per Erick Gouveia
The impacts of climate change and sustainability-related challenges have sparked growing interest among people and businesses. According to data from Opinion Box (2021), 821% of Brazilians consider sustainability an important topic in their daily lives, evidencing a change in behavior among both consumers and organizations. Despite this progress, many sustainability topics, such as Life Cycle Thinking, are still poorly understood due to their technical nature.
Life Cycle Thinking is a methodology that analyzes the environmental impacts of a product or service at all stages – from the extraction of raw materials to final disposal – and helps companies and individuals make more informed decisions. However, its complexity, involving technical data such as carbon emissions, water consumption and energy use, can make it difficult for those without specialized training to understand.
It is in this context that the need to democratize knowledge about sustainability arises. At Eco+ Foundation, we often say that “we translate science into the language of business”, making technical data accessible and applicable to the business strategies of our clients and partners. With this vision, we created Echo Community, a space dedicated to sharing knowledge, with an emphasis on Life Cycle Thinking.
And how are we doing this? Well, first of all we need to say that our idea of community is to be a dynamic environment for exchanging knowledge. We connect experts who already master the subject with those who want to learn more, bringing together professionals from different sectors of industry and academia. This is a practice known as “Knowledge Sharing Community” which promotes a collaborative environment, where experiences and information are exchanged, generating personal and professional development.
These environments not only promote individual learning, but also strengthen collective learning, contributing to the continuous development of members. By establishing a space where everyone can teach and learn, these communities play a fundamental role in contemporary education and professional development.
In our experience, in addition to a group on a virtual platform, we hold monthly meetings with experts and members of organizations, who share success stories involving the application of Life Cycle Thinking in their sustainability strategies.
At the first Ecoar Community meeting, Thiago Rodrigues from IBICT and Isabel Schulze from Suzano presented how this methodology can guide the planning and selection of more responsible and sustainable processes in the extraction and processing of raw materials. At the second meeting, Arthur Baiochi from Ypê and Márcio Barela from Cargill discussed the application of Life Cycle Thinking in the production phase. These discussions have demonstrated in a practical way the importance of integrating sustainability into all stages of the process, bringing together diverse perspectives, including those of non-specialists.
At Eco+ Foundation, we are committed to making the Ecoar Community a central hub for knowledge sharing. We invite you to join us! Our next meeting will be on October 20th at 10am, when we will explore how companies are integrating Life Cycle Thinking into building more responsible logistics. Sign up here.
If you are interested in learning and teaching about Life Cycle Thinking and other related topics, we invite you to join our community. Click here and join us too.
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