First steps towards a more sustainable thinking..

My name is Caetano Mantovanni. I relocated to Sydney, Australia, nearly four years ago from Brazil. I have just begun a new exciting chapter in my life, which is a post graduate study in Sustainable Development at Macquarie University. My academic background is in Business, and I have completed some MBA units. I believe this experience will be valuable in getting me through a new process of learning.

The reason for initiating this Blog is to help me follow an organized form of learning, together with tracking the process of development of my ideas about sustainable development. This creative process called ‘Learning Journal’ helps students and professionals to access ideas along the way. What we intend to achieve is a structured process of reflective thinking where we "log" all our experiences gathered in the workshop - at the same time being both participant and observer.

For more information on what a reflective journal is please visit:http://www.uta.edu/ccsl/students/reflection-journal.

Sustainable Development is a concept that you really can't define in just one word or a sentence. It is a group of definitions that lead you to a new and improved way to think and act. Think: you start to ask questions about your community, your environment, and on how you interact with people on a daily basis. SD is a way to understand that our actions today will reflect on our future tomorrow. Act: there are no changes without action. Education for SD gives you the tools to act towards creating a better future, transforming you into an "educator" - capable of passing this message on to others. For instance, I viewed SD as just a concept related to environment, climate change and renewable energy, where all these "green" people would protest to protect whales or Gorillas in Africa. Yet, now, I have not found the exact meaning I am looking for, however, I hope by the end of this semester I will be able to adapt and narrow down what those definitions mean to me. For the days and posts to come, I will describe the various definitions, content, processes and outcomes of ESD and perhaps we will all have a better understanding of it.

I hope this journey will be as exciting and motivating for my readers as it is going to be for me.

http://www.totallygreen.com/blog/putting-some-muscle-into-sustainability.html