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

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That's the question

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

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asked her classmates.

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And nobody raised their hand.

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

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I have always been particularly fond
of environmental issues.

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

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I saw photos of the burning Amazon;

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and then growing up I realized

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

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but also around us.

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They were global problems,
but also local problems.

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I'm thinking about the abuse of concrete,

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that affects the landscape
I live in every day.

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

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and also of ourselves.

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I also think about
the climate change problems

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that span across the globe

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and empowered a single species,

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the human species

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to irreparably alter the climate,

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ushering us into what is called
the Anthropocene age.

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

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and I tried to find my way.

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

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and then I landed in a research center

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that dealt with environmental issues

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like land consumption,
evaluation of plans and programs.

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That's what I studied for.

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

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I didn't feel really satisfied,

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I felt that something was missing.

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And I couldn't quite understand what.

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And what happened then, you may say?

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

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

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

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

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So I didn't have the courage to change.

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Then an external element happened,

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one that led to the closure
of my contract,

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because they ran out
of funds for that research,

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and I found myself in trouble.

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I didn't really know what to do.

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

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either getting hired
in a traditional business,

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then use my degree,
what I had studied for;

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or try to start with me and my passions

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and try to get involved.

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And I chose this second direction.

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So I founded an association

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that dealt with landscape
and environmental issues

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and tried to involve
municipalities and institutions.

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The more I delved into these projects,

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the thing I noticed

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

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In particular, I considered my careers
as completely separate:

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my passions for art
and my passion for the environment.

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And through that experience

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I was combining many things
I liked, many interests.

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

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like the ability to connect people,

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to manage projects,

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to use art or theater

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as a communication tool
for environmental projects.

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

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And all this led me to the awareness

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of trying to share
what I learned about myself,

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

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and in particular work on them

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to give them the tools
to first change their lives

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and then their world,
their territory and their context.

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

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And since 2014 it involved
more than 8000 youngsters in Italy

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on projects that might make a difference.

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

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Absolutely unthinkable.

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And I remember a colleague in the corridor

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just as I was ending
my previous work experience,

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asked me: "But what's next?"

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I told him:

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"I know what I want,

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I want to take care
of youth and environment,

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and somehow I'll do it".

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

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And offering young people tools for change

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was an experience

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that allowed them to change
things in some way,

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starting with talents in the first place.

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

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

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make them think
about what their talents are.

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What are their abilities and skills?

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Seems like an obvious thing,

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

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So one direct question we ask them is,

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

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Is there something
that other people, who love you,

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think you are actually good at?

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And when the kids are forced
to think about it,

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we see that things change.

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

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Then try to think.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Now I'll explain why:

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

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For this kid,

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a pastel was a tool
to educate younger generations,

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to teach children how to draw nature,

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and being able to teach
that there is no waste.

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and that when you plant
the pastel's leftover,

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

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was a pastel with a seed,

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when you plant its leftovers,

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

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a flower with the same color
of the pastel.

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Ottavian is one of our students
who created this project,

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a startup that creates these pastels
integrated with the seed

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for children.

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He was considered,

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and he also considered himself
a somewhat average student.

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He wasn't committed, in his own words.

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

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

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what he did outside of school,

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dedicating himself to videos,
dedicating himself to communication,

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could actually be something to work on.

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He then got involved in this project

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and spent five hours in a closet

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trying to tape the video of his startup

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as perfectly as possible,

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because the clothes inside the closet
were absorbing the sound.

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And this experience allowed him
to somewhat change his life,

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because he discovered
he had this talent in communication,

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he managed to enter a major university
specialized in communication,

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he won scholarships.

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

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This is an example of how,

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

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first and foremost within ourselves.

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The second thing I wanted to share

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was precisely the importance
of connecting students and youngsters

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with something they don't know,

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something that can actually inspire them.

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What we've noticed

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is that bringing them in contact
with innovative realities

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but also with unusual places,

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can actually make a difference for kids.

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What you find on the slide

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is a note one of our students left us,

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a student from a school
in a quite difficult context,

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a student that his professors
identified as fairly difficult.

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And through a three-day
mountain experience

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with a focus on environmental issues,

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this guy actually communicated
in a different way

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and eventually left us with this note.

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He felt free, rediscovered himself

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and rediscovered a different way
of communicating himself to others.

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The last thing I wanted to talk about -

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thus it certainly was a path
to make a difference -

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was the discovery of one's own talents,

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

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so leaving our usual boundaries

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and getting in touch with realities

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that perhaps, a priori,
did not interest us.

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

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is to try help them make a difference

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in their own territory.

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So what we do

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is to help them think "community-wise".

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At first I was telling you about Kathryn;

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

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How do you make an impact?

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But then all together
Kathryn and her friends

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got together and managed
to design a project

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that actually transformed Como,
where their school was based.

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They got together
and designed a simple idea:

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an application to nudge people to walk,

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and then trying to solve

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

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And the fact that the old town

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was somehow losing its center of interest.

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So these kids made this application,

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they created a network of businesses

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who gave discounts
to people who walked there.

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They mobilized the citizens

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and made hundreds of people
aware of these issues

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by organizing walks after and walks
all around the city

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with families, young children,
parents and so on.

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And it was nice because
they all understood

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that they could try to deepen their talent

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but they could also connect it with others

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and they could try to launch projects

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that brought real value to their city.

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

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

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whatever our role,

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we can try to listen to our talents,

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put them on the line

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and work together to build a better world.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)