Course Credit Opportunity

Impact: The Co-operators Youth Conference for Sustainability Leadership is an opportunity for experiential learning. We have compiled the following information to help you approach your school about receiving Independent Study course credit or using your involvement as the basis for an Undergraduate Honours Thesis. To explore this option, take this package to your Department Undergraduate Chair or Administrator, or choose a professor you think would be a good person to work with on this course.

To help you understand how the conference offers learning opportunities, we have included an estimate of time you will commit to the different phases of the event. We have also provided an outline of the material you will cover, what you will achieve and the resources you will take away when you return to your community.

The conference is designed so you will:

  • Develop expertise about sustainability with a focus on one industry
  • Hone your research, communication and team work abilities
  • Establish and build networks with student, business and sustainability leaders
  • Build teamwork skills
  • Prepare the tools and develop the skills to deliver the sustainability message back to your universities and communities

Learning Opportunities

Leading up to the conference, you will work with a team to explore sustainable opportunities in one of five sectors: insurance and financial services; manufacturing; retail; food systems; or municipal public services. You will work with people from this team throughout all of the sessions.

There are three stages to your conference involvement: pre-conference work; the conference itself; and, post-conference work in your community.

  1. Pre-conference work – 25 hours
    You will be connected to your group on-line prior to meeting at the conference. This will give you a chance to get to know your team and your sector before meeting in Guelph. A list of readings will be provided from the sustainability literature with a particular focus on your sector. An emphasis will be placed on policies and programs that are relevant to the Canadian context. Leading up to the conference you will:

    • Have complementary access to the Natural Step E-Learning course as an example of systems approach to sustainability: 5 hours
    • Conduct research online about your assigned sector including organizational Corporate Sustainability Reports: 5 hours
    • Synthesize and write-up material: 10 hours
    • Be part of on-line collaborative work with sector team members: 5 hours

    As an example of the reading you would be expected to follow, if you are assigned to the insurance sector, on-line reading could include:

    1. Excerpts from the:
      Pan European Equity Insurance Strategy/SRI (2004) ‘Insurance and sustainability, Playing with fire’
    2. Globe-Net/World Business Council for Sustainable (2007) ‘The insurance sector examines sustainability’.
  2. Conference activities – 30 hours
    The conference provides you with opportunities to learn about a range of business sectors in the context of sustainability. Equally important, it offers you an experience where you will build your teamwork and leadership capacities as you work in groups and learn from world recognized speakers like Dr.David Suzuki. You will also have the chance to develop your communication and critical thinking skills as you interact with and present to your peers and the larger group including industry experts.
Thrusday Night:

  • Welcome
  • Industry team meetings
  • Exchange and summarize industry information
  • Expert panel, topics to include:
    • Climate Change
    • Technology
    • Poverty
    • Community Engagement
 Friday:

  • Keynote speaker: Dr.David Suzuki
  • Mixed groups developing and testing sector and cross-sector solutions

Friday Night: Learning topics

Attend two of six one-hour sessions on:

  • Online activism and networking
  • Ethics of sustainability and consumerism
  • Building community and team work
  • Leadership
  • Change management and influence
  • Working with media and government
Saturday:

  • Cross-industry exchange
    Sector teams will share insights and discuss multi-sectoral opportunities and challenges to creating sustainability. Establish TOP 10 list
  • Evening reception
 Sunday:

  • Pledge
  • Report back by sector
  • Action plan toward goals
  • Closing speaker – motivational
  1. Post conference activities (5 hours)
    With the other youth leaders you will have created documents outlining strategies to address the sustainability challenges specific to each sector. You will also have identified cross-sectoral synergies. You are encouraged to share these insights with business and youth leaders in your community to help foster sustainability. To facilitate this process you will have access to the materials developed for the five sectors during the conference wrap-up work (Power points, media kits, videos…it’s up to the students).From start to finish you will engage in at least 60 hours of research, writing, collaboration and learning as you work through the conference and related activities. You will do this in a stimulating environment surrounded by youth leaders from across the country, in a bilingual milieu, working with industry experts while learning from key thinkers about the most pressing sustainability issues of the day.

YOU WILL…

BUILD LEADERSHIP SKILLS –
UNDERSTAND SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS –
WORK WITH YOUTH AND INDUSTRY LEADERS –
CREATE LASTING NETWORKS

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