The 3 Nested Dependencies Model
Changing the Way We Look at the Environment
A few weeks ago I spent a day as a student auditor for Green Impact, a global organisation dedicated to improving sustainability in workplaces through small, actionable change. Since I was a total newbie to conducting audits, the day began with a training session. For the most part, it was what I was expecting — a brief introduction to the company, a discussion of the United Nation’s sustainability goals, and an induction into the world of auditing.
Nonetheless, one thing — albeit a very simple thing — stood out. As we further discussed the environment and our role in protecting it, the instructor presented us with the following image:
My fellow volunteers and I nodded in approval. As self-proclaimed environmentalists, this was a picture we had seen a million times. Yet our instructor was ready to challenge, and perhaps even change, our perspective.
‘In my opinion, this is a very outdated way of looking at our world,’ she told us, leading to a few puzzled faces in the room. How could that be? This is a widely popular model that is taught (or at least assumed) over and over…
