Business and Environment: Day 3 at Trinity Business School

I didn't think this course could get any better after yesterday, but somehow Trinity's Finance students continued to impress! It was "Sustainability Day" in class today, and we kicked it off in beautiful style with a presentation from Dr. Natasha Williams O'Hanolan - Sustainability Adviser for Oriflame Cosmetics company. I already knew Natasha's fantastic reputation, but I was seriously impressed by the ambitious nature of her company's efforts to create truly sustainable products. Their story was great inspiration for students to realize genuine sustainability is possible AND profitable!

I've never been a big fan of the word "sustainability" myself because of the diverse interpretations of the word, so I sent students out into the field to find out how real people define sustainability. Not surprisingly, they found a wide range of views on the topic, demonstrating how easy it is for a company to get sustainability wrong when nobody seems to agree on how it's defined. 

In the afternoon, we brought a bit of Parliamentary style into the classroom by having a full-fledged debate on decoupling, with students answering the question: Can we really decouple economic growth and GDP from environmental impacts? Their informed arguments and enthusiasm were a joy to behold! 

And finally, we rounded off Sustainability Day with a guest lecture from CSR manager David O'Flynn of Dawn Meats -who impressed students with real evidence that "there is huge money to be made in sustainability". 

Watch my 2 minute chat with David after class here:

What's happening on our final day of #EcoBizTCD?

• Putting a price on nature – It’s no April Fool’s joke! We’re talking natural capital and ecosystem valuation this morning, starting with a guest lecture from the amazing Paul Harris of Sustainability Matters.
• Finishing off our marathon, we’ll be looking at environmental marketing (how to avoid greenwashing!) and eco-entrepreneurship.
• Finally, it’s nail-biting time for me as students survey the course and I find out once-and-for-all if this crazy idea was a transformative experience or simply just a lesson learned!