Can We Make A Difference For Our Planet? I Giulia Detomati I TEDxMantova

Giulia Detomati is the founder and CEO of InVento Innovation Lab, the first Italian B Corporation that deals with education projects on entrepreneurship and the environment for young people, companies and institutions that want to make a difference.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

"How many of you wake up in the morning
thinking they're making a difference?"

That's the question

one of our 16-year-old students, Kathryn,

asked her classmates.

And nobody raised their hand.

And that's a question
I've been asking myself for a long time.

I have always been particularly fond
of environmental issues.

I remember as a child,
on my first National Geographic,

I saw photos of the burning Amazon;

and then growing up I realized

that environmental problems weren't only
on the other side of the world,

but also around us.

They were global problems,
but also local problems.

I'm thinking about the abuse of concrete,

that affects the landscape
I live in every day.

The problems, in other words,
of the loss of identity of our landscape

and also of ourselves.

I also think about
the climate change problems

that span across the globe

and empowered a single species,

the human species

to irreparably alter the climate,

ushering us into what is called
the Anthropocene age.

All these problems always pushed me
to try and do something,

and I tried to find my way.

So I graduated from university,
I did various types of experience

and then I landed in a research center

that dealt with environmental issues

like land consumption,
evaluation of plans and programs.

That's what I studied for.

But I felt - when I came home
in the evening -

I didn't feel really satisfied,

I felt that something was missing.

And I couldn't quite understand what.

And what happened then, you may say?

Perhaps I left, I gave up everything,
I completely changed my life.

No, I was actually attached
to the kind of work I had

because there were my classmates
whom I had attended university with.

The work was pleasant -
let's say I was in my comfort zone.

So I didn't have the courage to change.

Then an external element happened,

one that led to the closure
of my contract,

because they ran out
of funds for that research,

and I found myself in trouble.

I didn't really know what to do.

At that time, I basically saw
two directions before me:

either getting hired
in a traditional business,

then use my degree,
what I had studied for;

or try to start with me and my passions

and try to get involved.

And I chose this second direction.

So I founded an association

that dealt with landscape
and environmental issues

and tried to involve
municipalities and institutions.

The more I delved into these projects,

the thing I noticed

was that I was drawing on talent
that I had never considered before.

In particular, I considered my careers
as completely separate:

my passions for art
and my passion for the environment.

And through that experience

I was combining many things
I liked, many interests.

I also discovered some talents
that I didn't think I had,

like the ability to connect people,

to manage projects,

to use art or theater

as a communication tool
for environmental projects.

So a lot of things
I didn't know I had came out.

And all this led me to the awareness

of trying to share
what I learned about myself,

and I actually managed to do
with young people, with new generations;

and in particular work on them

to give them the tools
to first change their lives

and then their world,
their territory and their context.

That's how I started my company,
and it deals precisely about these issues.

And since 2014 it involved
more than 8000 youngsters in Italy

on projects that might make a difference.

And that was unthinkable to me,
when I took up this path.

Absolutely unthinkable.

And I remember a colleague in the corridor

just as I was ending
my previous work experience,

asked me: "But what's next?"

I told him:

"I know what I want,

I want to take care
of youth and environment,

and somehow I'll do it".

And I discovered a sense of security,
which I didn't think belong to me.

And offering young people tools for change

was an experience

that allowed them to change
things in some way,

starting with talents in the first place.

In fact, what we want to think about,
what we want to bring into the classroom

is just to make young people think
about who they are,

make them think
about what their talents are.

What are their abilities and skills?

Seems like an obvious thing,

but often, at school,
you don't think about your actual skills.

So one direct question we ask them is,

"What are you good at?
What do you like to do?

Is there something
that other people, who love you,

think you are actually good at?

And when the kids are forced
to think about it,

we see that things change.

Sometimes someone says,
No, I can't do anything at all.

Then try to think.

And actually, when you find a talent,
you find a treasure.

And in particular, one of the stories
I wanted to share today

deals with how talents
and the search for our own ones,

can untap sources of energies
we didn't think we had.

I'll tell you the story
of one of our students.

The story of a student
who spent five hours in a closet.

Now I'll explain why:

For me, and possibly also for you,
a pastel is simply a pastel,

For this kid,

a pastel was a tool
to educate younger generations,

to teach children how to draw nature,

and being able to teach
that there is no waste.

and that when you plant
the pastel's leftover,

which is in that case,
the pastel that had invented Ottavian,

was a pastel with a seed,

when you plant its leftovers,

you can generate a plant
that gives rise to a fruit,

a flower with the same color
of the pastel.

Ottavian is one of our students
who created this project,

a startup that creates these pastels
integrated with the seed

for children.

He was considered,

and he also considered himself
a somewhat average student.

He wasn't committed, in his own words.

And as for this project, he became
totally passionate about it,

and he discovered that
what he did in his leisure time,

what he did outside of school,

dedicating himself to videos,
dedicating himself to communication,

could actually be something to work on.

He then got involved in this project

and spent five hours in a closet

trying to tape the video of his startup

as perfectly as possible,

because the clothes inside the closet
were absorbing the sound.

And this experience allowed him
to somewhat change his life,

because he discovered
he had this talent in communication,

he managed to enter a major university
specialized in communication,

he won scholarships.

So reflecting on his own talents,
he managed to somehow find his way.

This is an example of how,

by drawing on our own resources,
one can make a difference

first and foremost within ourselves.

The second thing I wanted to share

was precisely the importance
of connecting students and youngsters

with something they don't know,

something that can actually inspire them.

What we've noticed

is that bringing them in contact
with innovative realities

but also with unusual places,

can actually make a difference for kids.

What you find on the slide

is a note one of our students left us,

a student from a school
in a quite difficult context,

a student that his professors
identified as fairly difficult.

And through a three-day
mountain experience

with a focus on environmental issues,

this guy actually communicated
in a different way

and eventually left us with this note.

He felt free, rediscovered himself

and rediscovered a different way
of communicating himself to others.

The last thing I wanted to talk about -

thus it certainly was a path
to make a difference -

was the discovery of one's own talents,

coming into contact with something
that is outside of our daily lives,

so leaving our usual boundaries

and getting in touch with realities

that perhaps, a priori,
did not interest us.

The third thing we want to bring
to young people, to schools,

is to try help them make a difference

in their own territory.

So what we do

is to help them think "community-wise".

At first I was telling you about Kathryn;

her classmates did not raise their hand
when she simply asked,

How do you make an impact?

But then all together
Kathryn and her friends

got together and managed
to design a project

that actually transformed Como,
where their school was based.

They got together
and designed a simple idea:

an application to nudge people to walk,

and then trying to solve

what was a problem for the city of Como,
environmental and air pollution

And the fact that the old town

was somehow losing its center of interest.

So these kids made this application,

they created a network of businesses

who gave discounts
to people who walked there.

They mobilized the citizens

and made hundreds of people
aware of these issues

by organizing walks after and walks
all around the city

with families, young children,
parents and so on.

And it was nice because
they all understood

that they could try to deepen their talent

but they could also connect it with others

and they could try to launch projects

that brought real value to their city.

So, this is the message
I want to leave you with.

All of us as citizens,
students, parents, trainers,

whatever our role,

we can try to listen to our talents,

put them on the line

and work together to build a better world.

Thank you.

(Applause)