RE22-011 - Earth Source: A Communication and Mentoring Platform for Sustainable Choices, Practices and Solutions

The engineering sector has a duty to be more globally responsible. There are many initiatives designed to inspire young people, and whilst informing our future generations is one of the most important things we can do, we believe that current professionals also need to make a change now. Our solution is to do just that through a collaborative platform called Earth Source:

“A communication and mentoring platform that allows professionals to make sustainable choices, practices, and solutions.”

The concept came about due to a recognised gap in the industry in the networking potential between professionals, particularly related to sustainability. Information that is passed along is typically only from your immediate network. This reduces the potential for knowledge sharing for junior or newer professionals, or those within smaller companies, something that we cannot afford on the sustainability front. Earth Source aims to bridge the knowledge gap, bringing together specialists and innovators from across disciplines, to discuss relevant sustainable solutions.

Ultimately, Earth Source shall be a platform that hosts people from a wide, diverse range of disciplines, backgrounds, and cultures to ensure inclusivity. Diversity of opinion is known to be good when designing solutions, and Earth Source will optimise this through provision of rich sources of sustainable design products, that are freely available for all to view. Posts themselves are to be verified by individuals who have both created a viewable profile on the site, and signed both the site’s Code of Conduct, as well as the EWB-UK "Globally Responsible Engineer" Commitments, to reduce the risk of trolling on the site. Users and collaborators can interact and engage with posts, tagging them with Sustainable Development Goal references, sector-relevant hashtags, and up-voting innovative and effective solutions.

Users are anticipated to be members of the public and professionals from a multitude of disciplines, including government, contractors, industry and those in educational and research institutions. Inclusion enables collaborative discussions to further the understanding and implementation of sustainable processes across the globe. All users’ profiles are to include information on interests and expertise, for ease of other users identifying relevant people to assist with sustainability enquiries.

There will also be the functionality for person-to-person mentoring. This is with the aim of widening the networks of all professionals. Best practice will be promoted across the site. This is to be achieved by users working their way through levels of the site, accruing “Champion” status in the following categories through active and beneficial engagement:

• Learner

• Collaborator

• Creator

• Mentor

• Editor/Reviewer

Earth Source is to be funded through an inclusively-designed membership structure, with fee banding based on individual affordability matrix. It is anticipated that funding will also be gained through advertisements of sustainable products and services. To promote Earth Source’s standing and credibility, we will partner with other institutions, organisations, community groups and notable individuals.

We believe that Earth Source provides a unique solution to the current gap of sustainability-knowledge sharing and will make engineering more globally responsible, by opening the conversation to diverse voices.