My name is Margaux Eripret and I am in the graduating class of 2022 at Muhlenberg College, majoring in Sustainability Studies and minoring in French and Francophone Studies. As part of my Sustainable Solutions course, I was instructed to choose a sustainability related issue to focus on all semester to investigate the problem as well as possible solutions. I am focusing on the issue of excess waste all over the world and the way it is disposed of and managed, or often, mismanaged.

Our Working Definition of Sustainability:

A practice, process, or entity is sustainable if its initiatives, actions or impacts work to
meet the social, environmental, and economic needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by ensuring:
1. resource use that maximizes renewal, encourages re-use, and minimizes waste
while protecting and restoring the health of natural systems including the
protection of biodiversity, reducing pollution, and mitigating global climate
change;
2. equitable economic opportunity that empowers all people to meet their own
needs;
3. that essential social goals or foundations for humanity to prosper including basic
human rights are met.

Best practices for meeting these objectives include using an inclusive, transparent, and
equitable process that employs systems thinking and scientific principles, encourages
individual and collective action, and assessment using measurable indicators and
establishes accountability.

Click HERE to read about the Problem Identification