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Last Saturday 30 November I was invited to represent Irish Girl Guides speaking to the President of the United Nations General Assembly about our recent trip to Sangam World Centre in India, our work on creating the badge for SDG 12, the Climate Action badge IGG launched in the spring of 2019 and our work on Climate Action.
This was my first time attending an event such as this, let alone speaking at one. Although it was scary, I knew it would be an amazing opportunity. On the day, we arrived and they had laid out some mini pastries and tea and coffee for everyone attending to get a chance to talk to each other before the event began. While at the reception, we were told the format of how the event would run. We were asked to give a short speech about the work IGG is doing to raise awareness about climate change and about what we learned on our trip to India and the efforts they are making to be more sustainable. After that, there was to be a discussion where everyone attending could ask questions to the speakers and the President or could voice any ideas or concerns they had to the President.
The event began with Valery Molay, one of the Irish UN Youth Delegates, welcoming everyone and explaining how the event would be structured. Next the President of the United Nations General Assembly stood up and talked a bit about why he was here and what efforts the UN are already making to tackle climate change.
After that Jack O’Connor, the other Irish UN Youth Delegate, introduced the first speaker who was representing Fridays For Future Ireland, Beth Doherty. she spoke about the climate strikes that were happening, not only in Ireland but around the world. She also spoke about efforts individuals could make to be more sustainable on a day to day basis. After that Jack invited myself and Teagan Stanley to talk about IGG and their efforts.
When we finished, we all then moved on to a discussion. People asked us what it was like to be immersed in a completely different society and culture than what we were used to and also asked what are some things we believe should be done but are not. People also asked the President what they were doing in the UN to try and solve the issue at hand.
After about a half hour discussion, the event came to a close and Valery thanked everyone for joining. It was such an amazing opportunity to be involved with an event like this and I hope to get the chance again.
You can read the full text of Teagan and Patricia’s speech here.