The UN trip we took Thursday, November 9, 2017 was probably one of the most eye-opening and inspiring experiences of my life. As someone who had been driven by success, just being in the Council Trusteeship Room was breathtaking. From the architecture, to the people that have been there and the decisions that have been set in place – I was inspired.
I think one of the most meaningful moments of the trip was the actually getting there, and sitting down in the huge room delegates from all over the world come to. There were no restrictions on where you could sit, so I decided to sit as close as possible. I think it just put everything into perspective and made me realize that maybe one day, I can be sitting here as a part of my job, rather than a class field trip. I really appreciated the Den’ Members’ respectful tone towards all of the questions asked, and was intrigued by the information they shared with us.
Social Sustainability. Now that was a topic that I was socked by. Such a profound term, that I have never heard of. I think the idea of ‘social sustainability’ is genius, and I think America could further reach our goals of sustainability if we incorporated such a system in our education system, and even further, our culture. When discussing social sustainability, Christine Antorini mentioned the tactic of teaching the children what they need to know, but also listening to the children on what we should improve. I agree whole-heartedly with this argument not only because of the aspect of social sustainability, but because we are designing the world for our children… why wouldn’t we listen to what they want?
As an aspiring business innovator, I envision changes in the market as a whole. While profit will always hold the highest importance, I believe that we should make changes in all levels of industry to make our world a better place. I know this tactic can be hard, and even confusing for some, but it is going to take drastic changes and a time of being uncomfortable, for us to become comfortable in a new, sustainable business design.
Leaving the UN, I left hopeful for myself, but worried for our country, and even our world. Those who came to visit and talk with us really only gave us solutions for a country that wasn’t run by Trump… I think this is really sad, because by 2020, our Earth will really be at the tipping point (as if it isn’t already) and we will have to make dramatic changes very quickly in order to fix the problems that are occurring today – that is if Trump doesn’t get re-elected.
