WORLD CITIZEN SOCIETY GLOBAL EVENT 2021

Climate Change Is Happening Right Here. And Right Now.

Politicians and environmentalists have expressed a wide spectrum of viewpoints and proposed various solutions to the problem, as merits a topic that encompasses so many characteristics of modern society. Mental illness is also a topic that touches many people around the world. However, mental health challenges and climate emergencies are rarely spoken about in the same breath.

Mental health problems are commonly encountered in the context of climate emergencies. Humans aren’t coping as well as they could be with the pressures and daily stresses of everyday climate change. To be able to do more and do better, it’s important to understand the intersection between mental health and climate change. In the context of increasing uncertainties and other conflicts playing out all around the world, it is more difficult than ever for communities to collaborate across borders.

We need to put aside their political differences and unite. If we cannot encourage more cooperation in protecting the environment and addressing mental health issues, our planet and society will face even greater hardships.

The World Citizen Society 2021 Global Event will connect artists and their audiences around the world to raise global awareness about mental health and climate change.

The online event will bring the international community of experts, academics, and leading speakers from various areas of study together and give them the opportunity to enlighten and enrich each other with their expertise and share their experience and insights with the world - through discussion panels.

Artists used their creative talents to give a voice to the global challenge humanity is facing.

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How will Climate Change Impact Our Mental Health?

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CHANGING THE WORLD THROUGH CULTURE AND EDUCATION: ARTISTS & SPEAKERS

Marta Gómez (Colombia)

Singer-songwriter, composer, and guitarist. She obtained the Best Achievement Scholarship and graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston before becoming an admired member of the Latin America music scene. Gómez and her group perform a large repertoire of songs. They explore a mixture of rhythms that range from Latin jazz to folk Latin American music, creating innovative new sounds. Her song “Este Instante” (This Instant) released in 2014, features 15 musicians and incorporates styles from Columbian and other Spanish-speaking South America countries.

Over the last 20 years, Marta has composed more than 160 songs and published 20 albums. In 2005, she was nominated for the Latin Billboard Music Awards and in 2014, she won a Latin Grammy Award for the Best Latin Children's Album for “Coloreando: Traditional Songs for Children in Spanish” (2013). Her most recent album, released in 2020 and titled “Una Ventana par Soñar” (A Window to Dream), is dedicated to children and features light-hearted stories and lullabies.
Marta Gómez has won international competitions such as The SIBL Project (USA), with her song “Paula Ausente”. She has also raised social awareness through her musical project, Para la Guerra Nada (For War, Nothing), where she invited artists from various countries to sing and express their rejection of war.

George Nuku (New Zealand)

George Nuku is a highly regarded Maori Artist working in stone, bone, wood, shell, polystyrene and plexiglass. His works range from delicate jade and pearl amulets, life size stone & plexiglass sculptures, through to two story high Polynesian demi-gods and Maori culture heroes. He carries the tradition of his people handed down for thousands of years in an artform that promises to expand life and enhance survival. He is well known both in New Zealand and internationally. His work is highly regarded and sought after by both the rich and poor alike.

Nuku has explored water use and abuse in this work. He has gathered used plastic water bottles in all sizes from the Hawke’s Bay community. Then with artisan dexterity he has formed these sea creatures, schools of them, flocks of them, and delivered them back to that community as art.

Delphine (France)

French singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. She has been an activist since the age of 10 where she recorded a single which highlighted human and children’s rights. She graduated with honours from the Conservatoire de Musique et de Danse located in Saint-Avold, France.
She sings and explores with different styles of music such as Soul, Pop, Blues, and Reggae. The messages she spreads through her music are close to her hear and include the themes of love, happiness, the struggles of life and women finding their place in the world. Delphine was a nominee of the World Citizen Artists ‘Solidarity for All’ Awards 2020 and is now a global ambassador of the WCA community.
Since 2016, Delphine has worked with the Tuff Gong International, the largest music distributor in the Caribbean. In 2017 she released the “Blue Soul” album with the BS World Music label, of which she is the CEO. She has toured her inspirational work internationally playing at many international concerts and festivals, including at the Cultura Music Festival (France), Soul Rebel 73rd Bob Marley’s Birthday Celebration (Jamaica), and Warner Music Festival (Poland).

The Durgas (Germany/Hungary)

Rock band committed to bringing live music to struggling communities around the world. They were the first band to play in Mitrovica, Kosovo since the Balkan wars, as part of the ongoing United Nations peace and reunification initiative and took part in the XV International AIDS/HIV Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, performing in AIDS hospitals and orphanages.
They toured throughout Asia, playing to children of migrant workers in Mumbai, India, in Sri Lanka to families displaced by the Tsunami, in Thailand at the Saphan Jai festival, and for Burmese refugees’ camps.The Durgas were nominees at the World CItizen Artists Awards 2014 and are ambassadors for the WCA community.
Their experiences have led them to start their own foundation Music In Action, which has been supported by U.S. Campaign for Burma, Save the Children UK, the German children’s foundation WeltKinderLachen, Jack Healey (Human Rights Activist) and Michael Franti of Spearhead. The Durgas have shared stages with Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Chumbawamba, Noir Desir, Sonic Youth, and Fleet Foxes.

Oscar Jimenez (Australia/Colombia)

Musician and music producer born and raised in Colombia. Having been based in Australia for more than 20 years, he is known as the leader of popular Latin alternative acts such as Amaru Tribe and ARIA Nominated band Watussi.
He has performed at festivals all around the world including Womadelaide, Bluesfest, SXSW2019, and has opened concerts for artists such as Santana, Seun Kuti, Manu Chao and Juan Luis Guerra. In 2012 and 2016, he won the International Songwriting Competition in the Latin Category and was a nominee at the World Citizen Artists Awards 2016..
In addition to his own musical career, he runs Vibrating Planet in collaboration with local promoters, artists, and DJs. It is an independent music label and events company with a mission to produce, promote and create collaborations between high-quality artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. His passion for community arts and social projects shines through in his work as Music Projects Officer for Multicultural Arts Victoria.

Edina Seleskovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Visual Artist who explores the relationship between culture and society in broad terms through a variety of artistic mediums. She uses her multifaceted public art installations, which include a mural at the Bosnian Embassy in Washington DC, to initiate conversations about technological innovation and the artistic world.
Due to the Bosnian War, Edina moved to the USA in 1991 and began her studies at the Corcoran Art School in Washington DC. In 2007, her work was honoured in Bosnia Herzegovina and featured on commemorative postage stamp. Her work has a strong collaborative element which has especially given rise to artists’ collectives such as the New York art group The Stoodio and the fashion collaborative Anie Rexe.
Edina is one of the most famous artists from her homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina and her work has been exhibited all over Europe, Asia and the United States. She has also attended conferences all over Europe and in 2020, she received the ‘Solidarity for All’ World Citizen Artists award for the most socially engaged artists.

Masauko (Malawi/USA)

Masauko is a Malawian-American singer/songwriter, born in Los Angeles while his parents were in political exile from Malawi. As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Masauko was part of a large exile community from Southern Africa and the Caribbean. His first musical influences were the legendary South African husband and wife duo, Caephus Semenya and Letta Mbulu, who lived nearby. The Semenyas used their music as a form of activism in the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. From the very beginning of Masauko’s musical journey, he understood songwriting was the medium to give voice to people struggling against inequality.

Masauko has performed acoustically at New York´s Carnegie Hall. He has recorded with Grammy Award-winning hip hop artists, RZA from The WuTang Clan, and Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets. Masauko has completed his first solo album, Masauko, for the Come to Life Record label. The label was started by the Guayaki Yerba Mate company. The album was recorded in Cape Town, South Africa in May 2017 with some of Malawi’s top young musicians. The album was released on June 16th, 2019. This was the day of the Soweto Uprising in South Africa in 1976. It is now known as Youth Day in South Africa out of respect for the many children who died protesting for the right to have a real education in their own language.

In 2019, Masauko has taken his commitment to activism in Malawi and South Africa to a new level. He is at the front of a movement to introduce Permaculture to people in rural areas through music in Malawi. In early August 2019, he partnered with Luwayo Biswick who runs Permaculture Paradise in Malawi. It is the first permaculture training space run by a Malawian in the country.

Dr. Renee Lertzman (USA)

Dr. Renee Lertzman is a researcher, educator and engagement strategist who uses psychological insights to unlock action on global climate and environmental crises.
Dr Renéé Lertzman works internationally and guides companies and organizations to design research tools and strategies to tackle the uniquely challenging nature of ecological issues.
In her book, Environmental Melancholia: Psychoanalytic Dimensions of Engagement, published by Routledge in 2015, she highlights the gap between what people care about and what policy and personal practices they carry out. By doing so, she presents an innovative way to think about and design engagement practices and policy interventions.

Dr. Renée Lertzman has designed and taught courses on the psychology of climate change and environment since 2001. She is regularly commissioned to teach and produce research for a range of institutions, including World Wildlife Fund, Skoll Global Threats Fund, Radboud University (NL), Lanzhou University (China), Royal Roads University (British Columbia).
An experienced journalist, she has written for The Guardian, The New York Times, Down to Earth, ClimateAccess, Warm Regards, Cambridge TV, Climate One at the Commonwealth Club, Climate Confidential, Oregon Public Radio, and the BBC.

Elizabeth Wathuti (Kenya)

Environmentalist from the age of seven when she planted her first tree, Elizabeth Wathuti is a passionate climate activist from Kenya. After receiving the Wangari Maathai Scholarship Award in 2016, she founded the Green Generation Initiative (GGI).
GGI focuses on nurturing and empowering young environmental enthusiasts to be environmentally consciousness. The programs promote a nature first culture and include practical environmental education and greening schools. They inspire a tree growing culture among the people of Kenya for forest cover increment. Through adopting a tree campaign and establishing food forests, they can incorporate the growing of fruit trees and achieve food security.

Elizabeth Wathuti has been responsible for planting 30,000 trees throughout Kenya and positively impacting the lives of more than 10,000 school children.

She has gained international recognition for all her work. In 2019, she was awarded the Africa Green Person of the Year Award by the Eleven Eleven Twelve Foundation and named as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Community development and is currently the Head of Campaigns and Daima Coalition on green spaces Coordinator at Wangari Maathai Foundation.

Jack Sim (Singapore)

Jack Sim, Founder of World Toilet Organization (WTO), has been a successful businessman since age 24. Having achieved financial success in his 40s, Jack felt the need to change his direction in life and give back to humanity – he wanted to live his life according to the motto “Live a useful life”. Jack soon left his business and embarked on a journey that saw him being the voice for those who cannot speak out and fighting for the dignity, rights and health for the vulnerable and poor worldwide.

Jack discovered that toilets were often neglected and grew concerned that the topic was often shrouded in embarrassment and apathy; talking toilets was taboo! Jack felt this led to the neglect of restrooms island wide. In 1998, he established the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) whose mission was to raise the standards of public toilets in Singapore and around the world.

Through RAS, Jack’s vision was to put Singapore on the “world map” by taking the initiative to provide clean public toilets. As Jack began his work in Singapore, he realized there were other existing toilet associations operating in other countries.

It soon became clear that there were no channels available to bring these organisations together to share information, resources and facilitate change. There was a lack of synergy. As a result, in 2001, Jack founded the World Toilet Organization (WTO) and four years later, the World Toilet College (WTC) in 2005.

In 2004, Jack was awarded the Singapore Green Plan Award 2012 by Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) for his contribution to Environment. In 2006, Jack was invited to launch The German Toilet Organisation in Berlin. He is also a founding member of American Restroom Association.

In 2007, Jack became one of the key members to convene the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) comprised of over 130 organisations active in the sanitation sector. Jack is also an Ashoka Global Fellow and in 2008 was named Hero of the Environment by Time Magazine. Jack also sits in the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils (GAC) for Water Security and also the GAC for Social Entrepreneurship.

He graduated with a Masters in Public Administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in 2013. He was shortlisted for the Sarphati Sanitation Award in November 2013.

Sarah Jacquette Ray (USA)

Sarah Jaquette Ray is an academic, author and program leader in Environmental Studies. She has scholarly training in interdisciplinary environmental studies, environmental justice and environmental humanities. She completed her PhD at the University of Oregon’s Environmental Sciences, Studies, and Policy program.

When she carried out her research and teaching about practical tools for existential resilience in the Anthropocene, she became more and more aware that herself and her students were growing increasingly despairing and immobilized by the state of the planet and the politics.
As a result, her focus shifted to cultivating the personal resilience necessary to face a life of working on climate justice advocacy. In 2020, The University of California Press published her first book in entitled A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet. She draws on her decade of experience leading and teaching in college environmental studies programs and creates an “existential tool kit” for the climate generation.
Her tools are informed by contemplative practices and mindfulness, spiritual orientations to the climate crisis, affect studies, social and eco-psychology, social movement theory and activism, community resilience, art, trauma studies, and climate communication. She argues how and why society needs to let go of eco-guilt, resist burnout, and cultivate resilience while advocating for climate justice

Dr. Essam Daod (Israel/Palestine)

Dr. Essam Daod is a trained psychiatrist and psychotherapist who grew up in Israel in a small Arab Palestinian village in Galilee. In his studies, he specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry and graduated from psychoanalytic school.
Essam is the co-founder of Humanity Crew, an international aid organization which specializes in the provision of first response mental health interventions to people in crises. The organisation works to deploy mental health and psycho-social support to displaced populations in order to improve their wellbeing, to restore order in their lives, and to prevent further psychological damage.
His aim is to help create a world in which mental health support is a fundamental component in all emergency efforts for victims of humanitarian crises.

Today he is an involved refugee mental health activist and researcher who has spoken at conferences and media outlets all over the world, highlighting the importance of mental health support for refugees.
In 2016, Essam and Humanity Crew were awarded "The Defenders of Refugee Rights Award" at the 4th Edition of Cities Defending Human Rights in Barcelona. In 2018, he became a WHO mental health expert team member, and a TED Fellow.

Michael Wilkins (UK)

Michael Wilkins is a Managing Director at S&P Global Ratings based in London where he has global responsibility for the division’s sustainable finance research activities. He is an expert in the European power, water, environmental, transportation and social infrastructure sectors. He is a member of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the G20 Sustainable Finance Study Group (SFSG), the advisory council of the Smith School Sustainable Finance Programme and the Climate Bonds Initiative.

Michael has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Languages from Bristol University. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the Cass Business School and a Certificate of Carbon Finance & Analytics from the London Business School. He has been a frequent guest lecturer at the London Business School MBA programme, Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise & the Environment, UCL and LSE. Michael is also a visiting fellow at Cambridge University Judge Business School where he leads the Sustainable Finance elective on the Master of Finance program.

Previously, Michael worked for Water UK, the trade body representing the UK water industry. He also worked for four years as a journalist on various UK regional daily newspapers and global business publications.

Mandy Sanghera

Mandy Sanghera is an award winning philanthropist, consultant and global campaigner often referred to an global catalyst. Mandy has helped hundreds of individuals and now reaches thousands through social media and her generous amount of worldwide TV appearances and public speaking engagements. Mandy also spoke at the US House of Representatives for the 3rd year in a row. Last year she was at the World Economic Forum and spoke at a couple of side events. She has supported several Hackathon’s regarding AI for social good. She has been involved in several Hackathons I come up with challenge and ideas.

Mandy is Advisor to the #KindnessMatters Council coordinated by UNESCO MGIEP United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation In partnership with Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) global campaign #KindnessMatter. As well as being an international human rights activist & motivational Tedx speaker from UK, Mandy has travelled all over the world empowering & motivating others With over three decades of experience, Mandy is an expert in various development related fields. She has been driving innovation, building strategic partnerships, promoting advocacy and programming in the areas of human rights, gender equality, accountability and social justice globally.

Smriti Mishra (Sweden)

Smriti Mishra is Head of AI at Earthblanc.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Indian Space Research Organisation. She developed novel Bayesian Neural Network (BCPNN) with for neuroscience applications.

Professor Julia Rucklidge (New Zealand)

Professor Julia J. Rucklidge is the director of the Mental Health and Nutrition Research Group at University of Canterbury.
She has dedicated her career to research on mental health and nutrition. Her interest grew out of her own research showing poor outcomes for children with significant psychiatric illness despite receiving conventional treatments for their conditions.
For the last 6 years, she has been investigating the role of micronutrients in the expression of mental illness, specifically ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, anxiety and more recently, stress and PTSD associated with the Canterbury earthquakes. She is also the co-author with Bonnie J. Kaplan to The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition. It is a guide to a healthier and happier brain and explains how to overcome anxiety, combat depression, and reduce ADHD and stress with nutrition.
Julia has a PhD is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. She carried out her training in neurobiology at McGill, and Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary.

Jennifer Abbott (Canada)

Jennifer Abbott is a Sundance and Genie award-winning film director, writer, editor, producer and sound designer who specializes in social justice and environmental documentaries.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Abbott studied political science at McGill University. A few years after she graduated, she became a self-taught filmmaker.
She has produced and co-produced many award-winning films and documentaries which raise awareness about concerning environmental issues. Her first feature documentary produced in 1998, A Cow at My Table, addresses the ongoing battle between animal-rights advocates and the meat industry. It was one of the first documentaries to criticize intensive animal agribusiness and has won several international awards.
Her most recent award-winning documentary is The Magnitude of All Things released in 2020. After losing her sister to cancer, her sorrow opened her up to the profound gravity of climate breakdown. The documentary draws intimate parallels between the experiences of personal and planetary grief. She merges stories from the frontlines of climate change with recollections from the filmmaker’s childhood on Ontario’s Georgian Bay to transform darkness into light, grief into action.
The Magnitude of All Things won the Best Canadian Feature Award at the Planet in Focus Film Festival and will premiere internationally in Amsterdam at the IDFA.

Emma Gunn (UK)

Emma is the CEO of Re-Balance, an organisation who works with global communities to review the assumptions that uphold inequality, perpetuate discrimination, hinder mental health and well-being in an aim to diminish inequalities worldwide. Re-Balance does this by focusing on the intersection between mental health and well-being, diversity and inclusion, poverty and social mobility and planetary health. By applying a holistic view, their aim is to move individuals, organisations, businesses, communities, and governments to adapt and adopt changes that empower us all to create a better world.
Emma has spent the last 10 years working in workplace and community mental health. They have worked with global senior leaders within large corporations such as Unilever, BBC and Barclays PLC advising on their mental health, wellbeing, and culture programmes in order to design health creating environments. They have also worked with smaller grass root community developments including implementing the first mental health skills programme within the Ugandan People’s Defence Force.
One of Emma’s passions is to cultivate and support next generation leaders by elevating and supporting diverse identities, especially LGBTQIA+ and women’s voices. Their aim is to influence the change in business to human first approach, demonstrating that mental health is pivotal in people feeling truly psychologically safe and enabling them to thrive in any environment.