A green
school makes the effort in nurturing its students' potential in becoming green
leaders
Jakarta Globe, Nadia Bintoro, Sep 07, 2014
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| UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon greets young students in Sibang Kaja, Bali on Aug. 28, 2014. (Photo courtesy of Green School Bali) |
Putting
theoretical discourse into real action, United Nations Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon visited Green School in Sibang Kaja, Bali, on Aug. 28, to learn about
and witness firsthand sustainable education from a group of future leaders.
Accompanied
by several significant figures in the political movement for climate change,
including Norwegian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Morten Hoglund;
Ambassador of Norway to Indonesia Stig Traavik; founder of the Green School
Bali, John A. Hardy; and head of school John Stewart.
Ban and the
delegation were warmly welcomed by 412 students of Green School, from
pre-kindergarten to high-school level.
Equally
excited to salute the secretary general on stage was Green School’s own deputy
secretary general of the campus’ Model United Nations Club, Clover Horan.
The 10th
grader leads the Green School’s own version of the UN, which aims to expand
students’ knowledge on international issues and policy making.
Together
with Ban, the delegation took the stage to give their remarks on the importance
of young leaders to create a more sustainable future ahead.
In his
opening speech, the UN secretary general shared his amazement over Green
School’s commitment in molding the younger generation into future green leader
of the world.
“This is
the most unique and impressive school I have ever visited. Thank you very much
for your strong commitment and vision to [making] this world green,” Ban said.
Recognizing
the alarming threat climate change poses on the development and betterment of
the world’s poorest communities, Ban noted that around today’s world leaders
have had “though choices to make,” especially in the months leading up to the
Sept. 1-4 Climate Summit and its post-2015 Development Agenda.
 |
| Onlookers as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks at the school on Aug. 28, 2014. (Photo courtesy of Nadia Bintoro) |
He
encouraged his young audience to take an active part in the world’s ongoing efforts
to combat climate change by developing into global citizens.
“Tomorrow
you are going to be [our] leaders. And today, we need to be together working
very hard to make the world of tomorrow much better for all its people,” Ban
appealed to the crowd of enthusiastic students.
He
especially congratulated “Bye Bye Plastic Bag,” an initiative led by Green
School students Isabel and Melati Wijsen, which aims to collect one million
signatures to ban the use of plastic bags in Bali. Ban said he hopes children
all over the world could have the drive and passion to start a similar
campaign.
During his
visit, the secretary general also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of
understanding between Green School Bali, the National Redd+ Agency and the
United Nations Office for Redd+ Coordination in Indonesia (UNorcid).
The joint
endeavor, called “Green Schools for Sustainable Development,” details a
collaborative framework between the three parties involved for the
implementation of sustainable development in Indonesia’s schools and other
educational institutions.
The MOU
will serve as a guide for facilitation and development of green schools across
Indonesia.
The three
signatories are committed to recruiting one million Green Youth Ambassadors in
schools across the archipelago by 2017.
“The Green
School is an outstanding proof of concept. The next step is to achieve proof of
scale. Supporting [the development] of green schools and strengthening
environmentally sensitive educational curricula are two of the ten imperative
actions of the National Redd+ Agency in 2014,” said Heru Prasetyo, head of the
Indonesian National Redd+ Agency (BP Redd+).
The
international delegation’s visit continued with a tour around Green School,
showcasing several of the institution’s efforts to promote sustainable living
and green education.
The event
came to an end with the secretary general and his wife releasing two Bali
starlings, which were bred by the Begawan Foundation — located within the
school’s premises — to limit the risk of the species’s extinction.
As the
magnificent white birds soared into the blue Bali sky, so did the hopes of
those in attendance that day, for a greener and better future.
UN
Secretary General Ban was in Bali on Aug. 28-29 for the Alliance of
Civilizations’ Sixth Global Forum, which this year carried the theme of “Unity
in Diversity: Celebrating Diversity for Common and Shared Values.”
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| Renowned conservationist Jane Goodall was the star of a recent conference in Bali on sustainability. (Photo Courtesy of Green School) |
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