For businesses, taking steps to be more sustainable is likely to include a lot more time looking at spreadsheets than posting on social media, said sustainability events professional Natalie Lowe.<\/p>\n
The comments from Lowe, President of Celebrate Niagara and the Sustainable Events Forum, came as part of the annual Business Matters panel discussion hosted by the Goodman School of Business Tuesday, March 29. The event aimed to spark dialogue and help local businesses think about how they can introduce sustainable business practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor your business, you need to do an assessment to see where the largest emissions are, how does that fit into my business model and what can I do that actually makes a difference,\u201d Lowe said.<\/p>\n
Moderated by Todd Green, Associate Professor of Marketing at Goodman, the panel included Jessica Blythe, Assistant Professor, Brock University\u2019s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre; Gabriel Demarco (BSc \u201913), Winemaker and Viticulturalist at Cave Spring Vineyard; and Mikayla Richards (BBA \u201919), Sustainability Analyst at EcoVadis.<\/p>\n
The discussion touched on how small changes across many businesses can have a big impact, how to look at where you are and set goals of where you want to go, and how to communicate actions both internally and externally and build a culture of sustainability.<\/p>\n
Demarco has witnessed first-hand how attitudes around sustainability and adaptation strategies can shift and evolve, seeing the change on his own team over the last decade. He encouraged people to be patient with the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou slowly change culture and change the conversation and validate the process,\u201d he said. \u201cScience takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panel emphasized that making these changes doesn\u2019t need to be done in isolation and there are a lot of collaboration tools and assistance available, including from Brock students and researchers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got friends in Niagara and Brock is one,\u201d Blythe said. \u201cThere are a lot of partnerships available. Please get in touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Small businesses and organizations can tap into Brock\u2019s many experiential learning opportunities to partner on projects and initiatives. Past examples include marketing plans on sustainable events and mock climate adaptation plans.<\/p>\n