Hydra was definitely a highlight of my time in Greece. It was so beautiful and swimming was a magical experience. I loved seeing the donkeys and the beautiful town surrounded by blue water. I spoke to a woman in a jewelry store who told me about her and her peer’s sustainability efforts to keep Hydra looking so beautiful. She said the air was much cleaner without any cars on the island.  It was truly a wonderful day!

In class today I researched the Corporate Sustainability Report for a telecommunications company called WIND. They focused strongly on the three pillars of sustainability, Social, Economic, and Environmental. They presented clear goals that illustrate their ethical standards in all three categories. Its mission statement emphasizes excellent customer care, security, and environmental practices. While their mission statement alone focuses on putting the customer’s needs first, after diving deeper into the report I was introduced to their standards for their employees as well. They strongly focus on the safeguarding, well-being, and support of their employees. The CEO touched on the support they offered during the COVID-19 Pandemic and it is clear that they take very good care of their employees. One example of an ethical responsibility that they have instilled to support their employees is the Empowerment of their Women employees to achieve their goals and enhance skills through partnerships. One way they do this is by having 35% of women in roles of responsibility and are working to increase this number in various years. Their report illustrated both high collectivism and femininity in their company

.

Our second day of the course was wonderful! We were able to visit Poseidon’s temple which was really beautiful. It stood out to me amongst the other temples because of its beautiful location overlooking the sea. It was followed by a wonderful traditional lunch on the beach where lots of us swam and relaxed before our return to Athens. We also read about Eco-innovation in Greece. It was really interesting to learn that Greece is 25th on the global scale of the Environmental Performance Index which is really good. While they are still working to reach a higher score in Eco-innovation, they are certainly improving each year. They currently have a standing score of 70, while the EU average is 100. The government has placed lots of initiatives to increase their eco-innovation in lots of different categories such as energy production, waste management, water resources, and more. Greece is certainly improving its environmental standards each year!

Hello! My name is Lila Henderson and I am from Brunswick, Maine. Visiting Greece has been lots of fun so far but I have also learned a lot. Some things have brought me out of my comfort zone, such as talking to Greek-speaking taxi drivers and figuring out how to get around Athens. I have used metros before but reading the locations in Greek was challenging, so it took a little time to get used to. Today in class we learned about ethical and unethical decision-making in businesses. We all looked at specific companies and how they have been viewed as unethical in the past. My partner and I’s company was Exxon, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers. They have been accused of lying to investors about their effects on climate change and downplaying the science of climate change. They had researched their impact on the environment and chose to deceive the public about the “lack” of danger in order to make their company seem more appealing to invest in. This was viewed as an unethical decision made by the company.