Kristina Hunter
University of Manitoba Sustainable at heart: Promoting sustainability leadership in business and government

hunterkn@cc.umanitoba.ca

Ms. Hunter is an Instructor in the University of Manitoba's Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources. She teaches in the fields of Sustainable Development, Environmental Health, Green Buildings and Environmental Issues. In addition, she has taught in the Asper School of Business' MBA Program, the Faculty of Architecture and travel study courses in the Churchill region of Manitoba. Ms. Hunter has been involved with research in environment and health, environmental restoration and education for sustainability.

Ms. Hunter is active in environmental organizations on and off campus; most notably she serves as Vice-chair of the Manitoba Round Table for Sustainable Development advising the provincial government on sustainability policy and legislation. Prior to becoming a full-time University Instructor, Ms. Hunter worked as an Environmental Scientist and Project Manager at Wardrop Engineering in Winnipeg. Her Master's research project was entitled "Evaluation of Analytical Methodologies for Diesel Fuel Related Contaminants in Soil".

Sustainable at heart: Promoting sustainability leadership in business and government

This research proposes to investigate personal motivations of sustainability leaders in business and government to create an education and communication model to foster environmental sustainability. Using grounded theory approach, leaders in environmental sustainability in business and government are interviewed and surveyed to develop a conceptual framework for the factors that influence their decision-making. A leader has been defined for the purposes of this research as: a person who has implemented significant and systemic positive environmentally sustainable change in an organization, industry or government. The leaders will have questions posed relating to: personal value systems, source of connection to nature, inspiration from others and formal and informal education impact. The concepts will then be translated to post-secondary education and environmental non-governmental organization communication systems. As this research project spans disciplines of environmental science and studies, psychology, management, education and communication; a concerted effort will be made to maintain an interdisciplinary approach.