Business Ethics and Sustainability

Program Locations

The Bahamas: Nassau, Central Andros and South Andros

Program Highlights

Some academic highlights:

• Discussion with Tarran Simms, who develops conservation and sustainability programs at the BahaMar and who teaches sustainability at the University of The Bahamas. He previously worked for the sustainable tourism unit of The Bahamas’ government. He will eat with us at our opening dinner at Blue Sail Restaurant.
• Discussion with Sumayyah Cargill, who allocates national grant funding for The Bahamas Development Bank (The Bahamas’ national bank). She will meet with us in our suite at Sandy Port Beach Resort.
• Tour the underground of Atlantis (the aquarium-themed resort, waterpark, and casino) with Keisha Russell, who is one of the leaders of their Blue Project and who is in charge of animal husbandry at Atlantis. We see and discuss Atlantis’ coral regrowth, animal conservation, and mangrove replenishment efforts on this tour.
• Discussion with Peter Douglas, the Director of Tourism and mayor of Central Andros for 30 years. He's responsible for the creation of The Bahamas’ national parks on the west side of Andros island. We’ll be staying at his house and adjoining house boat, which he calls Sunset Point, with him, his wife Gabrielle, and their dog.
• Discussion with Jesse Leopold, founder of the South Andros Nature Discovery Institute, which aims to promote sustainability and environmental awareness. We will also be staying on his property: Andros Beach Club (the one that was rated the #1 resort in The Bahamas by TripAdvisor) with him and his two kids.
• Tour of Small Hope Bay Lodge, a sustainable barefoot resort in Central Andros. It’s the first diving lodge in The Bahamas and the oldest lodge in Central Andros.
• Tour of Androsia, a sustainable batik shop that makes clothing that has come to symbolize The Bahamas. We’ll learn how to make t-shirts and bags there, and we’ll each make one ourselves to take home.
• A Beach Cleanup of Kemps Bay Beach, examining what we find, where it came from, and how long it took to clean. We’ll discuss what The Bahamas could do to prevent this trash from making its way on to the beach.
• Tour of Caerula Mar Resort, or “Renovation Island” as it is called on HGTV, a luxury barefoot resort in South Andros. We’ll meet the managers and can ask questions about the main issues with running a luxury resort in such a sparsely populated location.
• Optional: Scuba dive into a blue hole to see a coral nursery up close.
• We have evening discussions about the feasibility and effectiveness of these efforts, and we debate what The Bahamas can do about further problems and issues The Bahamas is facing.

Some additional fun highlights:

• Spend time playing at the Atlantis waterpark. Tickets and a cabana are included in the course fee.
• Spend time in downtown Nassau, where cruise ships dock. There, you can visit the straw market, a mostly unregulated market in downtown Nassau.
• Snorkel through one of the largest barrier reefs in the world in Central and South Andros
• Visit beautiful, secluded beaches untouched by commercial activity
• Swim in oceanic and inland blue holes
• Learn how to bonefish (Bonefishing is fly fishing on flat beaches - a difficult but relaxing activity that executives from well-known companies do to relax). Local South Androsians will teach us how to do it and lead us on a hunt for bonefish.
• Catch land crabs by hand. People who live in South Andros will teach us how, and we will have them cooked for us just how South Androsians like it.
• Learn how to open and eat out of a coconut
• Feed wild iguanas by hand
• Explore caves—Captain Morgan’s home/hideout and a bat cave
• Travel in small planes across the ocean
• Travel by boat through beautiful, turquoise waters next to small, untouched cays
• Experience a much different way of life than you’re used to
• Explore the local cuisine made for us by local cooks
• Optional: sunrise kayak trip
• Optional: scuba dive into an oceanic blue hole

Faculty Leaders

Dr. Chris Tweedt, Philosophy Professor, CNU, chris.tweedt@cnu.edu

Dr. Brandon Warmke, Philosophy Professor, University of Florida, bdwarmke@gmail.com

Study Abroad Office: (757) 594-8083 or studyabroad@cnu.edu

Course Description

This course is a multi-faceted real-life case study that allows students to experience the effects of business and government initiatives on various stakeholder groups with a particular focus on the effects that pertain to sustainability—environmental sustainability, sustainable ways of life, and commercial sustainability. Before engaging in the case study, students will learn frameworks for evaluating the morality of sustainability-related efforts, and students will become familiar with the backgrounds and efforts of the Bahamian government and the various other businesses and groups with which we will meet.

During the trip, students will meet with representatives of stakeholder groups at various levels, including government officials in populated islands (New Providence, the highest-populated island, pop. 250,000, and the hub of Bahamian commercial activity) and rural islands (Central Andros, an emerging commercial island, pop. 9,000, and South Andros, a rural, recondite island with limited commercial activity, pop. 400). In addition, students will meet with and interview managers and business owners responsible for sustainability efforts, who will show us the results of their initiatives, explain why they are engaging in those efforts, and discuss their successes and failures. These managers and owners include those spearheading the Blue Project at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau, those leading the Bahamian Agricultural and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) in Central Andros, owners of Small Hope Bay Lodge (an environmentally sustainable resort) in Central Andros, owners of Caerula Mar Club (an upscale, foreign-owned resort) in South Andros, fishing guides in South Andros, and various other business owners and residents on each island. On each island, students will engage in the top-grossing commercial activity on those particular islands, explore the effects of those activities on other groups on the island, and both experience and discuss with various stakeholders what those stakeholders are doing to ensure sustainability across the Bahamas.