One thing that pushed me out of my comfort zone on this trip has been using the public transportation system by myself. My Mom and sisters are spending time in downtown Athens and I used the Metro and bus to get down there instead of taking the easy way and getting a cab. I was nervous but I ended up doing fine and so glad I pushed myself.
A brief fact about a company that I learned today was that Walmart was exposed for underpaying their employees as well as working overtime without compensation. Walmart has since fixed this unethical decision and workers are appropriately compensated.

In today’s reading, we learned about Eco-innovation and how it functions throughout Greece. Eco-innovation is defined by the Observatory as, “ any innovation that reduces the use of natural resources and decreases the release of harmful substances across the whole life-cycle.” Greece continues to rank on the lower side of the EU but is beginning to increase its performance in eco-innovation. These improvements have been made through integration technologies such as energy-efficient smart meters, solar energy, and photovoltaics, just to name a few.

Today we toured the island of Sounion which is home to the ruins of The Temple of Poseidon. It was built around the same time as the Parthenon, in the Golden Age. It was built at the highest point of the island, Attica. It was amazing to swim in the beautiful clear water while looking at the 5th-century BC temple.

Today’s excursion was to an island called, Hydra. Hydra is one of the Saronic islands and is in the Aegean sea. The island was beautiful with crystal clear water and fine architecture. The Island does not have any cars so transportation is reliant on donkeys/mules along with foot. I was able to ride one of the mules and it was so cool to see the city through a donkey ride. Along with visiting Hydra, the class was to interview a local regarding sustainability on the island. I interviewed a server at one of the restaurants near the port. The interview went well and I learned that the island recycles and also takes advantage of paper products rather than plastics.

The company I chose to work on for the sustainability report project was Meta. Meta is formerly known as Facebook and is a multinational technology company. Their contributions to sustainability are extensive and involve all of the triple bottom lines. They even have a team in their company dedicated to sustainability and meeting those goals.

Picture from dinner at Attikos!