That was the challenge for 45 participants in the Edinburgh Sustainability Jam this year.

In the face of dwindling natural resources, increased socioeconomic pressures and environmental degradation come motivated individuals ready to tackle these issues. This year’s Edinburgh Sustainability Jam fostered collaboration to find solutions to these rising problems. A theme sparked the imagination of participants.

The task was to concieve ideas to address issues in sustainability, around which they formed teams. Expert mentors advised each team in order to guide their ideas and ground them in reality. They were (1) Edible Cutlery (2) Socioeconomic improvement of refugee camp (3) Urban Development in South Africa (4) Food waste reduction app (5) Intergenerational and community education

At the end of the programme, teams presented their projects to peers, observers and a panel of judges – Lesley McAra (Assistant Principal, Community Relations; Andy Kerr, Director ECCI; George Tarvit, Climate Change and Sustainability Manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful). The judges provided positive feedback on the ideas and urged each team to take their ideas forward. The judges, mentors and observers were impressed and supportive of the innovative educational models explored during the Jam. And though the Jam comes to an end after three intensive days, the teams will continue to be supported to progress their ideas further.

The Jam was also an opportunity for participants to utilise their latent creativity and apply what their theoretical learning into practice. Theoretical and research provides the power of knowledge but not the wisdom to apply it. It was about providing a judgement-free and nourishing environment to foster everyone’s creativity as well as character and skills development. The Jam supplies brimming minds with the opportunity necessary to stimulate the imagination. In essence, it was a demonstration of what organisational models are possible, and their potential to address the sustainability issues of our time.

The Edinburgh Sustainability Jam project is being led by Net Impact Edinburgh (a student group) and supported by the Global Environment and Society Academy (GESA), Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability (SRS), Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI), and Innovative Learning Week (ILW). For further information please contactnetimpactedinburgh@gmail.com. The online photo album can be accessed through: http://on.fb.me/1klONYN

Written by Morgane Pérez-Huet; edited by Hassan Waheed