With articles, packaging, movements, and conversations in sustainability everywhere you go, it’s hard to know where to start in learning about the globe-sized topic.
Often it can seem as if a brand is a shining beacon of ethical consumption, then you later hear that isn’t the case and they were faking their environmental points for cachet… so it’s easy to become cynical.
And though it’s good to know that businesses can be fined up to $600,000 if found guilty of false environmental claims, it can still be tricky to navigate the supermarket aisle or online shopping space with so many brands that look green but aren’t as squeaky clean as they seem.
The Mind Lab seeks to remedy this with their Leading Beyond Sustainability Micro-credential – an eight-week online course designed to fit in alongside full-time work.
“Leading Beyond Sustainability is a course focused on supporting students to explore diverse and holistic approaches to enhancing genuine, authentic sustainability,” says Hayley Sparks, the National Academic Manager for The Mind Lab. “Contemporary perspectives on sustainability, including systems thinking, indigenous and collaborative approaches to leadership for sustainability, and the role of scientific evidence and education, are covered.”
Hayley Sparks, National Academic Manager for The Mind Lab
The idea is that anyone can take the course to develop the knowledge, awareness, and capability to avoid greenwashing and take steps toward real, genuine, sustainability in their everyday lives – as well as in their business.
“Sustainability has become a bit of a buzzword,” says Hayley. “However, it is important to question and think critically about how that is achieved, and whether being sustainable is enough. Hence the title of this micro-credential being ‘Leading Beyond Sustainability’.
Leading Beyond Sustainability is a course focused on supporting students to explore diverse and holistic approaches to enhancing genuine, authentic sustainability
“It is also important to consider different perspectives on sustainability, and the way in which indigenous perspectives can provide a lot of insights and learnings.”
It’s a heavy topic, and it can often seem overwhelming – certainly for Anna Reid, a copywriter for Tech Futures Lab and recent graduate of the course, the course was a balm to a growing sense of helplessness around climate matters. “I was learning about what is happening, the speed at which the world is changing, and I felt rather helpless,” she says.
“Sustainability, at first glance, felt like a move in the right direction. But when you break down what sustainability means, it’s about retaining the status quo and that is not what we need. We need radical systems changes, we need an overhaul of our values structures, we need to regenerate.”
Anna Reid, copywriter for Tech Futures Lab and recent graduate of the course
Anna found that as a consumer, the course changed her whole way of thinking: “We see ‘biodegradable’ and we think, ‘yes I’m making a good choice’. But to lead beyond sustainability is much deeper than that. It requires us to think through the system, the value chain, and the end of life. Where was that product made, what is it made of, how was it made (energy, resources), who made it, what happens to it after I’m finished with it? And even deeper – who funds the business making the product, what is their organisational purpose, what else are they invested in – think fossil fuels or renewable energy sectors – do they pay their workers the living wage? Honestly it goes on and on.”
We need radical systems changes, we need an overhaul of our values structures, we need to regenerate.
The problem is, she explains, who has time to learn and understand all of that in their own time? It requires some deep investigation and with busy lives, it feels onerous.
“But if we don’t do this, we will be hoodwinked as ‘sustainability’ is a cash cow and a shoo-in for many businesses.”
Anna also found the online, remote, self-directed course fit well into her working life, and she was able to tailor it to her own passions within the topic, viewing it as an indulgence to end her workday with – but she also particularly enjoyed the social aspect and feeling less alone in her ecological passion.
“I really dug meeting other people on the cohort and learning about what they are doing and why they chose to do the programme. It made me feel some relief at how many people care about making change and how much they’re already doing or planning to do. And it was a cross section of industries too – creative, finance, public service, education, retail, construction. All sorts of people all grappling with the same fundamental challenges of remaking how we do things.”
She recommends the course to anyone, as we all need the tools and understanding to make better decisions for a thriving future. Particularly high-level decision makers, business owners, designers, and producers across all industries take the programme, to affect real systems changes.
“You cannot walk away from this programme and not have a desire to make changes in your life, no matter how small those might seem,” she says.
The course covers ideas and concepts that are also part of other programmes that The Mind Lab offer, for example, Postgraduate Certificate in Leading Change for Good, and even some of our master’s programmes.
You cannot walk away from this programme and not have a desire to make changes in your life, no matter how small those might seem.
In some cases the credits earned in the micro-credential are transferable to other programmes, but what Hayley says is most important is the learning that happens and how it can support people to think differently and inform future projects in work or study.
It’s an introduction to the importance of ‘knowing your stuff’ and not just ‘seeing green’. Students come out of the course with a toolkit, checklist, and confidence to think critically about sustainability and navigate practices in their work or personal lives.
If sustainability is a topic that resonates with you, or even if you’re just wanting the tools to rise above the greenwashing, the next intake starting on 30 May. In the decade of climate action, the perfect time to start is now.
