Business and Sustainability: Myth or Method?

Fall 2011, Winter 2012 and Spring 2012 quarters

Faculty

Bobbie McIntosh business, management, green marketing , Rebecca Chamberlain literature, writing, yoga

Fields of Study

business and management, environmental studies, leadership studies, literature, sustainability studies and writing

Preparatory for studies or careers in

business, economics, social change and service, communications, humanities, education, leadership.

Description

Current business and leadership programs at Evergreen support the concept of sustainability, but there is still confusion in the debate about terminology as well as what constitutes “best practices.”  In this year-long, interdisciplinary program, we will ask, “What does it mean to live sustainably on a personal, local, and global level?”  What does it mean to claim that an organization is moving toward sustainability, or is “green?”  Paul Hawken suggests, in Natural Capitalism, that our economy is shifting from human-based productivity to radical increases in resource productivity.  How is this measured?  One of the goals of this program is to develop a set of competencies that will address this need, in an increasingly changing economy and job market, as we also engage in developing a well-rounded liberal arts education.  Each of the participants will develop an economic business plan and story that will support their evolving understanding of sustainable business, green branding, and how to use effective marketing and promotional skills to create a vision for economic and social happiness.  Each business plan will contain team writing projects.  We will also develop storytelling, writing, and other academic and professional skills and tools that will enable us to create a strong foundation and to form a vision for understanding the economics of "The Green Business Myth."  We will develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills in the liberal arts, as we promote and implement concepts of social change, ethics, personal and community enrichment, and support our goals in forming pathways to move toward cultural and environmental sustainability.

This program will have a thematic focus each quarter.  In the fall, we will explore the personal, heroic, and mythic journeys we go on, individually and collectively, as we pursue our outer and inner dreams.  In the winter, we will explore different historical and cultural perspectives of the American dream, and how it relates to community, family, place, and commodities of exchange, gift-giving, and reciprocity.  In the spring, we will explore home-coming, finding our deepest purpose, community service, leader as martial artist, and pathways for creating a new earth, through mindfulness practices of gratitude and appreciation.  We will explore each of these themes through the lens of literature, writing, mythology, psychology, cultural studies, and sustainable business practices.

Advertised Schedule

9a-5p Sat/Sun (fall: Oct. 1, 15-16, 29-30, Nov. 12-13, Dec. 3-4; winter: Jan. 14, 28-29, Feb. 11-12, 25-26, Mar. 10-11; spring: Apr. 7, 21-22, May 5-6, 19-20, Jun. 2-3)

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Hybrid Online Learning < 25% Delivered Online

Books

Greener Store

Required Fees

$10 per quarter for workshop supplies

Offered During

Weekend