and regenerated. We as a society need to move towards a circular economy as it benefits consumers, the economy, businesses, and the environment.

During two of our classes this week for our supply chain management class we got to meet with the US Embassy and ACG Office of Sustainability Speaker. I found both of these speaker presentations very interesting as well as insightful on potential career positions for myself in future. 

We spoke with three ladies from the Embassy but the main speaker was Yuri Arthur. Yuri Athur gave us lots of insight on what her roles for the embassy are and even some random odd jobs she has to do. Her first tip advice was to apply for jobs even if others may tell you you are underqualified, She talked to us about her own experience applying for jobs online and how often the online applications aren’t even seen by humans but are instead evaluated by the online system to see if you hit the right keywords to send it on to a real person for evaluation. Later on we were able to ask questions so I asked, “Out of all your experience and knowledge, what is the best thing you have learned that helps you in your career?” Yuri Arthur went on to answer my question by saying to be bold. As students, individuals are more inclined to say yes and assist us with our future professions, so she emphasized that reaching out to them on LinkedIn and simply asking them for career advice or to meet up in person is well worth it. By being bold and reaching out to others this will help expand your connections and give us lots of opportunities and insight on potential internships or later on careers. I loved this advice and I will push myself to take bold steps and to be confident in myself. 

From the ACG Center for Excellence in Sustainability we met with Rania Assariotak. Raina Assariotak is the senior sustainability manager at ACG, she explained to us her position at the college and how important it is in this position to stick to your values, which in her position is sustainability. This can be tested in this position especially when they deal with companies or people that donate to the school, where she has been put in the position to vote to decline the large donations as the person/company may not have the values the school promotes. Raina Assariotak continued by stating that when projects come up, they frequently ask their students for assistance. When a peer challenged her on this, she replied that if she didn’t trust the ACG students, she wouldn’t be doing her job properly and believing that ACG provides a high-quality education, which she firmly believes they do.

Before going into this class I did not have much knowledge on supply chain management. In the last three days I have learned lots about sustainability and how it pertains to supply chain management. It is fascinating to learn about how sustainability comes into play within the supply chain and how many companies are aiming to become more green. Throughout class discussions, readings, and a special guest speaker Rania Assariotaki who is a senior sustainability manager at the American College of Greece, I have been able to further understand the importance of a green supply chain and the different ways to do so. 

There are lots of concepts that I have been introduced to within green supply chain management, one of those being greenwashing. The first thought that popped into my head when hearing it was brainwashing, and I was pretty spot on with that. Greenwashing is when a company falsely advertises or makes misleading statements of having a green/sustainable practice or product. Although I am not entirely shocked this happens, it is very sad to hear that companies do this to attract customers to their products instead of truly valuing sustainability. Now that I am aware of “greenwashing,” I know to conduct my own research on a brand to see whether it is truly sustainable, as well as perhaps doing my own research on the things I use every day that are marketed as “clean,” “green,” “eco-friendly,” or “sustainable.”

A concept that I knew pertaining to sustainability that I learned my first year at CofC are the three P’s: Profit, People, Planet. When this topic was covered in class, we learned that not all businesses prioritize the three Ps equally and are primarily concerned with maximizing profits. Although hearing this is distressing, there are a lot of positive developments that point toward a greener future, and in class, we have spoken about what is being done and how to proceed. A circular economy, commonly referred to as a close loop economy, is one approach. All actions and procedures that reduce, repurpose, and recycle resources throughout the production, logistics, and consuming processes are included in the circular economy. Reusing packaging is one example of a circular economy since it reduces waste and lowers the cost of purchasing new packaging. I also learned about the linear economy, which uses production processes and other transformations to turn natural resources into waste. 

As this class moves forward I am sure I will learn more about the green supply chain and be able to apply what I have learned to my daily life as well as my future career.