Sustainable Schools

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)

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.

I am Erfan Firouzi and I am 16. I have always loved the natural world, and so started researching scientifically on animals and plants within the past 6 years or so.

Within the past 6 years of my research I have been to different habitats that provided a home for different Creatures from insects, all the way to the humpback whales. Within the last few years I have also been creating videos, podcasts and online classes in order to help spread an awareness about our living planet, while at the same time using my animal and plant specimens to create an awareness to children and adults across the globe.”

I was at first inspired by Sir David Attenborough and till today he is my role model, As Sir David Attenborough says: "An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment." I believe that until people understand how the natural works, they won’t pay time or care about it. We need to understand, to care and care, to save.

 Despite learning many, many new things, I also learned that the natural world is dramatically fragile, yet if given the chance and care it can recover beyond or imagination, and since then I have been working extra hard, by creating documentaries about the natural world, organizing online classes, participating in Environmental campaigns and also spreading much more awareness in the younger generations by getting them closer to the natural world with the help of my preserved zoology and botany specimens.

 It has also been a great opportunity to be able to be a part of the top 100 wildlife blogger crowds in the world, who are making the world a better place and also participating in the ECO heroes award, and a more immense opportunity to be able to contact different natural agencies in the UAE (environmental Abu Dhabi, Nautica Environmental Assoc.) and also being able to join in the sustainable schools UAE zoom meetings and also being able to hear and speak to sir Robert Swan in a meeting.

 I have also been sharing my passion for wildlife and the natural history, In science events like GIC in gems modern academy and I have also been organizing my own nature events one of which is my new group documentary called Earth Our Living Planet and also a group that I recently organized called nature ambassadors.

I truly love and admire Sir David Attenborough, he is my role model and the person who inspired me to become a young naturalist, researcher, conservationist and to spread awareness about our beautiful natural environments.”

“Our living planet is truly a very unique place, it provides with our daily needs and supports during hard times. I t is now the time that we support our planet and its unique biodiversity.”
and I want to be Sir David Attenborugh one day, a successful scientist, environmentalist, conservationist and naturalist

Alexis Eyre
Sustainable Marketing Consultant
Green Eyre

Certified sustainable marketing consultant specialising in strategy, purpose, events and partnerships. I have marketing experience in all three sides of the triangle – media owner, client and agency side.

Having worked across a number of industries, the global marine industry is where I have spent most of my time.

My mission is to help companies produce impactful marketing without the big footprint.

Speaks About

• Everything a school does and says externally, internally and in all the educational material needs to depict a sustainable lifestyle if we are going to move forwards.
  
  
• Sustainability needs to be normalised. It needs to be made not only acceptable but aspirational. Every image, every word said, every word read needs to be re considered if we are going to have the maximum effect. 
  
  
• Schools can be enormous change makers. People attend school to learn and absorb information. Let's make sure it is the right information.

Kenneth Kwok​
Founder and CEO of Global Citizen Capital

Mr. Kenneth Kwok is the Founder and CEO of Global Citizen Capital, an impact-oriented multi-family office venture based out of Hong Kong focused on healthcare, technology, renewables and education. He is also a serial entrepreneur, co-founding the MXA Group and Family Mask (for-profit), and Better Together Foundation, Asia World Anti-Aging and Well-Being Association, and KIDsforSDGs (non-profit).

Kenneth has worked 15 years in the finance industry, serving as the CIO to a large Chinese listed conglomerate as well as a financial professional at UBS AG and Deutsche Bank in the investment banking and equities divisions. He has a cum laude dual degree from University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School of Business, speaks fluent English, Mandarin, Cantonese and conversational French. He has lived in Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Tokyo, Vancouver, Philadelphia, New York and London.

He is passionate about social impact work through his Better Together Foundation, which supports minority communities and youth entrepreneurship related initiatives across Asia, and about health and well-being through his Co-President role at Asia World Anti-Aging and Well-Being Association ("AWAWA"). He is deeply passionate about the United Nations and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and is a United Nations Global Compact member, a UNDP Accelerator Labs mentor, a Youth Councilor at World Humanitarian Forum, a World Economic Forum member in Global Innovators and UpLink communities, as well as UPenn Class Board Member.

Speaks About

• We are in the Decade of Action, and the time is now. Collectively, KIDsforSDGs have launched a series of in-person and online workshops on how to transform society through learning with Education and Innovation for Sustainable Development in Asia. Our ongoing for-profit and non-profit work, focused on experience-based learning, with schools, other educational organizations and youth communities in the region have been recognized by the UN SDG Action Campaign.
  
  
• The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tragic impact on human life around the world: killing hundreds of thousands of people, causing global economic decline and school closures in over 180 countries. It has challenged the structures of our societies and our ways of life. This disruption also presents a historic chance to redesign our societies and reroute from the current path. Adding on systemic inequalities which have prevented the fair and equitable distribution of educational resources to all, this issue is exponentially compounded for the marginalized communities.
  
  
• We as a community have to call upon both public and private sector to “build back better”, and change education to meet the climate emergency through the SDGs and the Agenda 2030. We should reassess what we learn, where we learn and how we learn to ensure we develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that enable us to make informed decisions and actions on global problems such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 crisis. This is done through Impact = Innovation x Inclusion principle of KIDsforSDGs, by open-sourcing technology generously contributed by Fortune 500 companies and start-ups alike, and making them available, accessible and affordable to all.

My name is Sania Anand and I am currently 15 years old. I have grown up in the city of Mumbai, watching it rapidly transform into a concrete jungle. Living in this industrialized city in a developing nation, I have heard of numerous floods, heatwaves, droughts and pollution that have robbed thousands of their lives and livelihood. My curious nature drove me to investigate the cause of these disasters and further developed my understanding of global climate change. I was shocked to learn that despite knowing the consequences of their actions, businesses continue to exploit natural resources, release pollutants and destroy the environment in the name of economic growth. Understanding that my actions, driven by the theory of consumerism might be responsible for the hardships others are facing conflicted with my values and I knew that something had to be done.

From personal experience, I know the importance of instilling the values of preserving our earth in children and providing them with accurate information to empower them to spark change. We as children have the advantage of viewing the world in a different light and have a vision that isn’t blurred by corruption and greed. All we need is the opportunity to access information, share our ideas and most importantly, teachers who are aware of effects the current climate crisis is going to have on our way of life and hope that we will be able to combat it.

In the time I have interacted with my classmates and people in my community on the topic of sustainability and individual action, I have found that most people are simply not aware of the negative effects global climate change is having on our health and daily lives. I have also discovered that by providing individuals with information and encouraging the small actions they take to lead sustainable lives, we can help mould them into activists, with innovative solutions, advocating for change.

As many say, children are the future of our planet and by empowering them with knowledge, training and opportunities, we might be able to achieve the seemingly, elusive dream, of a sustainable and equitable future.

In my speech I mention the power of choice we as privileged individuals and consumers have. We have the ability to pressurize the private sector to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and change their production and packaging methods.

It is vital that we realize that no one is too young to influence change and that the first step towards a more sustainable future is harnessing the power of education and the power of choice.

Anna Turns is a journalist specialising in sustainability with 20 years’ experience working in the media and an Oxford University degree in biology. She writes regularly for publications such as Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Positive News, Resurgence and Coast. Anna’s work falls into the realms of constructive journalism – she focuses on progress, innovation and solutions, often highlighting untold stories about changemakers from around the world in the features she writes for the press. Anna is currently writing a book about the toxic chemicals in our homes and joining the dots between how they impact us and the health of the planet. Alongside her young daughter, she co-founded Plastic Clever Salcombe, part of the national, child-led Kids Against Plastic initiative and saw first-hand the importance of excellent environmental education from an early age. 

 Talk focused on:

• The power of integration – why we need to see the bigger picture and join the dots because everything is connected.
• The importance of foresight – we need to plan ahead, educate and retrain in readiness for a greener, more circular economy.
• There is so much possibility for positive change and effective action if we get our house in order now!