Climate Week with Youth & Global Leaders Pt 1

Climate Week NYC was a whirlwind with over 600 day and evening events over the course of the week which expanded into two between pre and post week events. I’d like to highlight some of the inspiring people whom I’ve met and events from the Fridays for the Future Climate March from Manhattan to Brooklyn and at the United Nations I've attended which made it so worthwhile for me to return to New York City and be part of Climate Week.

One of the first events I attended was a pre-Climate Week event on September 18th, to which I was invited by Emilie McGlone , Executive Director of Peace Boat and Blue Planet Alliance to attend the symposium at the United Nations on “Building Inter-Generational Collaboration and Celebrating the Future with Youth and SDG Localization” organized by Miroslav Polzer and GloCha. I've known Emilie for many years through her work with Parties for Peace, a non-profit event production company she founded to promote world peace through art, music and events. Emily’s talk at the UN Pact for the Future which covered the “...environmental crises that pose the most pressing and serious threats to the sustainability of our planet and the well-being of its present and future inhabitants and have disproportionate effects on developing countries.” The UN side event at the Summit of the Future focused on engagement and empowerment for ocean and climate action for youth, in particular from Small Island Developing States (SIDS). I feel deeply about how my birth country, the Philippines is among the most vulnerable countries impacted by climate change and extreme weather so I was grateful to be in the room at the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber for the symposium and participate in the conversation. The event showcased the importance of youth in getting involved in scaling up ocean action, and their inclusion in the front lines of advocacy for the ocean and climate crises. It was inspiring to hear the intergenerational speakers discuss future developments and collaborations for empowerment and engagement of youth for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The second event I attended was with Global Society who participated in the Fridays for the Future parade, founded by youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, on September 20th. I was invited to be part of the delegation by Marc Buckley ?? whom I met in Venice, Italy at the invite-only Kinnernet conference in 2019 hosted by VC Yossi Vardi and Maurizio Rossi at H-Farm. Global Society is an organization founded by Dr. Cristoph Geisler to “unite a global civil society to negotiate relevant urgent issues.” The events Global Society were a part of included the Summit of the Future Action Days, the Summit of the Future, the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, and the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79). According to their press release the mission of Global Society includes addressing “…the reformation of institutions, the impending failure of the SDGs and other topics such as peace restoration, systems confrontation, re-naturalization and more specific topics like circular economy and child slavery. The agenda setting has been done by members of the global civil society representing all regions and sectors of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results of these talks will form the foundation for the future form of joint civil cooperation on global challenges.” I’m honored to be part of the Global Society delegation as I’m an advocate for peace, re-naturalization or “rewilding,” circular economy, and ending child slavery and child marriage.

At the Fridays for the Future march, I was inspired by the passionate indigenous and youth leaders who led the parade and voiced their advocacy to transition to clean energy for a healthier planet as they took us from Foley Square in downtown Manhattan, to crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall. It was also great to see influential leaders such as Dr. Cristoph Geisler (Global Society), Marc Buckley (ALOHAS and Global Society) and Henk Rogers (Blue Planet Alliance) have their boots on the ground and march along with the indigenous and youth leaders and help amplify their voices.

I want to express gratitude to Elliott Bayev of Transformative Impact Summit who was a catalyst for my return to NYC for Climate Week. I met Elliott in Austin in January at the Intergen Family Office conference hosted by Sofia and David Chang. After learning of Transformative's future plans and growth, they became my client and Earthlings helped Elliott and his cofounders Gloria Kimbwala and Taylor Kendal with an update of their brand identity. We developed a new logo, website and enhanced social media presence in order to magnify their work and get high profile speakers and attendees for the Transformative Impact Summit September 27-29 at the end of Climate Week. The summit focused on creating impact which is near and dear to me and featured entrepreneurs and investors in ecological, economic, social and technological transformation. I was more than happy to invite friends Andrew Yang (Forward Party), Marc Buckley (ALOHAS), Daniela Fernandez (Sustainable Oceans Alliance) and Michelle Li (Women and Climate) to be among the inspiring notable speakers.

Part 2 still to come.