Sustainable Schools

Andrew Stein
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

Andrew Stein founded the Orphaned Starfish Foundation in 2001 to help orphans, victims of abuse, survivors of trafficking, indigenous populations, refugees and at-risk youth worldwide escape their cycles of poverty and abuse through education and job training. From humble beginnings building a small computer vocational training center in an orphanage for young victims of abuse in Santiago, Chile, he has built the Foundation to now serve over 15,000 children in 68 programs in 29 countries: American Samoa, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, United States & Uruguay. Andy has partnered with local organizations in each of these countries, including Save the Children, Rotary Club, and USAID. Around the world he is known as Tio Andy or Tio Mago. Andy makes yearly visits to each Orphaned Starfish program. Mago is Spanish for Magician. He brings a magic show complete with balloon animals for all the children. (His highest amount recorded was 1,000 balloon animals in one sitting.) His visits also allow for a personal connection not only to the children but to the institutions and their directors and teachers. For his work helping the children of the favelas of Brazil, Andy was awarded an Honorary Citizenship in Rio De Janeiro by their Congress. In the United States, he has also been awarded the Jefferson Award for Community Service, the key to the city of Miami Beach, and several other state and local honors. He and the Orphaned Starfish Foundation have been featured on CBS News, Fox News, ABC News, Telemundo and Univision as well as in the Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Star Ledger, Jewish Week and US Magazine. Andy has also been a member of the Benefit Committees for Aleh Foundation, National Academy for the Arts, US Doctors for Africa, and Harlem’s Playing 2 Win Foundation. Prior to his work with Orphaned Starfish, Andy was active in Special Olympics, Rotary Club and Counterpart International. Andy Stein is also currently President and CEO of Makopastreet Partners, LLC. Makopastreet Partners provides senior debt financing for luxury and ultra-luxury hotel, and mixed-use developments, as well as infrastructure projects worldwide. In addition, Makopastreet Partners coordinates all stages of development for luxury and ultra-luxury hotel and mixed-use developments in the Americas, with a focus on the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Andy has been a featured speaker at several industry conferences worldwide and has been a guest professor on the topic of international hotel finance at Wharton for the past several years. From 1993 – 1996, Andy was based in Manila, Philippines as the Joint Head of Corporate Finance for Chase’s (formerly Chemical Bank’s) Manila Branch. During his tenure in Manila, Andy developed the Bank’s project finance and hospitality expertise in the Philippines. Andy also was instrumental in the execution of the Brady Plan bonds, which restructured the bank debt of several Latin American and Asian countries. Andy holds a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from the University of Virginia. Andy has two sons, both very much involved with Orphaned Starfish Foundation. Andy spends his time between New York City and Miami when not traveling for the Foundation.

Graham Williams, CMC, B.Com Hons, B.A. is on the Council of the International Mananagement Consultants and Master Coaches of South Africa (IMCSA), a certified management consultant and executive master coach, thought provoker, speaker and author of 9 business books who has worked in over 40 countries and many sectors around the world. He is a management contributor to 12Manage (the World's foremost management network). An essential component of his ‘motivational fingerprint’ is to overcome severe organisational blockages by installing creative, healing solutions – from concept to implementation. Special interest areas are building resilience, and embedding character virtues and sustainability practices in organisational culture. He makes use of narrative, anecdote and metaphor as critical contributors to successful business interventions. Graham comes from humble beginnings, grew up in Woodstock, Cape Town, began his academic career after marrying and while raising a family , and believes strongly in finding practical solutions to challenges. Prior to launching his own business, while with Shell, He conducted customer service studies at AT&T Universal Card, Agway, Fedex, Disney World, Duke Power, Thames Water Board, LL Bean, Pepsi, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Group, MIT. He developed the first Motorway Service Area in South Africa, the first multi-task Customer Contact Centre in the Shell Group, the first margin-management, price-elasticity system for Shell UK, and served as a member of the re-engineering team.

HIS PURPOSE IS TO CREATE THE SPACE FOR ORGANISATIONS (and their members) TO HEAL

I contribute regularly to a number of hard copy and online magazines including Culture University, Human Capital Review, Leadership and Change Magazine.

John Bunzl

John Bunzl is a global political activist and businessman. In 2000, he founded the Simultaneous Policy (Simpol) campaign, a way for citizens to use their votes to drive politicians towards global cooperation. It has supporters in over 100 countries and enjoys the support of a growing number of Members of Parliament around the world. He has authored or co-authored a number of books including Monetary Reform – Making it Happen!, People-centred Global Governance – Making it Happen!, and Global Domestic Politics. He has published numerous articles on global governance in the Journal of Integral Theory & Practice. He has lectured widely, including to The Schumacher Society, The World Trade Organisation, The Lucis Trust, and various universities.

Franziska Elmer
Research Fellow
School for Field Studies

Franziska Elmer PhD is a research fellow with School for Field Studies at the Center for Marine Resource Studies in South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands and one of the hosts and the executive producer of the Sargassum Podcast. She has spent much of her career in the Caribbean, including volunteer work and an internship at STENAPA in St. Eustatius and faculty positions at CIEE in Bonaire and SFS in South Caicos. Furthermore, she serves as treasurer for the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean and is an Island Innovation Ambassador. Her research focusses are on coral recruitment, stony coral tissue loss disease and the impact of Sargassum beaching events on ecosystems and local communities.

In 2020, Franziska gave TEDx talk in Luzern: How a Marine Biologist Became a Climate Pirate. Since January 2020, Franziska has been on a climate change sabbatical in which she volunteers for various projects working help to solve this crisis.

Speaks About

• My talk will focus on Sargassum, a macroalgae that became hyperabundant in the last 10 years due to climate change and agricultural runoff. I will focus on how this negatively affected the Caribbean and West Africa but also show how we could use this abundant algae to make all kinds of products and drawdown carbon. 
  
  
• I have been active in sustainability clubs for the last 15 years and studying and teaching environmental and marine science. Schools can be powerful changemakers and are a great place to educate about climate change across curiculums as it is ecological, technical and social problem with solutions in all these sectors.  The best way to make your school more sustainable is to form a team and get to work. A great resource to follow when you are starting is the climate action challenge book and workbook (https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/book)

• Our achievements at GCS with Sustainability and the Carbon Footprint Buster challenges.
• Our journey to achieve the ‘Bronze Award’.
• The positive involvement and response of the GCS student, staff and parent community.
• Our continued efforts inspite of covid.

At GCS we have

• Conducted grade wise assembly for the students on sustainability.
• Published the Sustainability Newsletter to the GCS community.
• Celebrated Sustainability Week.
• Conducted an elocution competition for the secondary school students on the topic ‘voice your concerns’.
• Celebrated ‘Harvest Day’ for the students.
• Conducted a poster making competition with the theme. ‘Plant a Legacy’.
• Created our own organic garden.
• Created display/notice board on sustainability.
• Appointed a student committee.
• Conducted regular meetings with the student and staff.
• Have involved the entire GCS community students, staff and parents.
• Have reviewed best possible ways of reducing electricity and water consumption.
• Collaborated with sister school to share our work on sustainability and encourage them to be a part of the same. A presentation was created to share our contribution towards sustainability by the Students Leadership Team.
• Collaborated with UNCCE for participating in various sustainability challenges.
• Interacted with teachers at GCS to include sustainability in our day to day lessons.
• Embedded sustainability topics in our lessons.

John Bunzl

John Bunzl is a global political activist and businessman. In 2000, he founded the Simultaneous Policy (Simpol) campaign, a way for citizens to use their votes to drive politicians towards global cooperation. It has supporters in over 100 countries and enjoys the support of a growing number of Members of Parliament around the world. He has authored or co-authored a number of books including Monetary Reform – Making it Happen!, People-centred Global Governance – Making it Happen!, and Global Domestic Politics. He has published numerous articles on global governance in the Journal of Integral Theory & Practice. He has lectured widely, including to The Schumacher Society, The World Trade Organisation, The Lucis Trust, and various universities.

Franziska Elmer
Research Fellow
School for Field Studies

Franziska Elmer PhD is a research fellow with School for Field Studies at the Center for Marine Resource Studies in South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands and one of the hosts and the executive producer of the Sargassum Podcast. She has spent much of her career in the Caribbean, including volunteer work and an internship at STENAPA in St. Eustatius and faculty positions at CIEE in Bonaire and SFS in South Caicos. Furthermore, she serves as treasurer for the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean and is an Island Innovation Ambassador. Her research focusses are on coral recruitment, stony coral tissue loss disease and the impact of Sargassum beaching events on ecosystems and local communities.

In 2020, Franziska gave TEDx talk in Luzern: How a Marine Biologist Became a Climate Pirate. Since January 2020, Franziska has been on a climate change sabbatical in which she volunteers for various projects working help to solve this crisis.

Speaks About

• My talk will focus on Sargassum, a macroalgae that became hyperabundant in the last 10 years due to climate change and agricultural runoff. I will focus on how this negatively affected the Caribbean and West Africa but also show how we could use this abundant algae to make all kinds of products and drawdown carbon. 
  
  
• I have been active in sustainability clubs for the last 15 years and studying and teaching environmental and marine science. Schools can be powerful changemakers and are a great place to educate about climate change across curiculums as it is ecological, technical and social problem with solutions in all these sectors.  The best way to make your school more sustainable is to form a team and get to work. A great resource to follow when you are starting is the climate action challenge book and workbook (https://www.climateactionchallenge.net/book)

• Our achievements at GCS with Sustainability and the Carbon Footprint Buster challenges.
• Our journey to achieve the ‘Bronze Award’.
• The positive involvement and response of the GCS student, staff and parent community.
• Our continued efforts inspite of covid.

At GCS we have

• Conducted grade wise assembly for the students on sustainability.
• Published the Sustainability Newsletter to the GCS community.
• Celebrated Sustainability Week.
• Conducted an elocution competition for the secondary school students on the topic ‘voice your concerns’.
• Celebrated ‘Harvest Day’ for the students.
• Conducted a poster making competition with the theme. ‘Plant a Legacy’.
• Created our own organic garden.
• Created display/notice board on sustainability.
• Appointed a student committee.
• Conducted regular meetings with the student and staff.
• Have involved the entire GCS community students, staff and parents.
• Have reviewed best possible ways of reducing electricity and water consumption.
• Collaborated with sister school to share our work on sustainability and encourage them to be a part of the same. A presentation was created to share our contribution towards sustainability by the Students Leadership Team.
• Collaborated with UNCCE for participating in various sustainability challenges.
• Interacted with teachers at GCS to include sustainability in our day to day lessons.
• Embedded sustainability topics in our lessons.