A couple of weeks back, I was in Singapore's United World College of South East Asia, listening to a roomful of young men and women talking passionately about climate change. As they spoke, a sharp, almost painful, thought struck my mind: "are we serious about transformative leadership here, or, is this just another ritualistic act?"
Now, why did I think of this? A little background might help.
The youths I heard were from the ASEAN member states (If you didn't know already, these are Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) and they were here to take part in ASEAN Power Shift 2015 - a 3-day training workshop on climate change and the upcoming Paris Climate Conference (COP 21).
It was a pretty diverse group:: some were graduate students in a university while others were still in junior high schools. Some already had a lot of knowledge about climate change and erratic weather, while others only had a faint idea of what it might be. And, as I found out later, only about half of them lived in cities, with 24x7 internet access while the other half lived in the provinces with little or no access to digital connectivity.
Yet here they were - bound by a common thread: concern for a fast degrading environment in their respective countries and a strong wish to set it right.
Now, why did I think of this? A little background might help.
The youths I heard were from the ASEAN member states (If you didn't know already, these are Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) and they were here to take part in ASEAN Power Shift 2015 - a 3-day training workshop on climate change and the upcoming Paris Climate Conference (COP 21).
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| Youths at ASEAN Power Shift 2015. Photo credit: Young NTUC |
It was a pretty diverse group:: some were graduate students in a university while others were still in junior high schools. Some already had a lot of knowledge about climate change and erratic weather, while others only had a faint idea of what it might be. And, as I found out later, only about half of them lived in cities, with 24x7 internet access while the other half lived in the provinces with little or no access to digital connectivity.
Yet here they were - bound by a common thread: concern for a fast degrading environment in their respective countries and a strong wish to set it right.
