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Message from Our Chief Mentor
Two important issues need mention in this newsletter. The first is the partnership that the POP Movement has forged with the World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF). The first event incorporating this partnership was held in Mexico City on February 1 and 2, 2018. The WSDF is an organization established essentially to provide a platform and a source of knowledge and motivation for implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The partnership of the POP Movement with this body provides a unique opportunity to bring the voices and concerns of the youth into deliberations involving leaders from politics, business, research, and academia as well as civil society. The WSDF in Mexico City was a high-level event bringing together diverse leadership from different countries and all stakeholder groups in an intensive 2-day exercise which addressed all the major issues connected with sustainable development. The highlight of the Mexico City gathering was the deliberate inclusion of students and young people as participants and speakers, particularly in a session entitled “The Impending Youthquake”. It has been decided that WSDF would hold its major flagship event annually in Mexico City, and it is hoped that some of the brightest and most committed young people from all over the world would provide strength to this platform, and ensure that action follows the intellectual discourse in Mexico City. The second important issue to bear in mind arises out of the tragic happenings in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students lost their lives through the act of a deranged individual and laxity of gun legislation in the US. In the wake of this terrible tragedy the entire school community in Florida and elsewhere has raised its voice demanding action to ensure safety from a repeat of such incidents in the future. Perhaps this sad development provides a lesson for all on how collective action by youth can get national and international attention and force decision makers to take the right steps. Can we possibly hope that in the case of climate change we get a similar resolve for collective action without necessarily suffering the negative consequences from the impacts of climate change? Dr. R. K. Pachauri Chief Mentor |
Students of Chemistry Lead the POP Movement at UNAM
Credit: Chemistry Faculty, UNAM
Students of the School of Chemistry at UNAM, Mexico take the lead in implementing the POP Movement in their School and in the university as a whole. Their activities and efforts were acknowledged by the university in a recent article published in its environmental magazine.
Workshop in Mumbai
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Heeta Lakhani, Youth Mentor of the POP Movement and Anushree Lokhande, founder of Evolving Together conducted a "Becoming Green Warriors" workshop at St. Anne's High School, Mumbai on January 12, 2018.
Participants consisted of about 200 students from grades 8 and 9. The students were enthusiastic about learning and participating in the workshop. They demonstrated through creative means -- such as short skits, poster message, and poems -- how they can reduce their negative impacts on the planet. The workshop concluded with the students making a pledge to increase awareness on the impacts of their actions on the environment and responsibility towards use of resources. |
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The World Sustainable Development Forum in Mexico, 2018
The World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF) was held in Mexico City on February 1 & 2, 2018.
The Forum had approximately 200 participants who took part strictly by invitation. Former heads of state/heads of government were invited to share their knowledge, experience, and perspectives. Outstanding intellectuals, representatives of business organizations, and civil society were an important part of this initiative.
World Icon on Sustainability Endeavors (WISE) awards were given to three outstanding leaders including Dr. Salomon Chertorivski, former Secretary in the Government of Mexico City for his various achievements and notable contribution to developing a plan for Mexico City’s clean energy future; Dr. Hector Mayagoitia for having shown exemplary leadership in building up a range of institutions and organizations which have contributed knowledge on sustainable development; Mr. Trammell S. Crow, who has been a remarkable business leader and pioneered the largest gathering of persons and diverse activities as part of Earth Day annually in Dallas, Texas.
The highlights of a few sessions held at the WSDF, 2018 are outlined below.
The Forum had approximately 200 participants who took part strictly by invitation. Former heads of state/heads of government were invited to share their knowledge, experience, and perspectives. Outstanding intellectuals, representatives of business organizations, and civil society were an important part of this initiative.
World Icon on Sustainability Endeavors (WISE) awards were given to three outstanding leaders including Dr. Salomon Chertorivski, former Secretary in the Government of Mexico City for his various achievements and notable contribution to developing a plan for Mexico City’s clean energy future; Dr. Hector Mayagoitia for having shown exemplary leadership in building up a range of institutions and organizations which have contributed knowledge on sustainable development; Mr. Trammell S. Crow, who has been a remarkable business leader and pioneered the largest gathering of persons and diverse activities as part of Earth Day annually in Dallas, Texas.
The highlights of a few sessions held at the WSDF, 2018 are outlined below.
Implementing the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals
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“Achieving the 1.5 degree or less is important for protecting biodiversity”, says Thomas Lovejoy, Senior Fellow from the United Nations Foundation. “Therefore, the current agenda should focus on two issues: (i) avoiding the destruction of ecosystems and restoring ecosystems which have been damaged; (ii) achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by integrating them.”
Dr. Jose Sarukhan, National Coordinator of the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO) emphasized the role of biodiversity as being as important as climate change. “Mexico is a megadiverse country and has created mechanisms to protect it, such as CONABIO which is a public resource of information and knowledge on biodiversity and joins the government, academia, and society, the three elements needed to protect biodiversity. Despite this, the world is still losing as the rates of destruction are speeding up. There is already an example of what happens when biodiversity disappears on an island - Haiti has lost its biodiversity; Dominican Republic hasn’t. When Haiti is struck by a disaster it struggles to cope.” Finally Dr. R. K Pachauri President of the WSDF presented some startling findings and future projections from the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report. He said “since 1950 there has been a sharp increase in temperature. It is extremely likely (95% probability) this is due to human actions. Oceans will continue to warm, mean sea level will continue to rise (this could reach 98cm), glacier volume will decrease, Arctic Sea ice will continue to decrease. By 2050 the Arctic will have no ice, if we do not do anything. Wide scale food and water shortages, increased displacement of people, increased poverty, coastal flooding (Bangladesh, Georgetown in Guyana, small islands states) will take place.” Therefore, to limit temperature increase to 2 degrees we need; (i) a global GHG emissions reductions of 40-70% in 2050 compared to 2010, (ii) net negative or zero emissions in 2100; (iii) global emissions to curb within the next five to 15 years. The following mitigation measures are needed: (i) more efficient use of energy; (ii) greater use of low-carbon and no-carbon energy, which can bring reductions in CO2 emissions by 90% between 2040 and 2070 over 2010 levels. |
Thomas Lovejoy, Senior Fellow from the United Nations Foundation
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The Impending Youthquake
The Oxford dictionaries have named “youthquake” as the 2017 Word of the Year. In the context of sustainable development, youthquake assumes special significance because the negative impacts of unsustainable development would be born predominantly by the youth of today. This session heard some youth voices on how educational institutions and youth groups could be transformed to reach desired levels of sustainability across the globe.
The POP teams from Germany (led by Ms. Alina Bruder) and Mexico (led by Mr. Aldo Azpeitia Maya) shared their experiences and challenges faced in implementing the POP Movement in their respective geographies. Ms. Bruder spoke about the different ways in which the POP team is reducing the carbon footprint of their school. Even with limited time and resources, Ms. Bruder and her team have managed to spearhead activities such as reduction in paper use, energy saving in the classroom, reduction in the use of napkins and installation of a water dispenser, among various others. Similarly, in Mexico, Mr. Aldo and his team from the School of Chemistry at UNAM have implemented the POP Movement within the university. Mr. Aldo described their journey of evaluating the carbon footprint and devising ways such as the implementation of reusable plastic cylinders to reduce their footprint. With the support of their faculty and the enthusiasm of UNAM’s students, the team has managed to involve more than 150 students in the initial phase of the Movement.
Mr. Felix Finkbeiner, Founder of Plant for the Planet, Germany made an impressive presentation on how at the age of 9, inspired by a school project, he started planting trees to avert a climate crisis. Today, his organization led by its Climate Justice Ambassadors have planted more than 15 million trees across the World. In order to raise funds, the children also opened a chocolate company in Germany and Vienna; with every five chocolates sold they are able to gather money to raise one tree.
Ms. Yara Hijazi, an educator for Sustainable Development, shared her experience of the regional energy program implemented in Morocco to convert waste into energy. Mr. Hicham Mzouri, an Engineering and Material Science student stressed the importance of developing green buildings to help reduce 53% of greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Mohamad Alsughiar, a mechanical engineering graduate from Jordan put forth a proposal to meet the high energy demand in his country through solar panels which would create a savings of 56 million dollars, which would be the salary of about 7000 teachers in Jordan. Cesar Augusto Diaz Olin termed climate change as an opportunity to change the current model of economic development, while emphasizing the crucial role of young people in being proactively involved with policy and the politics of climate change, in order to avoid a precarious life full of violence and degraded environment.
In conclusion, the Chairs of the Impending Youthquake session, Dr. Badre Abdeslam, Professor Mohammed V University, Morocco and Dr. Ash Pachauri, Senior Mentor, POP Movement urged young people on the panel (and within the audience) to share their vision for and commitment to youth-led action on climate change.
The POP teams from Germany (led by Ms. Alina Bruder) and Mexico (led by Mr. Aldo Azpeitia Maya) shared their experiences and challenges faced in implementing the POP Movement in their respective geographies. Ms. Bruder spoke about the different ways in which the POP team is reducing the carbon footprint of their school. Even with limited time and resources, Ms. Bruder and her team have managed to spearhead activities such as reduction in paper use, energy saving in the classroom, reduction in the use of napkins and installation of a water dispenser, among various others. Similarly, in Mexico, Mr. Aldo and his team from the School of Chemistry at UNAM have implemented the POP Movement within the university. Mr. Aldo described their journey of evaluating the carbon footprint and devising ways such as the implementation of reusable plastic cylinders to reduce their footprint. With the support of their faculty and the enthusiasm of UNAM’s students, the team has managed to involve more than 150 students in the initial phase of the Movement.
Mr. Felix Finkbeiner, Founder of Plant for the Planet, Germany made an impressive presentation on how at the age of 9, inspired by a school project, he started planting trees to avert a climate crisis. Today, his organization led by its Climate Justice Ambassadors have planted more than 15 million trees across the World. In order to raise funds, the children also opened a chocolate company in Germany and Vienna; with every five chocolates sold they are able to gather money to raise one tree.
Ms. Yara Hijazi, an educator for Sustainable Development, shared her experience of the regional energy program implemented in Morocco to convert waste into energy. Mr. Hicham Mzouri, an Engineering and Material Science student stressed the importance of developing green buildings to help reduce 53% of greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Mohamad Alsughiar, a mechanical engineering graduate from Jordan put forth a proposal to meet the high energy demand in his country through solar panels which would create a savings of 56 million dollars, which would be the salary of about 7000 teachers in Jordan. Cesar Augusto Diaz Olin termed climate change as an opportunity to change the current model of economic development, while emphasizing the crucial role of young people in being proactively involved with policy and the politics of climate change, in order to avoid a precarious life full of violence and degraded environment.
In conclusion, the Chairs of the Impending Youthquake session, Dr. Badre Abdeslam, Professor Mohammed V University, Morocco and Dr. Ash Pachauri, Senior Mentor, POP Movement urged young people on the panel (and within the audience) to share their vision for and commitment to youth-led action on climate change.
The Leadership Challenge
In democratic societies where terms of office are limited, it is truly difficult for national leaders to focus on longer term issues and challenges at what might seem to be at the cost of short-term objectives. It is a dilemma for leaders at all levels to convince their people about the importance of keeping long term goals in focus while of course meeting the needs of the electorate during typically short terms of office. The leaders speaking in this session focused on the new challenge of communicating and informing the people of the benefits of tackling simultaneously, short-term as well as long-term challenges. In other words, ways in which the public understands how short term actions can telescope into longer term initiatives.
An eminent list of leaders were part of this engaging session: the Honorable Brian Baird Ph.D, Member of U.S. House of Representatives, Retired; H.E. Mr. José Manuel Barroso, Former President of European Commission; H.E. Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, Former Prime Minister of Malta (2004-2021); H.E. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, Former Prime Minister of Japan; and H.E. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Former President of Guyana.
The panel underscored several issues some of which are described below.
Under the Trump presidency, it seems that leadership has taken a step backwards. In this sense we need to look for new leadership, and it needs to come from the global community.
The issue of leadership must be addressed with politicians. Politicians are expected to make decisions that are not always popular. This happens mainly because science and politics are, regretfully, not in sync: politics and politicians are faced with short term programs and actions (because of elections). Hence the challenge of leadership is based in the idea to make people realize that climate change is a problem.
However, the perceived distance with the problem makes the issue less urgent for some people. Also, it is not an issue at the top of the list. We need to change and focus conversations on the opportunities of climate change – that is, green energy provides jobs, better health. If we frame this issue in this manner we could have a lot more support from the electorate.
Trade-offs are necessary in politics, they are unavoidable: Education and security are key issues over climate change. Hence, we need to take decisions, and this is where financial support from developed countries becomes fundamental to provide mitigation and adaptation strategies. Policy measures should be determined in the local and national contexts, not based on the international or market driven approaches. However, we need to produce solutions that take into account all the possible solutions and sources.
Finally, awareness is a necessary condition for effective climate change strategies and leadership. Local populations need to be aware in order to produce adequate climate strategies, if not there is no real change or incentive to modify behavior and create effective solutions. This process also produces common sense in the population (i.e., climate change is a problem and it needs to be addressed), that is key in order to produce climate leadership.
An eminent list of leaders were part of this engaging session: the Honorable Brian Baird Ph.D, Member of U.S. House of Representatives, Retired; H.E. Mr. José Manuel Barroso, Former President of European Commission; H.E. Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, Former Prime Minister of Malta (2004-2021); H.E. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, Former Prime Minister of Japan; and H.E. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Former President of Guyana.
The panel underscored several issues some of which are described below.
Under the Trump presidency, it seems that leadership has taken a step backwards. In this sense we need to look for new leadership, and it needs to come from the global community.
The issue of leadership must be addressed with politicians. Politicians are expected to make decisions that are not always popular. This happens mainly because science and politics are, regretfully, not in sync: politics and politicians are faced with short term programs and actions (because of elections). Hence the challenge of leadership is based in the idea to make people realize that climate change is a problem.
However, the perceived distance with the problem makes the issue less urgent for some people. Also, it is not an issue at the top of the list. We need to change and focus conversations on the opportunities of climate change – that is, green energy provides jobs, better health. If we frame this issue in this manner we could have a lot more support from the electorate.
Trade-offs are necessary in politics, they are unavoidable: Education and security are key issues over climate change. Hence, we need to take decisions, and this is where financial support from developed countries becomes fundamental to provide mitigation and adaptation strategies. Policy measures should be determined in the local and national contexts, not based on the international or market driven approaches. However, we need to produce solutions that take into account all the possible solutions and sources.
Finally, awareness is a necessary condition for effective climate change strategies and leadership. Local populations need to be aware in order to produce adequate climate strategies, if not there is no real change or incentive to modify behavior and create effective solutions. This process also produces common sense in the population (i.e., climate change is a problem and it needs to be addressed), that is key in order to produce climate leadership.
POP Movement on An Interactive Map
Click the markers on the map to glance at the POP Movement's activities in different parts of the world