My name is Alan Guan, and I am originally from Ottawa! Since an early age, I have been passionate about making a positive impact on the communities and people I serve as well as building things and getting my hands dirty on cool projects! Over the past few years, I have started a couple businesses, such as a marketing agency and a sustainable landscaping business! In my free time, I love partaking in outdoor activities such as running, skiing, and hiking. As I aspire to help those less fortunate, I am also a part time officer in the Canadian Navy! 

What is your personal definition of sustainability?

To me, sustainability is the active process of making decisions that respects both the physical and social communities that one is a member of. Furthermore, sustainability is a way of living that respects the environment, the economy, and social equity. It seeks to use and conserve natural resources responsibly, reduce waste, and provide access to resources for current and future generations. It is a long-term, holistic approach to decision-making that considers the environmental, economic, and social impacts of our actions. Sustainable decisions and actions help to strengthen the fabric that holds our society together. 

What role do you see sustainability playing in your professional career? 

Sustainability is playing an increasingly important role in all facets of my life. Professionally, I am passionate about pursuing a career in consulting with a focus on sustainability. The questions I seek to answer are “how can both corporations and governments work together to act more sustainably without sacrificing value to stakeholders” In my opinion, sustainability and shareholder profits don’t always have to be a two-way street. I hope to be the professional that can leverage my business education and passion for sustainability to create the business case for leaders to be able to make decisions that are more environmentally conscious. Today, we see more and more of these business cases coming to fruition, from the transition to low or no emission vehicles all the way to large institutional investments in clean energy infrastructure.  

Beyond this, I hope to drive further impact through work on delivering innovative solutions regarding sustainable economic development in lower income communities/countries. I believe this issue is one of the greatest challenges we are faced with. It is these big societal challenges that inspire me to further my education and work in sustainability.  

What sustainability projects have you been engaged in?

Last summer, I started a sustainable landscaping company when I saw how damaging to the environment incumbent firms were. It is common for landscapers to drive around loud gas guzzling machines in residential communities, even for small projects. Furthermore, another common practice was for companies to dispose of bio-waste, such as grass clippings or dug up dirt/plant material to be tossed in landfills out of convenience. Seeing this, I decided to challenge the status quo. I used electric equipment to reduce emissions and protect air quality. In addition, we donate and upcycle business waste like plant clippings and other bioproducts, keeping them out of landfills. We also used natural materials like shrimp compost to fertilize our lawns and gardens. Most prominently, we have developed partnerships with local nurseries and garden centers to source materials, and we donate away our waste such as topsoil or clippings to local community gardens and coops. This helps us to minimize our carbon footprint (landfills) whilst also, surprisingly, reducing our overall waste disposal costs! 

This experience really taught me how businesses really can operate both sustainably and profitably! I look forwards to participating in more projects with like-minded people as a student in this certificate program.