By Louize Oliveira
Last year, I was part of the UPG Sustainability Leadership Program, there were nine weeks of digital training with more than 500 young people from several countries. At the end of the training, 60 young people were selected to have an experience at Hurricane Island.
I had the honor to be selected and voyage to Hurricane this summer and I would like to share some insights I had:
1. Be Kind
People around the world have been working hard to do their best. Each country, each culture, and each person is peculiar. Being kind to ourselves to be kind to others. I realized that what we need to be to others is the same we need to be with us. If you want to be more patient with others, start with yourself. Many times, we reflect our own needs on others.
2. Honor our history
If we respect people that came before us, we will honor the journey they had to do for us to be here. Therefore, we should think about everything that some people needed to face for us to be here today. Honor is a way of respect. If we respect our past, we can build a better future, with peace, values, and consideration for the environment.
3. Think about climate change
Thinking about "climate change" is not only the responsibility of people and companies that work with environmental topics. It is a responsibility for all of us. Climate change has been transforming our environment, our economy, our business, and our life. In Hurricane Island I realized that: to honor our past, we need to think about climate change. We need to talk about this. We need to act, each one in their context, we need to act.
4. Be open
In some times, building a network looks like a professional thing. However, this is not true. Being open to meeting people, talking about everything, and learning something different is a way to expand our minds and become better human beings.
Sometimes, I would like that the people who came before me could have the same opportunity to be at Hurricane Island and learn about all of this. Therefore, I realized that being there, was a way to honor these people. If I could give some advice, I would tell you to enjoy each minute of your journey.
Learn more about United People Global and how to apply to this amazing and unique partnership program with Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership
Louize Oliveira is a Project Manager and UPG Sustainability Leader based in São Paulo Brazil. Louize is Co-founder of SafePlace, a social digital platform with the purpose to promote gender equality in the work environment, in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 - Gender Equality, of UN 2030 Agenda.
