The College of Management at the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) aspires to be a model institution of business management education in Asia. The college is committed to promoting ethics, social responsibility, and sustainable education. Moreover, the college put great effort into cultivating relevant talents. Since 2018, NSYSU has published its annual Sustainability Report and Sustainability Bulletin of College of Management, NSYSU for four consecutive years. The Office of Sustainability and Social Responsibility (ORSA) was also established to help support the strategic direction of the college. In order to promote the social responsibility of the College of Management, ORSA collaborated with the NSYSU Sustainability and Innovation Club (SIC)—a students’ association—to organize the "General Education Seminar: Youth Forum on Blueprint for Sustainable Living" on earth day of April 22, 2024.

This lecture invited two sustainable brand managers, Mr. Lin Zhenghui, Deputy Manager of O'right International Co., Ltd., and Mr. Ye Bojun Barson, Founder and CEO of Tasteme Food Waste Reduction Platform. They raised students' awareness of sustainable living actions from the two most common areas in daily life: sustainable purchase and sustainable diet. To encourage discussions and help student put sustainability into practice.

During the event, Mr. Lin Zhenghui, Deputy Manager of O'right, shared their sustainable brand mission and story behind their 100% recycled products. He pointed out that O'right not only pursues the practical functionality and value of its products but also emphasizes sustainability in its core development. Through the environmental education documentary Melting Greenland: Saving the Marshall Islands, he showed students the connection between the climate crisis and daily purchasing choices. He also shared O'right's core values and carbon neutrality measures across the company and all product categories.

Mr. Ye Bojun, CEO of Tasteme, shared their entrepreneurial journey from scratch and how Tasteme achieves a triple win situation for enterprises, customers, and the environment. He delved into the importance of food cycles and proposed solutions to the problem of food waste. By cutting food waste—a target of the SDGs—methane omission is reduced and thus suppressing global warming, a benign food economy circle was created. This benefits customers, enterprises that joined the Tasteme platform, and the environment. Mr. Ye Bojun ended his speech with the importance of reducing dietary ecological carbon emissions, saving depleted Earth resources, and leaving a better society and environment for future generations.

In the Q&A session, the audience asked many questions. Some students were concerned about how to balance profit and sustainable development in business decisions. Mr. Lin Zhenghui answered that sustainability and profit are not mutually exclusive but can complement each other. When making business decisions, a balance point needs to be found to make the company's development beneficial to society. Another student asked whether the acceptance of food cycles and food waste reduction in Taiwan differs from that in Europe and America. Mr. Ye Bojun answered that the acceptance of these concepts is gradually increasing in Taiwan, but there is still room for improvement. He urged everyone to deepen their understanding of food waste issues and change their consumption habits. Finally, a student asked about the role of students in sustainable living. Both speakers emphasized that students is an important force in promoting sustainable development. Students can contribute to the environment by starting with small actions such as choosing sustainable products and not wasting food.

This lecture opened a door to a sustainable future for students, deepening their understanding of the impact of individual choices and actions on the Earth.

Relevant Websites:
SIC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nsysusic?mibextid=LQQJ4d
SIC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sicsicnsysu?igsh=MWo0Y2h5OWpzYWtvcg==
SIC Linktree: https://linktr.ee/sicsicnsysu?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=f20b5df8-bea3-4d5b-ba9f-f6aa3c8ce373

Written by NSYSU Sustainability and Innovation Club (SIC) / Edited by College of Management