Coming together for the climate and sustainable development | Marcus Nakagawa | TEDxParqueResidencialAquarius

In this motivating talk, Marcus tells us how professionals from diverse fields came together for a common cause: building a more sustainable world and reducing the impacts of climate change.

Marcus is passionate about people and the planet. He is a university professor, mobilizer, speaker, mentor and was the creator and one of the founders of ABRAPS - the Brazilian Association of Professionals for Sustainable Development.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

One day I was at an award event

for the most sustainable
Brazilian companies

as named by the most important
business magazine in Brazil.

In attendance were many executives,
directors, CEOs, and professionals

who worked with sustainable development
and climate change in Brazil,

through their companies' projects.

After the award ceremony,
all the bosses went away,

and we continued talking
about sustainability solutions.

It was just people who worked
with sustainability for the companies,

along with a few consultants
and some NGO friends.

I commented that an entire year
would go by without us meeting;

we'd only see each other at this event.

Then I proposed an idea to them:

How about we set up an association
of sustainability professionals

to strengthen our actions,

give visibility to sustainability,

call more people to work in this field,

and help people who want to work
as sustainable development professionals?

Everybody who was still there
loved the idea.

When I told my wife,

she said this was just
another one of my ideas

that, like always,
never gets put into practice.

That really stirred me up.

The next day, I sent an e-mail
to various friends in the field.

I put the ideas down onto paper
and called everyone to a meeting.

This all led up to ABRAPS,

the Brazilian Association
of Sustainability Professionals,

which we now call

the Brazilian Association of Professionals
for Sustainable Development.

In this movement, everyone works
under the UN's 2030 Agenda,

a plan of action for the people
of this planet and for prosperity,

involving 17 sustainable development goals

called "SDGs,"

which deal with themes
like hunger, poverty, health, peace,

and reduction of inequality, among others.

These goals are a true
evolution for humanity,

an advance for our existence
on this planet.

Imagine representatives
from 195 countries coming together

and arriving at a planetary consensus

of what our challenges are for 2030.

And if you look over each these SDGs,

you'll see that all the problems
we face in the world today are there,

from those problems we deal with daily -

as we discuss with friends,
family members, and teachers -

to those problems we debate
at the highest-level meetings,

faced by all the world's countries.

The SDGs are a common dream
of evolution for human beings,

for us all to work cooperatively together:

governments, companies,
universities, you and me.

Among these goals, for example,
we have SDG number 13:

"Take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts."

Urgent measures, actions, and attitudes
to be taken by everyone.

That's right, daily actions to reduce
the impact of climate change,

from the simplest to the largest projects.

To take these urgent measures

also means to mobilize people
and to share knowledge,

so more people can learn about
and engage themselves in these themes.

And that's exactly what we do in ABRAPS.

In our work, we support everyone
from small entrepreneurs to big companies.

We have, for example,
the case of an advertising agent

who, when she joined the association,

was looking for a theme related
to the SDG to work on and undertake.

She had worked for a long time
in the communications field,

and she wanted to undertake
a project with a purpose,

which means to sell a product or service

that could impact the planet
and people positively.

She started to talk about this
with the other ABRAPS associates,

researching the shared knowledge
of the association.

She ended up improving
an already-existing product

that substitutes for the plastic
we use in the refrigerator

to package food, fruit, or vegetables.

The product is made from a beeswax base,

and has the advantage
of being reusable and washable,

something that seems small,
but avoids more carbon emissions,

and, in this way,
makes less climate impact.

Beyond this, if everyone
adopts this practice,

this can have a large positive impact
for the environment.

As you see, a simple thing
in the daily routine.

ABRAPS contributes

by helping place professionals
from the sustainable development field

onto the job market.

Some, at the beginning of their careers,
can work as volunteers in the association,

acquiring experience
and growing their network of contacts,

so later they can find a job.

Besides this, and maybe
even more important,

these professionals guarantee
that, when they're employed,

they'll implement practices
guided by the SDGs in their workplaces.

And it's critical that we train
people for the job market

who are aligned with our purpose
of reaching these 17 UN goals,

and reducing the impacts
of climate change.

The other important role of ABRAPS
is to act together with companies.

One of our successful examples
is a biogas company

that sought out ABRAPS
to better publicize their business.

They started participating in events
showing their products

and supporting our projects,

and ended up increasing their visibility,
even outside the association.

We're very happy because the product
they make is very cool.

It's a biodigester installed
inside the home

that takes the residues,
the organic wastes produced in the home,

and transforms them into gas
that can be used in the kitchen.

Besides decreasing the environmental
impact of solid residues,

organic waste is transformed
into sustainable energy,

thereby minimizing greenhouse gases.

And we actually have a structured program

for people who wish to follow
a career path guided by the SDGs

and fight to diminish
the impact of climate change,

that provides them access to mentors,

people who work or have already worked
in sustainable development movements,

along with access to the knowledge

acquired in the last 10 years
by the association

and the opportunity to grow
their network of contacts.

There is no doubt that the reduction
of the impact of climate change

will come from each one of us.

And for this to happen,
we need to bring in more people

to work in the field
of sustainable development.

We need to create more intelligent
products and services

that regenerate the actual system.

We need to create more movements,
associations, and groups

willing to get their hands dirty
in this climate emergency.

Nowadays we have
so many technological advances,

like drones, big data,
artificial intelligence,

and many other things that can be used
to confront the climate emergency.

I can't believe we are unable
to change this paradigm.

It's not like the law of gravity
that we can't change.

If we can manage to create
all this technology,

we can manage to reverse climate change.

But, to decrease the impact
of climate change,

we have to raise awareness
and mobilize people for this mission;

transmit and trade knowledge;

and act, directly or indirectly,

in a more conscious way
in our daily routine.

And we need to do this together.

Let's go! Now is the time!

We can contribute with actions,
both big and small,

to reduce the impacts
of the climate emergency.

And you, will you just
keep on having ideas,

or will you actually
put them into practice?