Pioneering ENV 490 Sustainability Innovation I

This semester, we offered for the first time the ENV 490 - Sustainability Innovation I course. During this pilot program, we had the privilege of bringing to our classroom a diverse group of fantastic industry experts and sustainable leaders who generously shared their time, expertise, and stories with our students. During this course, we also had the incredible opportunity to partner with three local businesses that opened their doors to our students to learn about entrepreneurial challenges and daily operations in an experiential way. In exchange, the students co-created with the business owners and managers sustainable solutions that could potentially support the businesses in having an impact toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

Working together through a design thinking process/model greatly benefited us as we are trying to make that kind of process a cornerstone of how we implement new initiatives moving forward. The additional perspective on our business model, documented in the business canvas, is great reference material for our own decision making. Working with a student to implement, improve, and iterate on a prototype next semester is a great way to build on what we've done. - Nat Pak, Reuse Hawaii Workforce Development Coordinator