Our Transformation Age

Graduation speech by Michael Mathres ’92 to the International School of Geneva, Class of 2015

International School of Geneva, La Châtaigneraie, Founex, Switzerland

May 29, 2015

Dear Class of 2015, I am one of you; for many reasons.

Just like you, I had the privilege to grace this magnificent campus, nestled in between beautiful Lake Geneva and the Jura mountains.

Just like you, I experienced challenging courses, and was inspired and supported by an excellent faculty.

Just like you, I had the chance to develop everlasting bonds with people who are still my friends today.

Just like you, I had the incredible opportunity to learn everyday with and from more than 100 different nationalities, mixed religions and cultures.

All those things make La Chat a uniquely global experience: a global village. All those things have given you a uniquely and intensely rich perspective of the world. All those things have prepared you for the real global village, with values that you will carry with you when you leave this nest.

It was La Châtaigneraie that offered me my biggest moment of inspiration. It was during a 9th grade field trip that I had a mini epiphany about what I am doing right now: fighting for the environment.

During our trip to Lucerne, we hiked up a mountain and it is there that I had first my experience with glaciers. I felt something very strong, and I felt a deep connection that I had never felt before. The sheer scale, beauty and fragility of those massive monuments of nature left an indelible memory in my mind, and an endless inspiration in my heart to pursue what I do today.

But things were a little different back then. None of you were born when I graduated back in 1992.

There were only two main buildings and an art house. The Motel de Founex did actually exist and was the second home for the “uber cool people”. We had a language lab with cassette tape players that we had to rewind for several minutes before replaying our German lessons. And of course we did not have emails or the internet, and had the Apple IIe as our first word processing computers on two-coloured screens.

Look how far we’ve come in the span of 23 years.

La Chat now has six main buildings, the Motel de Founex has been replaced, and most of you have smartphones that are a hundred times more powerful than our computers, where you can communicate globally and instantly through the internet.

In other words the information age has drastically transformed the way we live, work and communicate. You can start a global campaign online with just a few clicks, you can crowdfund thousands of Swiss Francs for your new project or idea, and you can print 3-D objects on the other side of the globe.

However, although we’ve never been so connected, never been so technologically advanced, we are facing the most challenging period of our human evolution. The Information Age has given us tremendous tools to educate ourselves, to connect with others, and to develop our economy, but not the right direction to evolve sustainably.

So, allow me to give you an overview of our current state of the environment.

2015 is the most important year for our generation and all future generations to come. Not just because you are graduating, but because two major global events will take place that will shift the geopolitical, economical and environmental landscape and hopefully put us on course to a more sustainable, more just and more equitable future. This is a concept that is known as Sustainable Development.

Surprisingly enough, and I only discovered this fact recently, the concept of sustainable development actually started right here in Founex exactly 44 years ago. It was in June 1971 that the UN organized an in-depth seminar with top experts on the environment and development.

The outcome of that seminar was the Founex Report on Development and the Environment, which laid the foundations for the concept of sustainable development. This led to the first conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 and the establishment of the UNEP. Which led to the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and its action plan on sustainable development (Agenda 21), and the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which has led the global climate negotiations for the last 20 years.

Isn’t it amazing that this 1971 meeting right here in Founex, in our village, could have so much global influence and impact on the world today?

Which brings us to 2015.

Firstly, in September, the UN will vote new Sustainable Development Goals in New York in order to end extreme poverty, inequality and climate change with 17 goals and 169 targets in education, health, and protecting our biodiversity.

Secondly, and this is the event that is closest to my heart. 195 countries will convene in Paris this December, to sign a legally-binding global deal on making our climate cleaner, safer and more stable for all.

Many of you have seen the famous picture from NASA called Earthrise. A photo taken by a US astronaut during the Apollo 8 mission on Christmas eve of 1968. It shows the earth rising above the moon in space. For the first time, humans could see that we as a human species were floating in space on this tiny blue marble we call home.

It is also then that we realized that our thin atmosphere was the only thing that protected us from the sun and the rest of space, and created the right conditions for all life to evolve in the whole universe over millions of years, including humans.

And yet, every day we take this fragile natural wonder for granted and treat it as though there were no tomorrow, polluting each day with 100 billions tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions, the very essence which keeps us all alive.

I could talk on and on about the causes, and drastic effects of climate change, about the case for decentralized renewable energy, about the need for cleaner transportation, about the low-carbon, green, and circular economy.

Instead, I will give you 3 numbers that will hopefully make you think and that you should remember:

· 2: is the amount of degrees (Centigrade) that we as a human species need to limit the warming of our climate before it is too late. It might seem like a lot, but this is 2 degrees of a global living system. As an analogy, think about how sick you are when your body temperature goes up by 2 degrees.

· 485: is the amount of carbon emissions (in trillion Tons) that we have left to burn of our carbon budget before we risk going above this 2 degrees. To put it in perspective, we have emitted almost the same amount of carbon dioxide since the start of the industrial revolution 250 years ago. You might think that we have plenty of time. But unfortunately our appetite for fossil fuels has grown exponentially. Which leads to the last number.

· 30: is the amount of years we have left to burn this carbon budget if we follow our current energy use trajectory.

In other words we have 30 years to figure out how not to burn the same amount of fossil fuels we have used in the past 250 years.

We have never faced a bigger challenge than that of climate change.

But the signs are cautiously optimistic.

Politically — 38 countries have already pledged to limit their carbon budgets. Including the US, China and the EU. But there are still more than 150 countries that need to do the same.

Technologically — renewable energy prices such as solar have gone down dramatically and in some countries are at par with fossil fuels.

Economically — Last week more than 2,000 large corporations convened in Paris to discuss and agree on ways to develop solutions for climate change

Financially — Last week, France became the first country in the world to pass a law obliging all institutional investors who operate in France to disclose their carbon footprints.

The convergence of all these drivers is good, but not sufficient and not fast enough.

We are on the right path, but we are nowhere near achieving our goals.

We may be living in the most challenging times but we are also living in the most exciting times of our human evolution.

An era that will usher in new renewable energy technologies, cleaner and more efficient ways of living, moving, eating and working. Therefore, don’t be afraid to dare, don’t be afraid to dream, because the information age has given you the tools to make it easier for you to live and work. You just need to apply them to something meaningful and purposeful.

The most exciting part is that the majority of these solutions actually already exist, but it’s a matter of scaling them and spreading them globally.

In other words, we need a new rapid transformation age. A transformation age not seen since our last industrial revolution; a transformation age that will provide us immense new social, economic and environmental benefits; a transformation age as rapid as our information age.

So when you leave this nest of ours to tackle the inefficiencies of our economy, the injustices of our environment, or the inequalities of our society. Ask yourself the following (not to paraphrase the late John F Kennedy):

· Ask not what your parents can do for you, but how you can be a more responsible human being and do things yourself

· Ask not what the world can do for you, but what you can do for it to make our world better

· Ask not what past and present generations can do for you, but what you can do for future generations

With all this in mind, it will be easier for you to find a purposeful and meaningful career.

And if you don’t know what to do this summer, then look to join a campaign, an NGO, influence your political leaders, or start your own project or initiative. It’s never too early and it has never been so easy to start your journey on this transformation age.

So, before we hand you diplomas I wanted to give you an invitation. An invitation to meet again in 20 years: in 2035. To see what kind of world we live in, to see how our transformation age panned out, to see what kind of world we will leave to future generations.

Hopefully, and I’m quite sure of that, La Châtaigneraie will still be here, in your mind and in your heart.

Class of 2015, thank you for letting me speak, I wish you the best of luck and look forward to meeting again in 20 years.