The spring career fair and recruitment season has arrived, to be followed by the handing out of many hospitality and tourism degrees in the coming months (myself included, eager to receive my M.S. in Tourism Management degree from New York University). And of course as soon-to-graduate hospitality students you are hoping for spring’s bloom to come with a job offer. The first challenge is navigating those networking events and tough interviews. Then comes fitting into the organization and its culture.
One promising aspect of new graduates entering the workforce is the increased interest and passion for sustainability. Or at least sufficient awareness exists to ask the interviewer about it in order to hear back an affirmation of “that’s a great question.”
In either case, knowing the terms and their background concepts well will put you at an advantage. This holds true not just for sustainability terms. For example, you can easily break into the subtle club of those who know that “data” is a plural noun. That’s right, data are gathered (and thank you Dean Hanson).
In sustainability, some terms may be new and some may be confusing. So to help you prepare, here are some insights on words and phrases you may have heard, seen, and used:
Sustainable—Does not mean: 1) something that can be preceded with the simple present tense; 2) something achieved through one lone action. Does mean: something to strive for in the future as individuals, businesses, and society, so that our grandchildren can enjoy the planet at least as much as we do.
Sustainability—Does not mean: energy efficiency alone. Does mean: 1) the business adoption of the seminal idea of development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” from page 24 of “Our Common Future” back in 1987; 2) the process of reexamining our current business models and relationships with stakeholders within the context of sustainable development; 3) the institutionalized dealing with the ever-emerging programs, issues and organizations relating to the environment and society.
Corporate (Social) Responsibility addresses the role of the corporation in society, whereas sustainable development addresses the role of society on the planet.
Triple Bottom Line—Does not mean: a program with cost and time savings that is really, really important to the company. Does mean: homework. Look it up. What if we actually considered our performance toward the Earth and our performance toward others as equally important as our performance toward making money?
ESG—Does not mean: a metric of operational or financial performance (i.e. definitely not Earnings per Square Guest). Does mean: Environmental, Social, and Governance, as themes of an organization’s disclosure. ESG is a term commonly used within the investment, legal, risk, and reporting communities when talking about sustainability. Lots of data are analyzed!
Ecosystem Services—Does not mean: volunteer programs like “clean the beach day.” Does mean: “the benefits people obtain from ecosystems” (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Ecosystem services get us to think about Earth in a broader meaning. The Earth keeps the temperature consistent through complex ecosystems. Wetlands purify water. Plants treat diseases. Forests and oceans provide great views and spectacular species that we enjoy viewing. All of these are services provided to us by the planet. And we pay for some services more than others right now.
Biodiversity—Does not mean: a combined renewable resources and human resources initiative. Does mean: the catchier term for “biological diversity,” defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity as “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” We used to hear a lot about conservation. Put up fences and keep the critters alive. Then someone came around and said, “I think it’s more complex than that, maaaannn…” Species interact in complex ways. Humans interact in complex ways with other species and with ecosystems which are dynamic and non-static. We have many more reasons to protect natural areas than we originally thought.
Green—This is a tricky one. This is not a word that has always referred to the environment. My colleagues and above remember the 1980s, when green was all about the money. Remember, it even had Michael J. Fox as a mascot? Well just like Gordon Gekko is now out offering competing advice to students by speaking the truth in the sequel, so too times have changed. Green is now the adjective champion, representing a wave of energy in the right direction but gushing in a flood of ubiquity.
Somehow along my path from childhood to adulthood, green went from being just a color, to representing the materialist and consumerist quest, to circulating as a nebulous adjective describing anything from a hotel, to a type of employment, to demand response energy management.
So be careful, and think critically before you use or believe the adjective. Thinking critically and carefully about each use of “green” will bring a skill set precisely needed to succeed in sustainability, and help us to take those next steps forward. As Einstein said, “As a circle of light increases, so does the circumference of darkness that surrounds it.” The more we understand about sustainability, the more we realize how much we are and were previously unaware.
Therein lies the beauty of this phenomenon. The quicker the word’s buzz becomes played out; the quicker sustainability becomes embedded into every aspect of our businesses, our governments, and our lives; and the quicker we can start taking our environmental harmony for granted instead of our unsustainable extraction; then the quicker green can finally go back to being just a color.
In conclusion, I’ll leave you with one more term.
Smart is one adjective eventually to replace “green” when dealing with energy efficiency. It makes sense because we need to be a whole lot smarter—not just greener—to achieve sustainable development.
Hopefully this will be helpful in your upcoming dialogues, and good luck with your exciting new careers. It is a great time to enter our industry and an important time to pursue sustainability. Optimism abounds as Millenials come of age in the workplace, helping us to take green back as the color it so deserves. After all, those in sustainable development have been specifically working for everyone starting with the next generation on down. So this next generation can do the same, and better.
Eric Ricaurte works with the hotel industry and its leading companies to advance sustainability through reporting and measurement. His activities in this area include consulting, industry engagement, academic fellowship, and writing. He can be reached at eric@greenviewsustainability.com.
