We started off the day by walking to the Sky City hotel and tower. There we met Anthony, the head of sustainability for serval of the hotel locations. It was very interesting to hear the specifics of his job, since I’ve only every discussed sustainability topics in vague in classrooms. He told us of how challenging it can be when policies or sustainability regulations change, and he has to completely rework the plan he created and calculated for the hotel. This was such a great way to see how policies are actually affecting people and businesses. For example if the government worked with the communities, they could create plans together and avoid redundant work that might deter some people from continuing through the challenge of implementing sustainability.
After we were done with the group activity, we went exploring the botanical gardens. So far I’ve been really impressed about how walkable this city is. The gardens were very large and had lots of places to walk or sit and explore. This is such a great free resource, that is also conveniently located close to one of the college campuses. I think a huge part of sustainability is reminding people what its all for, and getting to experience that themselves is one of the only ways. It makes you feel better and care deeper for all the beautiful plants and animals you see.
