introduction
History, Misconceptions, Sustainability Professionals, and Five Facets
9
sustainability professionals
The success of sustainability professionals is mainly measured by the real-world change they enact. This success depends heavily on developing professional skills like active listening, empathy, self-compassion, self-care, self-awareness, and battling burnout. Our guiding framework that supports a connection between sustainability and mindfulness skills is a paper by Brundiers and Wiek that details the skills sustainability professionals need to be successful in the field. Although academic settings excel in providing content knowledge and methodological expertise, academia is not proficient in guiding students in the acquisition of these professional skill sets. Therefore, students are often thrown into learning these skills through volunteering, internships, or employment
opportunities. While all are valuable experiences, these opportunities are insufficient in providing self-guided practices to sharpen skills, reflection, peer mentoring, and evidence-supported practices. Plus, while many enter the field because that want to make a positive impact, they often find themselves overwhelmed while tackling sustainability challenges. They experience mental and emotional distress because of the urgency, complexity, and interconnectedness inherent in sustainability issues. Hence, providing a publication with the tools and resources needed to work on a diverse range of professional skill sets is necessary for success in the sustainability field.