Sustainably Looking Beyond Dollars and Cents

There are many ways to save the planet.  

That’s one of the messages John Mlade emphasizes in Metrics in Sustainability, an elective course for students in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Project Management (MPM) program.  

Mlade, director for sustainable and healthy environments at Wight & Company and an adjunct faculty member in the MPM program, will teach the course for the second time this spring. 

His goals are twofold. He wants to help students see that sustainability goes far beyond reducing emissions and saving money through planet-friendly initiatives. He also wants them to realize they are in a great position to create change. 

“As professionals and leaders coming out of the MPM program, they have agency to make a difference,” John said. “There's a lot you can do, and you don't need to wait for it to be in your job description to do it.”  

Making a difference in the world can happen in many different ways.  

Take John's job, for example. At Wight & Company—an integrated architecture, engineering, and construction firm—he helped improve the sustainability of a Chicago-area crisis counseling center. The center receives people in the midst of mental health crises, providing an alternative option to overflowing emergency rooms or an overused judicial system. 

Better lighting, better air quality, and better water quality all contribute to helping patients recover and thrive, he said.  

“It really serves the community,” John said. “There is also the social dimension that keeps people out of the criminal justice system and allows them to be appropriately treated for mental health crises in the best environment possible.”  

In another instance, John helped develop a zero-energy wildlife center where injured animals can recover before being released back into the wild. 

John’s work also extends into the classroom—and not just in MPM.  

Wight & Company frequently works with schools to create more sustainable learning environments. This is another area where metrics go beyond money, he said.  

“It's not all about the dollars you can save, but rather the question is, ‘Can we improve student outcomes and can we facilitate better teaching environments?” he said. “It’s not always dollars and cents but really the value proposition.” 

John believes sharing examples from his 20-plus-year career helps students recognize that sustainability comes in many different forms—and sometimes requires non-traditional ideas. It’s a perspective he often brings to clients at Wight & Company.  

John interacts with architects, engineers, and construction teams. Because he is not the licensed go-to professional in any one specific field, he feels the freedom to propose outside-the-box solutions.  

“It keeps things interesting and keeps me on my toes,” he said. “I can come up with ideas that might not be realistic and may not be feasible, but there's more license to bring new ideas to the table.”  

That’s how he wants MPM students to see themselves when they graduate—as leaders who can shake things up, improve the built environment sector, and help the planet in ways big and small while doing so. 

“There's the business case, and there's the value case,” he said. "A lot of what we do as sustainability professionals is making the case and helping clients understand the possibilities."