Reference no: EM133742082

Scenario:

You live in a neighborhood with an active community organization. You and your neighbors are very concerned about inequity, as the city is spending money on improving road conditions in some areas, but not others. One of your neighbors asked you to join them in attending a community action meeting to address these observations in the form of an informational campaign. By reading the Elm Glen city profile, you will learn about an example that highlights sustainability in action.

In the Project Template, you will describe some actionable steps the organization could take for each pillar of sustainability. Organization Profile Elm Glen is a primarily residential neighborhood in a mid-sized city. It is a densely urban area with a diverse population. About a quarter of the people in the community speak a language other than English as their primary language. The median family income is average compared to the rest of the city.

The neighborhood is served by public transportation and is home to a commercial strip along Academy Boulevard. The neighborhood has a community organization called the Elm Glen Community Association, which is made up of a small group of residents of the neighborhood who work to make sure the area is safe and well maintained by the city. The neighborhood has a mix of streets, with some generally more well maintained than others. Members of the community association have observed that the city has prioritized spending money on repairing broken sidewalks, clearing sewer drains, and beautifying medians in some areas, while neglecting other areas.

In looking at the environmental concerns they have for the neighborhood, the association has decided to look at the specifics of the Flint, Michigan, water crisis to see what issues, missteps, and obstacles the city encountered in addressing that crisis. They will then use that information to help determine the steps they should recommend the city takes to prevent inequity in addressing the concerns of the neighborhood.

Case Study Summary The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is a case of governmental negligence and environmental injustice. As a sustainability pillar, environmental justice relates to the human impact on environmental quality and its unfairly distributed impacts. Flint's mishandling of the water supply in 2014 adversely affected the drinking water supply of 100,000 people, and the impacts disproportionately fell on those with little resources to effectively provide themselves with safe drinking water.

The city's governmental leaders failed in providing the basic necessity of water to its residents, resulting in tragic lead poisoning, which is especially dangerous to children. As you will read in detail, the Flint water crisis is about much more than lead water pipes; it is about intentional environmental injustice. In the aftermath of the tragedy, we have learned lessons about promoting environmental justice in sustainability decision-making.

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

• Explain how human and environmental systems are interconnected
• Explain how sustainable systems balance social, economic, and environmental needs
• Analyze approaches to address a sustainability issue

Overview

Throughout this course, you have explored how sustainability can be considered in various contexts and within the three pillars of social justice.

Based on the chosen scenario, respond to each part below. The scenario will require you to demonstrate your understanding of sustainable practices, the potential impacts and influences on decisions made in sustainability, and the actionable steps you could take to address sustainable issues for the chosen group.

Specifically, you must address the following:

Part One: Sustainable Practices

In this section, you will look at the interconnectedness of environmental issues and human behavior as it relates to your chosen scenario.

You will look at both how the environmental systems in use impact the community as well as how the community use impacts the environmental systems in place. You will also look at the group's overall bias in addressing sustainability in your community.

1. Describe how environmental systems in use in your chosen scenario impact human behavior.

• Consider ecosystems, cultural systems, and organizational systems in your response.

2. Describe the impact of the current resource use on the environment.

• What resources does the group in your scenario use?
• What is the impact on the environment?

3. Describe how human ideology impacts behavior regarding environmental systems.

• What policies or vision impacts the environmental systems in use within your chosen group?
• Think about your chosen group; what behaviors do they practice regarding the environmental systems?

4. Explain the role of cultural bias in your chosen group's approach to global sustainability.

• What are some of the biases within the group that impact the use of the resources discussed in the scenario?

Part Two: Profile

In this section, you will use a provided profile related to your chosen group to consider how organizations or groups mentioned in the profile have improved (or not improved) their sustainability practices.

1. Describe the value of sustainability practices in human and environmental systems.

• What are the short-term benefits of implementing sustainable practices in your chosen group's related profile?
• What are the long-term benefits of implementing these sustainable practices?

2. Explain the relationship between sustainable systems and human equity in the context of the related profile.

• In what ways did your profile highlight the relationship between sustainable practices and human equity?

3. Describe how conflict resolution is used in the profile to support sustainability.

• What examples of conflict resolution were evident in your profile?
• How were the conflicts resolved (or not) in your profile? How did resolving conflicts impact sustainable practices?

4. Explain how cultural systems relate to sustainability within the profile.

• What cultural systems were predominant in your profile? What role did culture play in sustainability efforts in your profile?

Part Three: Actionable Steps

In this section, you will focus on describing actionable steps related to sustainability for your chosen group. You will highlight the current state of your chosen group's sustainability practice and then describe actionable steps for each pillar of sustainability.

1. Explain why sustainability improvement is needed in your chosen group.

• What areas of sustainability are needed in your chosen group?
• What are the benefits for your chosen group if they improve sustainability practices?

2. Describe how the perspectives of the various stakeholders of your chosen group provide a context to improve sustainability practices related to the concerns of the group.

• How do the perspectives within the group influence efforts made to improve sustainability practices?

3. Explain how cultural diversity in your chosen group can be of value in addressing sustainability issues.

4. Recommend actionable steps your chosen group could take for each pillar of sustainability.

• Reflect on what you know about your chosen group and sustainability. What are some actions that could be taken to improve sustainability?
• For each pillar of sustainability, what are some benefits of improving sustainability practices within your chosen group?