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This past September I attended the AASHE conference downtown with some of my fellow sustainability students. While there, we had the privilege of listening to several different speakers, addressing issues from climate change to fossil-fuel divestment to inclusive language in management. These each observed different aspects of the sustainability triangle - the pillars of environment, society, and economy.

The conference website states the following:
“The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE’s) annual conference is the largest stage in North America to exchange effective models, policies, research, collaborations and transformative actions that advance sustainability in higher education and surrounding communities. We invite you to join us and share your knowledge, achievements and ideas” (AASHE, 2018).

For the most part, the speakers’ topics addressed climate issues, which can be connected to corporate social responsibility. According to Karen Collins, in her book “Exploring Business”, “CSR refers to the approach that an organization takes in balancing its responsibilities toward different stakeholders when making legal, economic, ethical, and social decisions” (Collins, 2017). Environmental and social issues involve many branches of management. Topics of divestment from fossil fuels is an issue with company investments, and inclusive language in management focuses on employee welfare and social wellbeing. However, overall, corporate social responsibility relates best because it entails the positive, sustainable things that a company does.
           These lectures relate to the ideas expressed in Andrew J. Hoffman’s article for the Stanford Review, The Next Phase of Business Sustainability. In his article, Hoffman states that business is going to be the greatest driving force in the push to create a more sustainable society, especially as we near the cliff of climate change (Hoffman, 2018). Rather than wait for the market to further demand more and more environmentally & socially beneficial products, actions and services, companies should strive to provide them at a competitive level (Hoffman, 2018). This would ideally cause paradigm shift in the market, further increasing demand for sustainable products. Hoffman sees business as the ultimate influence for this cause globally because of its nearly universal market influence; He says, “The market is the most powerful institution on earth, and business is the most powerful entity within it. Business transcends national boundaries, and it possesses resources that exceed those of many nation-states” (Hoffman, 2018).

This article directly connects to the topics at the AASHE conference through the idea that climate change is an urgent issue which can be prevented through methods that will actually stimulate the market and economy. I listened to students who were actively seeking to get the University of Pittsburgh to divest from fossil fuel resources, something Chatham University has already done. They are a perfect example of the influence that a single determined group of people can have on an institution in the same way a small group of businesses can change a whole market.
              Right now, a group’s newsletter I signed up for at the conference is making headlines. The Sunrise Movement recently sat in soon-to-be House Majority Speaker, Nancy Pelosi’s, office to push for democratic support for The Green New Deal. New Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, spent her first day on Capitol Hill supporting these Sunrise Movement members, advocating for their call for “green jobs for all.” Ideally, in coming years, all three groups of business, politics, and social movements will work together, rather than against each other, to cause a paradigm shift in sustainability in the worldwide market, governments, and societies, in order to prevent the disasters that climate change threatens to wreak havoc on them all.

References

AASHE. (2018). Attend the Annual AASHE Conference & Expo & Advance Sustainability.

Retrieved December 7, 2018, from http://www.aashe.org/conference/

Karen Collins. (2017). Exploring Business. Boston, MA: FlatWorld

Hoffman, A. J. (2018, Spring). The Next Phase of Business Sustainability (SSIR). Retrieved

December 5, 2018, from

 https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_next_phase_of_business_sustainability