I co-chaired the 2016 United Nations DPI-NGO 66th conference in South Korea, Education for Global Citizenship: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for All. This was one of the first international conferences to focus on the UN SDGs after its adoption by the UN General Assembly in 2015.
I have maintained a focus on SDG 4, Quality Education, by serving as co-chair of the NGO Steering Committee for an International Day of Education for Global Citizenship in New York. It is my hope and expectation that nations around the world will integrate global citizenship into student learning. Peer-to-peer learning using the Internet, gaming, and virtual reality tools will become inexpensive and effective way for students to collaborate on understanding and solving global problems.
In 2020, COVID19 has created a much stronger global awareness of interdependence and interconnection and at the same time has renewed people’s sense of connection to their local communities. At Long Island University, I teach a variety of geography and sustainable development courses. I also serve as a Vice-President for the Global NGO Executive Committee, which works with DGC to organize and host public events and conferences. At the UN, I also represent the International Society of Doctors for the Environment.
See “The Role of Civil Society in Advancing Global Citizenship” for UN Chronicle (2018) (https://unchronicle.un.org/article/role-civil-society-advancing-global-citizenship), GreenTech LIU: A Roadmap for a Collaborative SDG Campus (2018) (https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/post_sustain/1/).
Feature Image: Featured presenters at recent programs: an event on Global Coherence including SDG TL members Claudia Welss, Gregg Braden and Jude Currivan.
