Social Good Summit | Andrea Baez

After a decade of the Mashable event that happened on 92nd Street where leaders of the world talked about global warming, the United Nations Foundation organized a new kind of summit to do an emergency call out. The main message: the time of talking is gone, now is the time of action. Social Good Summit brought together speakers from different fields to talk about how important it is to take action and how each of us can do it.

Climate justice has become a mainstream thing.  But beyond the trend, climate change is now an existential threat and a hard challenge for future generations. The problem is that the majority of the people, even aware and concerned about climate change, think that someone else will save them.

The ones who are taking the lead in this fight are women and children. The perspective of young people is critical. Kids nowadays are more enthusiastic about the environment than adults. They are doing it because they don’t have any other choice. It’s great to have the energy of young people, they are giving adults a lesson, but we shouldn’t leave all the responsibility to them. 2019 is going to be remembered as the year that young people did a call out.

Also, women are taking power: Climate change needs a feminine solution. Speakers expressed how encouraging it is to see how women are taking the lead in this fight.

All the problems are connected: People from developing countries with low incomes are the ones who are struggling the most. Women in developing countries are responsible for food, water, and kids. Gender inequality, poverty, and climate change are related. All the problems get correlated at the end. In some countries, human rights are subjective. Environment and human rights are connected. It should be everyone’s mission to elevate voices that haven’t been heard.

The importance of hope and resilience: When there is resilience, there is a willingness to fight back. With hope, you always have the power to make the difference.
The difference between a victim and resilient is the willingness to change a situation instead of just complaining about it. The time of just talking is gone. Now we all have to think about what we are doing right now. That’s the difference between a victim and a hero.

Start small and start building from there. A lot of people have great ideas, but either they don’t know where to start, or think that they need a lot to start. Some people never begin because they believe they don’t have enough money to do it.

The important thing is to start now, not how big you are. Once you start, if your initiative goes along with the concept of big companies, you can work together to make a huge difference. If there are good initiatives that fit the process of a company is highly probable that the company is going to be interested in it. Big and small actions have to start working together towards global goals.

It’s a time of doing instead of talking 

It gives me hope people like Greta that are actually doing something. We have to start doing and maybe stop talking, meeting, and clapping.

– Jose Andrés (Chef and founder of “World Central Kitchen” a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters)


World leaders came together in 2015 talk about climate change, 2020 is about doing instead of talking. The world is demanding action; We all have the obligation of projecting voices that are not being heard.

We can start asking ourselves: What can we do? How to make a new tomorrow? How do we create a language? How can we use our knowledge to make a difference? How can we use our talent?

What it really impresses me is the people in Venezuela or in places in need welcome you with a smile even when they lost everything. We should stop doing these meetings and go outside to help places that need it, like Venezuela, places where things are really happening. 

– Jose Andrés (Chef and founder of “World Central Kitchen” a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters)


Commit to action and to delivery

There are so many companies out there, calling themselves sustainable but they are using it as a marketing strategy. It’s not about how you call yourself, it is what you are doing now. Leaders had failed us too. They are full of words and lack commitment for action. Kids should not skip school to fight for their lives.

We can’t wait a week from now, or a month; We have to take action right now.

We are out of time, the world our parents lived is not the one my children are living and not the one my grandchildren will live.

Every parent in the world has the responsibility of helping every single young person that represents the future. What is working is the direction we are taking, what is failing is that we are not going at the speed we should. It’s through global economy that we can reach that speed.


Last but not least important: Can Ads help save the planet? 

We need a huge change. The creative industry is full of empathic people, brands should show that they are also citizens. Brands should empower people to take action.
Ad agencies should commit to only collaborate with corporations that are making a difference. Each industry has the power of making a change.