Environmental Sustainability and Reflective Learning: A Personal Development Plan

This report discusses the issue of environmental sustainability and the ways in which organisations are reacting towards it. It also highlights the importance of reflective learning in personal development plan and its impact on decision making. The report provides references to support the arguments made. The slug is 'environmental-sustainability-reflective-learning-personal-development-plan'.

Academic research and
writing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1: REPORT...........................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Environment sustainability..........................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................4
Reference.....................................................................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
Main Body: Reflective Learning.................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................6
References....................................................................................................................................6
PART 3............................................................................................................................................6
Personal development plan..........................................................................................................6
References....................................................................................................................................7
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PART 1: REPORT
Introduction
Environment sustainability is defined as the approach and responsibility of individuals as
well as organisations to conserve and protect the natural resources and global ecosystem so that
health and wellbeing of living beings and planet can be assured (Pulido-Fernández, Cárdenas-
García and Espinosa-Pulido, 2019). With increasing climatic consequences organisations have
now become more concerned about the environmental changes and their contribution in
achieving sustainable goals. The negative environmental consequences such as climate change
have significantly affected the supply chain continuity of the firms and logistics.
Sustainability issues affect business in variety of ways such as impact of temperature
changes on location, storage or efficiency of designs, resource scarcity, logistics, packaging
strategies as well as impact of weather events on disrupted logistics, business infrastructure and
business continuity. This report will discuss the issue of environmental sustainability and the
ways in which organisations are reacting towards it. Sustainability response has become an
integral aspect of organisational strategies because it has created both positive as well as negative
impact on organisational performance and goals accomplishment.
Environment sustainability
Environmental sustainability emphasis on the sustainable utilisation and exploration of
natural or environmental resources However with increasing demand of resources, excessive
exploration of technology and degradation of environment there is huge imbalance between the
supply and demand of natural resources. It has created adverse consequences such as sudden
climate changes, increasing frequencies of natural disasters like flood, cyclones, fires and
increasing temperature of earth. Some geographical regions have witnessed a major shift in the
climate and environmental conditions which has not only affected the resource availability but
also affected the customer preferences, product needs as well as supply routes. Most of the firms
are using resources and technology in unsustainable manner which has exploited natural
resources and even has created significant harm to environment. Thus climate change and natural
disasters have become very common tragedies which affect not only business activities but
normal living as well. They also add on extra financial burden which otherwise could have been
used for infrastructural development (Salam, 2020). Increasing climate consequences as a result
of exploitation causes a complete hindrance in supply chain of organisation. Thus many firms are
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forced to close the production or have to compromise with the production capabilities or storage
facilities (Bjørn and et.al., 2020). If sustainability issues are not addressed by organisations
collectively with society and communities, then along with operational issues businesses may
also face back lashes from people and responsible authorities for not contributing towards
society and earth. From ethical point of view also sustainability issues demand that corporates
must respond to sustainability challenges so that social wellbeing can be ensured by the firms.
Organisations have reacted very promptly towards the sustainability concerns. Initially
the response of organisation seems to be oriented only in content of environmental legislations
imposed by government. Legislations related to waste disposal, greenhouse emissions as well as
extraction of natural resources used to forced organisation to have responsible reporting towards
the sustainability issues. However recent incidences such as sudden climate changes, supply
barriers due to environmental change and resource scarcity have encouraged organisations to
consider environment sustainability as important part of the processes. Organisations are not
taking efforts to minimise the resource wastage and to use sustainable business practices so that
along with the sustainable outputs their efficiency can also be increased. For instance, in order to
minimise the carbon footprint companies are giving preference to environmental friendly
packaging. This approach not only contributes in sustainability goals but also towards making
packaging cost efficient. However still there is lack of appropriate financial analysis techniques
which can measure the financial impact of sustainability issues on operational efficiency or
profitability. In addition to this with increasing awareness about climate change and environment
people are giving preference to products or services which are sustainable. Thus organisations
are forced to adopt quick measures for meeting sustainable goals (Oláh and et.al., 2020). For this
purpose, companies are adopting technological or strategical changes which may cost high for
the companies. Such changes are also requiring need or training as well as more robust policies
for control and regulation.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above study that environmental changes have significant
impact on ecosystem and climatic conditions. The negligence to environmental concerns can
have drastic and severe impact upon operational continuity and supply network of the
organisation. Thus companies are showing quick response towards sustainability concerns. As
sustainability is considered as essential part of strategy it is creating positive impact in terms of
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resource and cost efficiency, increased productivity as well as positive brand value. However, it
is also imposing certain challenges for the firms. With increased monitoring and sustainability
legislations firms are entitled to strictly obey them. Thus for some firms it becomes a difficult
and complex task to balance between their profitability and sustainability objectives.
Reference
Bjørn, A. and et.al., 2020. Review of life-cycle based methods for absolute environmental
sustainability assessment and their applications. Environmental Research
Letters. 15(8). p.083001.
Oláh, J., and et.al., 2020. Impact of Industry 4.0 on environmental
sustainability. Sustainability. 12(11). p.4674.
Pulido-Fernández, J.I., Cárdenas-García, P.J. and Espinosa-Pulido, J.A., 2019. Does
environmental sustainability contribute to tourism growth? An analysis at the country
level. Journal of Cleaner Production. 213. pp.309-319.
Salam, A., 2020. Internet of things for environmental sustainability and climate change.
In Internet of Things for Sustainable Community Development (pp. 33-69). Springer,
Cham.
PART 2
Introduction
The reflective learning is necessary in order to orient where to the right amount of knowledge
that is necessary to move ahead in terms of depicting the standards of responsibility towards
sustainability (Charles and Konečný, 2020). This is important in order to come up with the right
amount of learning strategies that would incorporate every facility towards bring about the
knowledge into existence.
Main Body: Reflective Learning
I would summarise every aspect in this regard in order to deal with the prominence of reflective
learning. It will help me to understand the various tactics that are into dealing with the
environmental consequences and can also relate them towards the sustainability of business. I
have also initiated a probable approach in order to learn certain Technologies that will fall in
aspect of sustainability and their response (Sá and Serpa, 2018). It is one of the prominent aspect
in order to move ahead with the goals that are to be accomplished such that the amount of
geographical factors that are in regard to environmental sustainability can be enhanced. The
reflective learning will help me to understand things on age of being the best and will also help
me to develop my knowledge from the core.
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Importance of learning: This core knowledge is important for me to complete the process of
learning in a more flourishing way and also the adverse consequences that are apart of subjecting
me towards marks can also be attained.
Future orientation with learning: this study will help me to gain knowledge about the workplace
that I am going to get into in future. It is also one of the aspect that would help me to understand
the businesses that are oriented and half hour I will have to come up with the strategies that are
to be incorporated (Parry and et.al, 2020). Business world is full of challenges and it is not until
when every valuation is understood on the proper term that I could get to sustain in that race.
Therefore this will help me to promote my way of thinking to and extreme level where I can get
the right amount of information that is necessary for me to get uplifted. I can also be able to get
opportunities with respect to the core knowledge that I have initiated which will bring me to a
scope of getting settled.
Conclusion
The part conclusion upon highlighting the aspects of reflective learning and its advantages. The
right amount of knowledge that has been gained with respect to topics covered is being
explained. The right learning criteria that would help a person to acknowledge between the
subject as well as the knowledge is also posted in this chapter. The importance of learning which
is going to be impacting future studies is also oriented in this part.
References
Charles and Konečný, 2020. On the outsized importance of learning rates in local update
methods. arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.00878.
Sá and Serpa, 2018. Transversal competences: Their importance and learning processes by
higher education students. Education Sciences. 8(3). p.126.
Parry and et.al, 2020. The importance of learning processes in transitioning small-scale irrigation
schemes. International Journal of Water Resources Development. 36(sup1). pp.S199-S223.
PART 3
Personal development plan
Skill Action Future implication
Decision making In order to make more
productive decisions I will
give more emphasis on
With good decision making
abilities I will be able to make
suitable choices between my
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reflective practices so that I
can make correct decisions
based on my experiences.
academic as well as
professional opportunities thus
seeking more options for
growth and development.
Research skill In order to develop research
skill, I will seek help from the
mentors and will explore high
quality and reliable
information sources.
The good research skill is
helpful for enhancing the
academic knowledge and
outcomes (Bogatenkov, 2018).
At professional level also
research skill will tend to
make me more productive as I
can use this skill to develop
more efficient use of
information and data. For
achieving success
professionally one must have
ability to understand and
research the related
information to the profession
or field.
Technical skill For improving the technical
skill, I will attend different
workshops which can provide
me training and understanding
about emerging and useful
technologies.
Understanding of technical
skills will help me to complete
my projects with more
efficiency. This will also help
me to perform in more
efficient way at professional
level.
References
Bogatenkov, S.A., 2018. Implementation of information and measuring systems: planning of
personal development trajectories. Energy security and energy conservation, (1),
pp.39-42.
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