44 SDG 15 – Life on Land – Team 44

Team Reflection

Our Sustainable Development Goal was 15 – Life on Land. Its goal is to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” Our group felt that this was a very important goal as there is significant land degradation happening worldwide.
The Aim2flourish stories that related to our SDG goal focused on businesses that are working to improve and protect the environment in many ways. Many of the businesses worked to reduce waste in their region as well as enhance the condition of their local environment through innovative methods of restoration and other types of mitigation.

The business story that we used for our poster was for a company called “Siberian Biocoal.” The company used an innovative, patented technology to transform soft wood waste products into biocoal briquettes. This story was very interesting to us because of the significant way that it reduced waste while recycling products that no other companies found value in. Reusing waste products instead of cutting down more trees also allowed for less impact on the environment. Other notable stories that we found interesting were the company Bio2clean in Belgium and Wilderlab in New Zealand. Both used innovative technology to monitor and restore the environment. Bioclean uses special bacteria that interact with plants to remediate soils and waters that have been polluted. Wilderlab is a DNA testing lab that samples ecosystems to find out important information about them. Both of these companies could be incredibly beneficial to help preserve and restore land across the globe.

We also read about Ilog Maria, a family business in the Philippines that focuses on sustainable living and operates a bee farm. Sai Sustainable Agro is an Indian company that helps support small farmers through land regeneration and INVOCU in Columbia which focuses on conservation by promoting native ecosystems and removing invasive species. All of these companies are doing impressive work to improve the land in their local communities.

The Aim2flourish stories related to many areas of study including issues of sustainability and environmental stewardship. The UN SDGs are useful frameworks for building eco-friendly policies within organizations worldwide. This is an example of conscious capitalism or businesses operating with a higher purpose. These stories exemplify the triple bottom line principle that businesses focus on the environment and society as much as they focus on profit. This requires a conscious culture in the organization as well as conscious leadership.
These stories are good examples of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. All of the stories were able to tie back into the concepts revolving around CSR and even broaden the knowledge behind the SDG’s and sustainability. First of all, every story reflected and acknowledged that there was either an issue in an industry or organization. Previously, our group had discussed that it can be very detrimental to only focus on the good aspects for organizations, and these stories only reinforce the acknowledgment of what areas certain organizations and industries may be lacking in.

There were no large gaps of knowledge in the group, but this helped us to learn more about specific examples that are going on in the world of sustainability. With this, we have been able to get a deeper knowledge of different technologies available that can help protect the land. This has opened our eyes and has made us more conscious of the efforts being undertaken worldwide. Knowing about ongoing projects gives us hope for the future.

It was really interesting to read how those techniques and ideas worked and in many of them a big surprise. It is incredible how someone can have the knowledge and imagination to implement sustainable ideas in a business and make them work, having a huge impact for the environment, but also being useful and fulfilling a necessity. About the assumptions, it is not that they changed a lot, they just opened my mind, making me think about the possibility of adapting business ideas to a more sustainable world.

As we have seen, some people make a big effort to be sustainable and innovate a lot in this area. We will try to do the same in everyday things. At the time of creating a business, we will explore the sustainable way and think about how the idea can be more eco-friendly. These stories have opened our minds to new sustainable technology and methods and have given us perspective on ways to work towards the UN SDGs, especially number 15.

This project has encouraged us to have a more sustainable mentality and try to apply our business idea to the necessities of the planet. In the future, we will think more about how we can give priority to sustainable ideas. We will be more understanding of the importance of purpose-driven leadership and the considerations of various stakeholders. This project gave us experience with working with people from different cultures and countries while managing the difficulties of working in different time zones. Overall, learning about innovative solutions to various issues across the globe and how businesses have addressed this issue.

Individual Reflections

Serena
The COIL project has been different than any group project that I have done at University. Working with a group across different time zones does pose a challenge but it has been interesting to hear what other students in other Universities are doing. Our team from Spain and Canada represents the global North and though we do have differences culturally, we generally have similar views. The Aim2flourish stories are good reminders that there are businesses that are attempting to create a more sustainable future. As the owner of a small business near Guelph Ontario, I am also working to create a more sustainable framework in which our business can operate. Reading the different stories presented me with new ideas on how to incorporate more sustainable ideas into my work. Overall I think it was an interesting project.

Tafara
I found this project to be very different from my previous group experiences, due to the differing time zones, and the physical restrictions. I think this project demonstrated to me the struggles of distance collaboration but at the same time, it demonstrated the interconnectedness that can come with distance collaboration. It genuinely provided different cultural views due to my familiarity with Canada, and my groupmates, familiarity with Spain. While the time zones differ to a large extent, it was surprisingly not a problem and very easy to maneuver, but I do feel more aware and prepared to work with others in the future with different time zones. I think the fact that everyone came from different majors and class backgrounds really helped to diversify our work knowledge. Our different backgrounds even allowed us to learn from each other. Overall, I think the project was very fun and I know that this experience will aid me in my future.

References

United Nations-Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). Goal 15. Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15

Homepage. (2020, January 10). AIM2Flourish. https://aim2flourish.com/