the blue zone

the host of official un negotiations, the blue zone was packed with high-level panels, press conferences, and delegation meetings. while i could not access the highest-level negotiations, i was constantly in awe of all of the government officials, reporters, and activists from around the world that surrounded me. everyone there seemed to be on a mission, representing the interests of their respective organizations and constituents. one of my most memorable encounters was attending the u.s. congressional delegation’s press conference, where both senate and house members spoke about their takeaways and action steps from the conference. since the press conference was quite small, i found myself only standing a few feet away from some of the most influential politicians in congress. after the press conference, i even sucked up the courage to talk to georgia sen. jon ossoff, who gave a powerful message on taking drastic climate action on behalf of young people. he was incredibly attentive to what i had to say, and even delivered a message to young people on my phone (that i posted on my planet forward instagram takeover).

another highlight in the blue zone was getting the chance to hear from indigenous leaders, whose voices are crucial in climate conversations. there was one speaker in particular i was overjoyed to see on the mainstage: levi sucre romero, a leader of the bribri peoples and coordinator of the mesoamerican alliance of peoples and forests. i had the chance to interview and write about levi’s work for an planet forward-hosted internship at mongabay last year, and so it was the best surprise to see levi speaking to thousands about the importance of indigenous knowledge and leadership in climate solutions.

the green zone

while the blue zone hosts high-level negotiations and world leaders, the green zone is open to the public and attracts families, students, and nonprofits alike. despite the blue zone getting the majority of media attention, the green zone was still packed with fascinating events and exhibitions. in the green zone, i attended panels on indigenous environmental art and storytelling, watched an imax film that took viewers into space, and even experienced climate films through a virtual reality simulation. to me, the green zone was equally as enriching as the blue zone. while no official climate negotiations took place there, the green zone’s programming still plays a key role in enriching the public and nonprofessionals on important environmental conservations and making climate action more widely accessible.
 

the streets

outside of the official blue and green zones, there was also so much energy and chaos taking place just on the streets. protesters lined glasgow’s city square and streets all weekend, with famous climate activists such as greta thunberg and vanessa nakate delivering speeches at rallies. the train and bus lines in glasgow were even packed with protesters from around the world eagerly holding up posters and signs. there is an unmatchable energy at protests that make the climate movement feel so powerful and unifying, and to participate in these protests right outside the cop26 doors was truly unforgettable. 

the need for more collaboration

experiencing cop26’s blue zone, green zone, and outside protests provided me a holistic perspective on cop26 and the different stakeholders involved. with so many interests at play, it becomes so difficult to reconcile the needs of all stakeholders at large-scale climate discussions. while switching between different zones, i noticed that diplomatic, high-level climate negotiations in the blue zone could not have felt more different than the passionate, fiery protests on the streets. in a similar sense, representatives from global south and indigenous communities feel a far greater urgency for climate action than those from western nations, especially seeing more drastic effects of climate change firsthand that threaten their livelihoods. there is also a disconnect between younger and older generations, as young people oftentimes are most concerned about climate change since they inherently will have to deal with its impacts most in their lifetime. 

as a result, various stakeholders tend to work on climate issues in isolated spaces, perpetuating environmental echo chambers. however, what the climate crisis needs most is more cross-cultural and cross-sectoral collaboration, since climate change impacts us all. attending cop26 amplified this disconnect to me, and thus i want to be a builder of bridges and help foster more collaborations among the various stakeholders working on the climate crisis. and i am certain that truthful, innovative storytelling plays a key role in this.

young sustainable impact is an oslo-based youth innovation program with a mission to empower youths to solve the sustainability challenges by creating measurable impact. norway itself is the cradle of sustainable policy-making, ranking number one in the world for initiatives like tax-free electric vehicles.

but even here the young are sick of greenwashing. “we’ve heard a lot of talking from businessmen and politicians—but where’s the action?” asks marcus bruns, 26, chief executive officer of ysi. and thus, ysi was born with a simple phrase: makers gonna make.

“our starting point was to see what would happen if you brought together the smartest young minds of our time to tackle the sustainability challenges,” says bruns.

when a friend told me that ysi was “run by a bunch of 20-year-olds in norway,” i was sold.

i joined 20 other talented youth in ysi’s third batch. in teams of three, we worked together in a five-month online innovation program culminating with a two-week conference in oslo in august 2018 to pitch our start-ups. some of the innovations included smart toilet sensors, vegan kombucha leather, and even an uber-like trash pickup service.

4 things to learn from 20-year olds

after being part of the third cohort and witnessing how ysi is reinventing innovation for the future, i have four main takeaways for how we can innovate and reclaim the reigns of sustainability:

1. crack ageism in entrepreneurship

according to ysi innovation director didrik strohm: “statistically, the best and most successful start-up founders are between the ages of 45 and 47.”

that’s why we need experienced entrepreneurs to collaborate with youths and share their experiences to reduce a dismal nine out of 10 startup failure rate. but in my experience, a mentor or founder will usually ask a young person questions about their start-up as a lead-in to a pre-packaged lecture, not to construct a dialogue.

since the younger generation gets branded as naïve and idealistic by seasoned experts in an industry, ysi advocates for an equal setting for all ages to work together. a mentor might walk into a meeting expecting to give advice for digital marketing, and leave having learned about a simple but elegant billboard bed campaign in pakistan from a participant.

strohm adds: “they [experts] know everything inside that field, but more often than not, those people don’t change systems. they keep grinding along the same path, which is why we need both old and young together.”

2. capitalise on collaboration, not competition

rather than emulating the cutthroat environment of silicon valley, where intellectual property must be guarded under legal writ, ysi is capitalising on collaboration.

the sustainability issues that each team is working on has little risk of being crowded out. two waste management projects will find more than enough trash to go around in the developing world. and it may take more than one start-up to disrupt the $100 billion leather industry. when team 7 unexpectedly sold 4,000 t-shirts made from recycled plastic bottles in less than a week, fintech expert louis wouters from team 1 was more than happy to sit with them and help write up their financials.

participant usama tauqeer from pakistan affirms: “there are start-ups that go in to win competitions, and there are start-ups that go on for the long-term and then monetise. i prefer to be the latter.”

our task as the last generation with a shrinking window for action on climate change is not to save the world, but to build the things we really need for a thriving, sustainable planet.

3. flip power asymmetries

the majority of ysi participants have never pitched in front of high-level investors to acquire seed funding. getting people twice your age to buy into somewhat crazy, futuristic concepts is a daunting task. and without investor money, it can seem like those dreams will never take off.

but what strohm advises is to flip the power asymmetry if need be. we approached investors not as streams of cash flow, but as partners taking equity in our companies. start-ups could frame the ask to an investor as:

“this is something i’m going to do anyway, and we need to find out; are we the right fit for each other?”

by doing that, the 20-year old participant is protecting his or her status and the importance of the proposition, and should also be ready to walk out of the room if that goes south.

but start-ups needs to know their audience to play hardball. a tactic like this, which might work in norway or the us, might not work in japan.

4. the market may be your best teacher

despite the science of innovation that we may read dozens of books on, or hear countless ted talks about, the market is ultimately the best teacher for what solutions work. ysi advocates breakthrough innovation, and yet the least innovative start-up this year got the most traction. a team making mixed fiber and plastic t-shirts broke us$60,000 in revenue during the two weeks in oslo. companies like patagonia have been making such products since 1993, and the team still faces criticism that they are contributing to one of the most polluting industries in the world—fashion.

the most successful product is the most easily understood. t-shirts are simple to wear, sell, and advertise. rolling out a brand-new platform or patenting an invention may take more time to gain traction. finding this this sweet spot for innovation means combining simplicity with market need.

systemic changes are difficult to build a product out of, and harder still to sell. a practical lesson is breaking away from the idealism we strive for in silver-bullet solutions, and making impactful products people will use.

our task as the last generation with a shrinking window for action on climate change is not to save the world, but to build the things we really need for a thriving, sustainable planet.

visit the ysi global website and follow these teams’ development into full-fledged start-ups in the months to come. 

—

this story was originally published on eco-business and reproduced with permission.

our environmental club decided to sell reusable water bottles with our school symbol on them along with a quote by chief seattle, saying, “the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.” our goal in doing this was to appeal to people’s school spirit, provide a short quote that might inspire people to question their assumptions have about how we should treat the earth, and entice people to stop throwing away so many water bottles by providing them with a reusable bottle.

we took the project a step further by using the profits from our water bottle sales to install a water-bottle refilling station on one of the school water fountains, which made it easier for people to refill—and therefore reuse—their water bottles. fortuitously, our project ended up dovetailing with a local hospital project, which was trying to reduce how much soda people were consuming. the hospital helped provide the funds to install more refilling stations in the school in order to encourage people to drink water instead of soda.

ultimately, two groups with completely different end goals—reducing waste and reducing sugar intake—were able to use identical means to reach their goals. my takeaway from this experience was that finding unlikely people or corporations to collaborate with can be very valuable, and the final objectives of the two partners don’t have to be the same in order to make great changes together.

in what other circumstances might we be able to unite in collective action to achieve a variety of goals? 

pals is a group of peer colleges of art and design that are working together to share and leverage resources.
this dynamic group of faculty, deans and provosts have made a five year commitment to integrate sustainability throughout our academic programs.

vote now to help this idea win!

create a national advertising campaign to convince americans that energy conservation is not only good for their pocketbook it is good for the environment.not only will they be putting real dollars in their pocket they will be providing jobs for possible themselves and or their neighbors. the campaign will use the most popular mediums. the spoke person will be the most popular of the green activist the brad pitts , ed begley jr and tom hanks as well as the others, proponents of alternative energy and environment responsibility . the campaign would start off low key at first but would morph into a more informative approach using america’s premier corporation that are utilizing the newer greener technologies, these corporate leader would extol these new technologies as well as explain how they are making there bottom line look very much blacker in spite of the soft economy.

the second leg of this three legged stool would be the concert series , much like the 70s farm aid concert which brought to light the plight of the america farmer. the young people interested in a concert featuring top notch performers , many of which are very interested in global warming,the environment and alternative energy technologies. these would be the same people interested in the jobs these technologies would create. the series would culminate in washington dc. with the dedication of the solar electric array installed on the white house. the pr benefit for the administration would be enormous to say the least.

the third leg and not the least would be the government endorsement and the energy secretary dr stephen chu offering sponsorship and encouragement. the financial giapressure on the legislative branch would have a very positive effect and hopeful bring results in the form of some very meaning legislation. nts of american business such as warren buffet , bill gates would be offering to underwrite some,of the campaign while other luminaries would also add their endorsement.

funding for the project would come from many sources

• pro-bono gifts of celebrities’ time to create meaningful ads
  

• sponsorship by corporate america ,having their names in the public eye as they explain their involvement and subsequent benefit by going green
  

• financial luminaries gifting through their philanthropic organization

• fines levied from the bp gulf oil spill

• us government ad dollars or possible the stimulus package money

just recently bill gates gave a speech on ted which looked and sounded like it would fit easily into this program. he was looking for new way to promote energy efficiency and environmental concerns.

the american people are quite frustrated with the speed of the recovery and the lack of progress on any meaningful energy legislation, this could give a boost to the morale of the american wishing for a new agenda toward energy independence and environmental responsibility .

coming from the private sector this could have a positive affect on the psyche of america. i believe if such a campaign went forward is would have a world wide benefits as well giving america a leg up on many of the other countries doing there own alternative energy promotion. if the rest of the world is looking to the us for
leadership in the area of alternative energy technologies this program might be just the ticket. countries like china with its exponential growth in people and energy consumption would see that america was seriously committed to energy conservation and innovation in the areas of energy production and environment constraints.

this could be a definitive demonstration of america’s commitment to solving our energy and environmental problems. american needs a new approach, a new energy toward these issues and though bold in scope is not without precedent in our history.