Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening wherever you may be welcome to another episode of the nonprofit show But this isn't any episode. This is the nonprofit thought leader episode We don't do these very often. They're very specialized. It's where we get a leader in the field of Whatever it is that they're doing for the nonprofit sector and so today We're really excited to have back with us and Macaulay Lopez one of the great thought leaders in the country about all things Digital content wise and we need this help in our nonprofit sector in a big way so and welcome back Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be back and a happy belated new year. I haven't seen you in the new year yet I know I know well, it's it's crazy You know how fast already it's turned and and I'm really excited to join Get that mind melt with you to figure out what we need to be doing when it comes to the power of Guest blogging, you know, we talked about doing this episode and I swear to you I can't believe like all of a sudden how I'm seeing this phrase guest blog You know guest blogging guest bloggers So it's gonna be fun to get into this with you today and really learn something again I'm Julia Patrick CEO of the American nonprofit Academy Jared Ransom the nonprofit nerd CEO of the Raven group is a little under the weather today. So we said Stay away IRL and digitally get better and and we'll rejoin But we are joined today with our amazing partners And I want to make sure that we give a strong and hearty shout-out to Bloomerang American nonprofit Academy Your part-time controller staffing boutique fundraising Academy at National University Nonprofit nerd and the nonprofit thought leader. These are the folks that keep us going and growing. We're well past 725 episodes and finishing up our third year starting our fourth year and the exciting part of that is that our Executive producer Kevin Pace has done this miraculous thing He has taken all of these produced episodes and put them on our channels that you can find us on Roku YouTube Vimeo and Amazon fire TV And if you'd like to consume us through a podcast format, we're here for you as well This last year we started doing that and we've already surpassed 10,000 downloads in less than a year So we're really excited about that, but more importantly, we're excited to have Anne McCauley Lopez back with us agency content writer Welcome my friend. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I hope Jared feels better. It's always wonderful to see you Julia Hey, you told us in the green room chatter that you are coming to us from where? New Orleans, Louisiana, I believe they say it no offense here. I'm trying trying not New Orleans And I tagged along my husband's on a business trip. So I'm doing a little work doing a little play I had a work day yesterday was play. So I'm back here doing a little work. I'm excited to be here You know, I love it and and I think that this is one of the cool things about You and your business and your sector is that you can be anywhere around the world And I've got to ask you this before we get going Do you find that when you do leave your enclave of where you work and play and live? And you get out that it tweaks something or it makes your writing more richer or messes you up Do you have a sense of that? I Think it goes into kind of before I leave I have a mindset of this is how this is going to go and that really helps me Stay in the zone when I need to be in the zone and I do come up with new ideas on the road And I think that's always did even if it's just leaving your your home office or your office office Really, it does something to your mind to be in a different place for sure. Yeah, it's it's really I think an interesting thing we were talking about that a little bit before we went live about the power of Travel and the power of seeing how other people live and I think even just in the concept of philanthropy How nonprofits work in different parts of our country and we are such a vast country And so it's kind of an interesting aspect I think just because you write a certain way or work a certain way in one part of the country You might not fly in another part of the country And so this is what I'm so interested about hearing from you about this concept of guest blogging And what it means I got to say I've been a writer all my life been in publishing for more than 30 years Scares the hell out of me to think I would bring somebody in outside of my staff to write I just got a Nana. Just got to say it. I know I know What are they gonna say and and it might not fit and you know it so Calm me down and explain to me why this is so powerful Well guest blogging is when we write on Another website, so it would be me writing on the American nonprofit website or on For me, it's another marketing website for example, and that's really all it is. What's good about it is that it And what we would want and we can dive into this a little bit You know, I just love talking about search engine optimization SEO The biggest thing about this is to make sure we get a link back to our own website Google loves when we do that. It gives us some authority for nonprofits. I think guest blogging on Maybe a corporate partners website or if you've got a relationship Maybe with like an estate planning attorney writing about planned giving Things like that that are related to the nonprofit that can bring attention to the nonprofit That are on someone else's website to get that additional traffic and really build your audience You know me being on here is is a great opportunity for both of us to share our knowledge and also for me to Be giving the fortune of being in front of your audience as well in addition to my audience So that's that's what we want to do in a written form with gas blogs So it's really just writing on someone else's website One of the things that we want to do is make sure that we're giving guidelines or we're giving guidelines That's definitely So when you say you're nervous, I'm like, it's okay. We can you and I if you want to have guest bloggers We'll come up with some guidelines Nothing gets published till it's approved, you know But I one part of me says and I'd love to get your feedback on this one part of me says is that It's okay, and it's powerful to have different voices that might not agree that might share a different view point We don't you know, we need to be rowing in the same direction But we don't need to all be cookie-cutters. Is that true? Or do you want to make sure that anything coming in on the guest blog position is Using the same phrase ology and I mean really cloned almost I Think it has to stay it would have to stay within some branding guidelines for the website and Maybe focusing on a particular keyword but taking that I Always think of like freelance writing. I don't tend to call myself that you know We've talked about that here quite a bit. It's more of a content writer But people know the word freelance writer. So maybe on a marketing website. I would say what's the difference between the two So we get that Different take on what it is But we also remember to mention the keyword or for nonprofit maybe the the program or the fundraising You know, whatever it is Keep something central to it an idea. So in your guidelines, would that be the place where you'd say? This is how we use our name. This is how we use the program name. I mean, is that what you're talking about? Yes, yes, I actually have an opportunity myself on a So website that lists different like if you're looking for different types of professionals So they actually have some ideas for us And I know what's behind that is SEO search engine optimization for their website, right? So you could even do that as a nonprofit and say hey, we're looking for articles on these topics as a call out So if you're interested, you know, Jared likes to look at numbers the nonprofit nerd is going to be featured And she's going to talk about looking at your data those sorts of things just to kind of guide the content in a direction that you want But also I think to your point is leaving it open to different Different opinions different frames of of mind or of reference like we were talking about in the green room You know exposing yourself to a different culture or outside your own neighborhood even Yeah, of course different ideas. Yeah So, you know, you we've talked us through kind of the process of what I should say what the concept is and Let's talk about the benefits of guest blogging because I'm really curious like is that is is it like front and center This is a guest blogger and then the content or do you do you always? Identify that or do you keep it in an arm's length like how do you intersect those viewpoints and people to the organization? I would Put a little something at the beginning and then typically guest bloggers get a bio at the end. So say hey, we've got our Finance guru or our whatever thought leader, you know nonprofit accounting thought leader here giving us her take on this topic The paragraph and then a bio That way it kind of distinguishes it from your staff writers or your, you know, however, you've got doing creating that content. I Like that as a distinguisher. There's not really rules, but I think it's it's a good idea, especially if there may be Taking it in a different direction then People might normally see on your website not that it's completely off center, but like, okay, we'll think of it this way You know, you are the queen of SEO and for anyone watching or listening to us I'm gonna witness to you that when we go back Through our metrics your content whenever you're on our show You rank as some of the highest watched Pieces that we've done over three years and I always think that it's because of your content and that it's great content But more importantly, I think it's because you've worked your SEO magic on the back end because we give you your those files I mean as a we don't pay our guests and so what we do We we recompense them in essence with giving them the fully edited files They can put them up on their website they can put it into their social media and You my friend and I've said this to you privately you have been able to take these these pieces turn them into blog posts and Maximize the hell out of it. And so it's such a fascinating thing to be able to talk to you about this because I See how you can move forward with these concepts Looping in more people in essence, right? Yes. Yes, bringing the audiences together bringing them to Kind of to see what your business is and I just love and appreciate them The time you take to create those marketing graphics for me. I put them up. I use them as thumbnails I recently launched my very small audience YouTube channel myself and Yes, I'm excited. So what I'm able to do with these wonderful recordings is put those on my YouTube So that you know if you put my name in it brings up my appearances on your show It also brings up me brings up my channel and yours Which makes it just a wonderful partnership and then you can use those You know, I use the marketing images on social media I create written content from what we've talked about this time. I feel like a superhero I created the content first. So now what I need to do is I'll have my website folks embed the recording into that blog post so they can so it's on my website We'll put it on the YouTube channel and really utilize it the way that we would Utilize our own my own content that we've created. It's kind of a feel like it's a cheat So now this is like me this might seem like a super basic question But and maybe this is just this is my own, you know bias for my career But when I hear the word blogging, I think written word, but what you just like hit that thing and it's it's really Content of video content. It can be graphics, right? I mean it could be Data viz, right? At least for now At least for now I say Google doesn't read your videos Like you can't do a video of all your keywords and get a Google love from it now. I imagine it's coming soon Um, yes, it's Google and AI and I think maybe we want to talk about that artificially a little today But it so we need to have that written content so one of the ideas I'll be sharing actually on YouTube But we'll share it here too And I think we've talked about it is taking the podcast whether it's your own or you have appearances like this on other podcasts and taking that transcript and Making it search engine friendly, which is something that I do offer Um, I will I've got updates and services on my website But yes, I help with that because I think it's really important and it drives that we know you and I know it drives that traffic I think also what we do is we title The topics that I talk about There's some strategy behind that as well so For future guests upcoming guests, I encourage you to kind of think about what's searchable. How do you want to be found and Create your podcast appearances on those topics and that shores up when someone says can you speak? What are your topics you speak about? Then you've got your short list of five or six topics and you say these are this is what I speak to Mixing it up with some, you know some other topics, but really the main focus are these five So let's talk about the AI issue. Oh my gosh AI is like I'm a devotee of the New York Times I cannot even believe how even in the New York Times They talk about AI every single day in many places throughout their publication in all formats It used to be we would talk about, you know AI with artificial intelligence within like the landscape of the computer world Now we're even talking about it as it connects to you know cooking and travel and I mean it is just going forward How does this impact? Guest blogging blogging building content because this is the here and the now and it is accessible for people Like you and I It is it is I will be perfectly honest and say that I called my 19 year old stepson and said Can you please talk to me about this chat GPT? My my friend and colleague asked me about it and I need to learn more about it and then I tried it myself So I tried it with a client that we don't necessarily tell stories They say here's your keyword create an article. That's this long that has this keyword this many times and that sort of thing Okay, so I put in I did it twice for two and the first time was I was a mishmash I cut out half of what the AI put into it The second time so it was me learning along with the software, which was wild to me I'm like I'm learning with a computer like it was this crazy crazy experience so I was able to Edit it down that first article and it probably took me as long to learn Then it would have been to write the article the next article I was able to do very fast because I had learned pretty quickly. Okay. I get it It's kind of like me writing for key words only I'm Giving the AI some clues and the better clues I gave the better the result was So what I took was this, you know five tips about X And I call it judging right we put some branding and we mentioned the client's name We mentioned their keyword we add the appropriate links that we want to add and things like that I ran it through. I was worried about duplicate content. Google doesn't like when we have the exact same content on different websites I was worried about plagiarism getting tagged for that that right. I'm a writer like not only is it bad for a website But as a writer, you don't want to get cat. Exactly in it through It was original content. Nothing else on the internet. I Was able to feed it some links to content on the client's website, which I wrote so I was like Oh, that's my writing like I I I didn't even plagiarize myself Right, right. That just sounds weird, but I write a lot And I'm like, I wonder if I put this phrasing somewhere else No, yeah, I've run that on all my content and there was nothing and it was branded It was a beautiful article and it worked what it wasn't It wasn't storytelling. It wasn't tell me about the work that you've done on this project I don't think that I'm going to go out of business with chat GPT and AI. I Think nonprofits could use it. I was telling Julia I had a return to do on Amazon and I was chatting and the thought came to me am I talking to a computer and am I talking to a person And as soon as it got to a point in the questions where it didn't know kind of what to do with me That hold on. Let me get you a Customer service representative and then I knew I'd been talking to AI And then they were sending me to a person and so I chatted with the person It's just like, oh, I see the problem here. Let me help you with it And that was really interesting. It was very efficient And I feel like I don't know Julia What do you think that that nonprofits might be able to use this like for donors looking for the donor link? Which should be obvious, but we'll get to that or asking about a certain project or program. I mean And things like that that it could be kind of a customer service desk in some sense Like I used with Amazon and then it would get you to someone A real person Yeah, I mean, I think it's I think if you can Think through and you have good advice and get support. It could be the sort of thing that allows you to Find, you know, scholarly information. It allows you you mentioned in the green room chatter, you know Volunteer opportunities how to recognize the the problem. So for example, if you're a domestic violence shelter You know, how do you recognize somebody that's in an abusive situation or you yourself or how do you get safe? I mean, there are a lot of different things that can help. I think if we can figure out how to Deliver and manage the content, right and how that looks and because let's face it Who can who can afford? Um on in the 1.8 million nonprofits registered in this country of ours How many can afford to have somebody sitting there answering questions? Right do right real in real time iRL. So you You have to say What are some of these tools going to do to impact us and I feel and I can't wait to get your opinion on this I feel like a lot of organizations are understanding the power of their blogs But then their blogs are becoming dare I say bloated There's so much content that if they don't have a good search function or they haven't categorized it It's a mess. It gets lost. It gets lost. So I mean I can see this is kind of a refinement to what we're doing And in his part and parcel of that, I'm really interested to know If we're engaging guest bloggers and again, you blew my mind because it could be video. It could be graphs I mean data is it's pretty crazy What should this nonprofit be giving are you paying people?  What's what's the transaction? I guess The nonprofit provides their expertise So if we're talking about Planned giving it would be The importance of plan giving and the nonprofits writing it for an estate planning attorney They probably want a conversation with the attorney. I've I've one that I've worked with and I think what she would want is what is planned giving which AI could probably come up with some nice words for that But also what's the impact to the nonprofit? So we could have part of it actually generated But also what's the impact to the specific nonprofit? So it's almost like a starter with AI and then the nonprofit gives their expertise in that area or The impact to the nonprofit in that particular area So that really the the estate planning attorney just as an example could then use that on their social media Point their clients to that article and say listen This is how it impacted my my nonprofit partner or my friend at this nonprofit What it does for them to have that type of giving just as an example So it's really and you don't you don't give away everything no blog posts We we shouldn't give away everything and I was speaking to somebody the other days Like it's just enough so they pick up her phone and call us or email us or whatever the call to action is You know we're talking about giving so we say okay, you know donors volunteer Okay, we want volunteers to call or contact us So I think that's what it is. It's really what what you already do I think if you have content on your website already In videos and you've talked about it. You could easily Um Send that to a writer or send that to someone on your staff who who is a writer or likes to write We've talked about that like how can you utilize your team or your volunteers in a way that? Highlights their skills and expertise and Gets the nonprofit some some help in whatever way that is so You could take um That give that information and you may not even have to do an interview if you've already got some content out there It's just a matter of hey, we have this request for a guest blog on so-and-so's website Can you kind of figure it out and pull down and? We'll approve the article, you know, we'll we'll go in and take a look and make sure it's It's really what we want to say Um, but really utilizing the people on your team again. So you're not Having that expense of a writer necessarily You know, I love the idea of the Volunteership because that could be somebody who I'm like thinking retired English school teacher or you know, whatever where somebody could be like Yeah, I love to edit. I love to catch spelling mistakes and you know, it can be done You know Be an email somebody can send that off and then you're going to be more confident about Whatever, you know that pieces that's going up. Um, again, this is the publisher pat that I'm wearing because I'm like Oh, you know somebody coming from the outside, you know, but yeah I love that you said that because I bet You could find that talent out there wanting to volunteer and then use them in other ways Yes, yes, and really capitalize on it and it's I remember Jared posted something uh posted on linkedin and she said how do you engage a board and it's give them some ideas And I think it's this this is kind of in that same realm Where we're we're saying, okay, what do you do you want to be the person that sends the letters counts the money writes an article contacts the press gets an editor Finds an editor for us. Whatever it is Yeah, I mean utilize who you have for sure in your community. So Uh, I have a networking group. I've gotten involved with since we last spoke right in charlotte because I wanted to meet some people in charlotte And I have an opportunity to blog on their blog To talk about and they're all smaller like kind of solopreneur smaller business people And I have the opportunity and I was like, well, we have this portal and I didn't want my content To be locked behind the portal just for members because I do want to write for seo So that's something to think about as well. You don't want it locked behind any sort of like a paywall Um and make sure it's out there in the public and it is it's a public blog and you'll see me post something I don't know what I have so many ideas But that's another opportunity for me to be able to guest post So if you're in a networking group or you're part of a chamber Is there is part of the membership being able to write on the website and if it's not asked They're probably looking for some content And if they're redoing their website or they're mentioning that then that's a real opportunity To to get that wider audience and share what you do and who you help and an area of expertise too So we don't have a lot of time left, but I'm I want I want to ask this question How often should you be doing this and should you plan this out like every Tuesday? We're going to have a guest blogger or is it just a little bit more free? Free for all. I mean how how structured should we make this? I think it goes along with Talking about your content calendar or kind of planning your marketing for the year And leaving spots open a guest blogger would be one of those spots monthly quarterly Someone said let them do it more often It doesn't have to be a lot because you probably have your own content going up But it's it's a great way to connect Oh, another idea would be if you're working with another nonprofit right on each other's websites Smart. Oh my gosh, of course. That's a job And you know, I gotta say I love that idea because so many funders are pushing For collaboration and that's just another way to support this whole effort to say, yeah We play well in the sandbox, you know So very interesting. Well, I want to make sure that everybody knows That you can get to Ann's work through agency content writer comm She has amazing amazing content. Of course beautifully done because she's a content writer, but um, this is a really really interesting post that she has Quick guide to guest blogging She's covered a lot of things that we talked about here today But she in this particular piece gets into Kind of the mechanics of it as well And I found it to be really really helpful So go ahead and take a look at that again agency content writer comm And navigate your way over to her blog post. Um, you'll find some amazing things the website is beautifully done I have website envy Just gotta say it's really really well Thank you. Yeah. No, it's really really well done. And then in addition to all the other things, um, you are an Published author and in the title is just gut-wrenching. We don't get to ring the bell My cml story by Ann Macaulay Lopez. Check it out. It's an amazing amazing Journey that you get to share in a very private and profound way And so I just wanted to make sure that we could Highlight that thank you. I appreciate that. It's really an amazing thing again, Ann Macaulay Lopez.  Yeah, I don't think it has to be complicated well There's so much complication in the nonprofit sector to have somebody say if this doesn't have to be complicated It's a major thing. I just gotta say But check out Ann at agency content writer calm an amazing Amazing leader within our sector and somebody who can give you some really Great information. Again. I'm jillia patrick CEO of the american nonprofit academy jaret ransom CEO of the raven group will be joining us back shortly Also, we want to make sure that we thank all of our amazing sponsors from bloom orang american nonprofit academy To our friends at your part-time controller staffing boutique Fundraising academy at national university the nonprofit nerd herself and nonprofit thought leader These are the folks that join us day in and day out and okay as we end today I'm gonna go back to my desk go back to my office I'm gonna get going on some writing and you've really spurned me on my friend. Thank you wonderful It's always wonderful to see you jillia. Thank you so much. It's been great Hey, everybody is we like to remind everyone ourselves or viewers our listeners our guests and of course our co-host jaret ransom Just stay well So you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow everyone


It's been a lot of talk amongst Ravens fans on Twitter today about them having a seven on seven flag football tournament. And y'all know that's right up my alley, right up my alley. But anyway, YouTube, Team Cuban Clean. I hope that y'all are having just a phenomenal day today. I hope that everything is good with your families. Everything is good with your friends. Everything's going great at work, at school, wherever. I hope that everything is good with you. And somebody who is definitely good for.  You're like, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. I hear back none for a couple of days.  And then your phone starts ringing and it's a number that you're not really familiar with.  Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet. Shh. Hello? Yeah, this is him. Yeah. OK, all right, yeah. OK, cool, hey, no, no, no, I appreciate it, thank you. Thank you so much. OK, yeah, I'm looking forward to it, too. Thank you, bye. You got the job. That was the phone call that Vince Beagle got today when the Ravens officially signed in. Because he was at the Ravens rookie, the Ravens rookie minicamp last week. And he was there for a tryout. And he got it. He got the job for now. So congratulations to Vince, to VB on becoming the newest Baltimore Raven. Now, I was naive to Vince Beagle's name to his game. But he is a former Miami Dolphin. So I guess that makes him a Florida Raven, right? You get that? But anyway. So I went to, I saw pro football talk put out a little quick article about him. So I said, you know what? Let me go ahead and read it. So let me share with you what I read. He says, originally, a Packers fourth round pick in 2017. Beagle has bounced around a bit since entering the league. He spent the last three seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Though he missed all the 2020 with an Achilles injury, he was on the practice squad for most of 2021, but was eventually promoted to the active roster. In all, Beagle played five games last year with the majority of his snaps coming on special teams. The Ravens lost Anthony Levine. The Ravens lost Chris Board. The Ravens, they got rid of Miles Boykin, who was becoming a very good special team. So the Ravens on special teams, they lost some significant guys there. And you know that this team values special teams on a whole nother level. As they should, because special teams is very important. I know we always all talk about offense and defense all the time, but I feel like with special teams, at least me myself, I can't speak for all Ravens fans, but me myself, when I really think about it, I probably take Ravens special teams for granted. Probably really do, because Ravens, obviously they have the best kick in the league, Justin Tucker, and they definitely had a phenomenal kicker prior to him with Matt Stover, well, obviously before Billy Cunningham. And there was a time when Billy Cunningham, he was like that, he was nice. But then we know how that story unfortunately ended. Sam Cook's been doing his thing, but he looks to be on the way out. And shout out to him, he has done this thing for a long time here with the Ravens. And then even the return game, the coverage unit, they don't really having people return kicks and punts on them for touchdowns like that. They really don't. And then as far as their return unit, I mean, they could be a little better. I mean, Devon Duvenay was all pro last year, but still Ravens could, they could do a little better in the return game, get a little more of a spark. But maybe Duvenay just, he just getting his wings on them and whatnot, getting even more comfortable. So maybe this year will be the year where he gets back to the end zone and get on special teams, we'll see. But anyway, the Raven special teams over the years has been pretty good. So it's something that I feel like myself, I've taken it for granted and really overlooked just how good that is. But the Ravens, they don't overlook special teams at all. So with this signing, I say all that to say this, that with this signing, this is a debt move and it's also a special teams move. Now, the reason I say debt move is because of this next paragraph. I said this linebacker, Vince Beagle, his most substantial plan time came in 2019 where he appeared in 15 games and he had 10 starts for the Dolphins. So another good thing about this signing is that he not only is a special teamer, but he's somebody that has starting experience. So you can never have enough guys that have starting experience because of a little saying, going around, stay ready so you ain't gotta get ready. And if you got guys that have been there done that, then that makes you a lot more ready. Instead of having to get ready when your number's called. Last season it showed us more than any season before, well, maybe 2015, but last season showed us more than any season before, stay ready so you ain't gotta get ready. Overprepare, overprepare because you just never know. So with him, and get this, not only does he have the 10 starts for the Miami from 2019, but he finished that season with 59 total tackles, seven tackles for a loss, 13 QB hits and an interception. So with that being said, it's like, okay, all right. So when he did play, when he did really get his playing time, he made a count. And that's what you want guys to do. Not everybody's gonna get as much opportunity as the next man, but when it's your time, when your number is called, when it's your chance to shine, you gotta take advantage and you gotta take full advantage as much as you can. Now in offense, sometimes it can be a little bit harder because the ball, like they always say, it's just one ball to go around. But on defense, I feel like with defense, not that it's easier, but I feel like it's a little easier to really make a play and really let your name be put out there. But that's just my opinion. But anyway, something that James and Hensley brought out, which is a good point. They said that Beagle reunites with Raven's outside linebackers coach, Rob Leonard, who was Beagle's position coach in Miami. So, Beagle gonna be walking through the hallways and somebody gonna say, Vince, who was that? He gonna say, hey, it's me, Rob, from Miami. Oh, Rob, what's up, baby? What's going on? You gonna say, welcome. You gonna say, hey, thank you. And hopefully what the, because they hired two coaches from the Dolphins, I believe, but hopefully what they recreate, hopefully they can recreate part of that Dolphins defense from last year that the Ravens had so much issues with and just struggled with so much. Now, I did see a lot of people freaking out about this, the signing. I'm like, come on, man. I know the Ravens fans, we are very emotional and we could be a little bit crazy sometimes too. Depending on what the signing is, we can get a little more upset sometimes and a little less upset other times, but this signing is nothing to freak out about. It's really not, not at all, not one bit. So, yeah, it's a depth move, depth, special teams, that's it. And there's a high chance that he, it's not even a guarantee that he'll make the roster. And even if it was a more notable name right now, too, it wouldn't be, we've seen it, especially over these past couple of years, it is not a guarantee that even a more notable name will make the roster.  We, you're not going to help us be better. They'll release you in the heartbeat. So, shout out to Jeff Srebic. He made up, well, not made up, he put a really good point about Beagle, another nice little tidbit. He said that Beagle has played both inside and outside linebacker. So, see, you see, the more you hear about this signing, the more we find out about this signing, just from Mike Florio, good thing this wasn't about Lamarca, you know, Mike Florio, he'd be a completely different article. But just from what we heard about this signing from Mike Florio, James and Hensley and Jeff Srebic, it's like, oh, okay, that makes it that much more clear as to why the Raven signed him, as to why the Raven has brought him on and brought him in. So, again, no reason to freak out, no reason to get upset over about it, no reason to get up tight about it, no, no. It's a signing for depth because you never want your depth to run out.


so many people have been speaking about the climate crisis so many things have been put on paper but the real question is why is it that we're still not acting at the scale and speed that is necessary what we want to see at cop 27 is moving pledges into implementation every stakeholder needs to step up and push forward the extreme weather events that the scientists have long connected to the climate crisis are becoming far more frequent and far more destructive the climate crisis is a threat multiplier which means it exacerbates existing inequities in our society the impacts are felt most deeply by black indigenous and communities of color we're living through an explosion of inequality we need to remember we're on the same planet and this is the planet that we need to make sustainable for the whole of humanity climate change is impacting food security as well as political stability in many nations around the world five years ago there were 80 million people marching towards starvation that number jumped to 135 million what calls to jump it was man-made conflict like in Ukraine compounded with climate shocks no one is as vulnerable to climate change as farmers are if you talk transformation the first thing they want to know is what must I do on my farm this challenge a cop is the moment to set up monitoring and accountability mechanisms and put money on the table to help developing countries to accelerate towards decarbonizing we know that to this transition we require a fast adoption of a lot of new technologies and the question today is how to find the appropriate way to find in this technology to put a number around it it's an extra two and a half to three trillion dollars a year of additional finance that we have to find in order to get those emissions down financial institutions have a lot of roles to play to bring the advice and provide the financing to make these transitions happen younger generations are demanding a sense of purpose they want to look at companies and say I am investing with you all for this reason with two cops taking place in Africa and the Middle East we have this tremendous opportunity to put emerging markets at the forefront of our collective response to climate change international trade has to be part of the solution how do we all get together to talk about a global carbon price that can guide us and help us to decarbonize the world the solutions are there what we need is governments to regulate to invest and we need business to act with values history will look at us people politicians corporate leaders these times requires not only solutions but speed there is nowhere else to look than the mirror we are the ones that need to do this hello and welcome to today's session on the power and participation of young people at COP 27 my name is Natalie Pierce and I am the head of the world economic forums youth-based global shapers community and today I'm joined by my co-host Sophia Simmons Sophia leads the global shapers climate action initiatives hi Sophia how are ya hey Natalie it is a pleasure to be able to lead this discussion with you today it's a pleasure to be able to moderate because we have an incredible lineup of insightful and inspiring speakers so I suggest we jump right in as our viewers know UN led climate talks kicked off this week in Shemal shake Egypt and today we'll hear from some of our participating members on the key role that youth who represent more than half of the world's population are playing in this year's conference according to the recent UNF triple C report we are approaching five dangerous tipping points due to the current 1.1 degrees of global warming which presents of course serious extinction risks for many species us included so in today's session we want to get to the heart of the discussions taking place at COP 27 and here directly from youth delegates our world leaders doing enough to invert climate catastrophe and how are they listening to the voices of the next generation particularly those on the front lines of this crisis who are facing and feeling its worst effects global shapers represent 10,000 young innovators and activists under the age of 30 who are driving action to protect people and planet in 500 cities and 150 countries worldwide thanks to the support of a host of partners most notably the climate reality project global shapers have implemented close to 500 projects to reduce emissions respond to natural disasters and preserve biodiversity and of course conserve nature what we witness every day in our community is that young people are not giving up hope our members are taking local action raising community awareness and continuing to remind countries and companies of their duties to advance urgent climate action Sophia you highlight the important role that young people play in advancing the climate agenda and particularly the important role they play in this week's negotiation our members are joining forces in Egypt they're bringing their local communities and perspectives along their speaking truth to power they're liaising with key figures from across the UNF triple C process and they are ensuring that diversity equity and justice are at the forefront of discussions these are the principles at the heart of the global shapers community and the principles that young people are bringing to cop so with this in mind let us discover young people's stories of creativity innovation and resilience at cop 27 as they fight for their future and the future of our planet first we'll play a short video to give viewers a preview of youth activities at cop 27 let's roll it you saw into the conference center and now we are going to go live from the conference center we are connected so let's get started up first we will be joined by six members of the global shapers community and we are going to kick things off with wool Hammond he is a member of the global shapers Abuja hub in Nigeria professionally he's a sustainability expert and strategist advising institutions on green transitions and ESG integration for positive impact and he's also leading a green skilling program well how are you today I want to ask you what's happening what's your experience been like so far in Charmel shake hi Natalie thank you for your question it's been an eventful five days here in Egypt seeing activities from the blue zone the green zone and the green zone this is the fifth time cop is coming to Africa and it's it's a great opportunity for African leaders and negotiators to table the interest of regions that vulnerable to the problems and impact of climate change as well as demand solution and urgent action by other world leaders to address this problem I would also say I'm saying that it's an opportunity for not just Africa border least develop regions of the world and Southeast Asia and small island states to come together present their voices and see that we demand climate justice now and see equitable transition towards a green and sustainable future it's also been interesting to see young people we've not seen the type of walks and the protest we saw a cop 26 but young people have sort of come together in small groups around the blue zone to keep demanding and holding my leaders accountable and demanding that this is the time to take action and see that we make cop 27 happening here in Charmel shake an implementation cop to deliver on the promises and agreements that we've had before it's been a great experience and we look forward that this couple older to its promises and deliver on action that will protect the planet and bring just transition for the people so that we can live equitable and sustainable lives thank you Natalie thanks well you mentioned some of the various zones for those who won't have the chance to be in Egypt what has been your favorite pavilion or favorite session so far thank you it's been outside the blue zone and something interesting has happened for the first time in the history of cop for over 27 sessions for the first time we have a children and a youth pavilion it's great to see it's been great to see young voices people speaking sharing ideas walking and speaking true to power amplifying voices so the youth pavilion has really been an interesting place I've spent a couple of various engagement has spent a couple of time there and it's been my favorite place another place that would also interest young people is the innovation zone where we seen innovators and entrepreneurs as well as investors and private sector participants come together sharing ideas on how we can use innovation and technology to address the climate problem so for me the children the children and youth pavilion as well as the innovation zone have been the biggest points for me thanks well it is so cool to see live in the conference zone in the blue zone now so we're so happy you're with us have a last question and of course I have to ask how are youth moving the needle on the climate action agenda at COP 27 and particularly how do you think global shapers are making a difference thank you Natalie it's been great to see young people not only from the civil society space or the business side of things but also being part of country delegations and negotiating and being involved in the technical dialogue so it shows that young people have the skills the experience and they have the leadership traits to take climate action and the global shapers community as protecting the planet as one of its core impact areas and I will tell you shapers have been doing a lot of amazing work on the ground in their various communities across the 500 plus homes that we have and I see the opportunity for us to keep demanding and speaking true to power holding our leaders accountable ensuring that they take action we don't want to see the talks anymore we want to see action and global shapers can keep pushing for that in our respective communities and also mobilizing ourselves as a force of young people is one of our advantages so I see the opportunity to keep mobilizing true advocacy true policy support true innovation and entrepreneurship to drive green growth in our communities and ensure that we have just transition thank you thanks so much will for tuning in and joining us we are joined by five other global shapers as well so we are going to keep rolling it's pretty remarkable we have over 90 young representatives from the global shapers community alone who are present in COP 27 this week so a huge delegation from the global shapers community but of course there are hundreds of young people who are influencing the negotiations in Egypt over of course this past week and next week as well and so this session is really an opportunity to hear from them who is up next Sophia up next we have Marie Claire from the Zurich hub so I think it is important to note as we heard from wool that it's not just youth that are participating as contributors to civil society but as part of official delegations so Marie Claire you were awarded by the UN secretary general to be the youth climate champion of Switzerland and elected to serve the youth constituent constituency of the UNF triple C I also know that you lead several associations and initiatives and climate action sustainable development youth women power as well as the climate youth negotiators program so very happy to have you with us and I would like to ask you who should we be paying attention to right now in the actual negotiations who are the key players thank you so much and welcome from the negotiations itself here in Egypt you probably have heard some of the toughest negotiations are around loss and damage financing loss and damage adaptation but also when it comes to how are we addressing the gender related issues on climate or also education so there are a lot of things on our agenda especially because after we had the Paris agreement now we're moving into the implementation phase how are we really bringing these frameworks and policies to the ground and what my previous speaker just mentioned how can also people like all of you all of us actually work on the implementation that we actually have real climate action and so these are the big topics but I would like to address the question from a different angle because for too long we have been seeing a lot of talks and we haven't been moving forward and I think what is really really crucial is that that this cop has already mentioned we have an absolutely groundbreaking number of young people spearheading these negotiations and it's so important because we cannot have the same people trying to address the same questions and coming up with the same solutions which haven't worked for the last 30 years that's why we need new blood kind of injecting into these negotiations and that's why I'm really really glad that we have been training with the youth negotiators academy 60 young people young individuals from all over the planet to actually be part of their delegations and really being at these decision-making tables and defining the future of our planet and that has been really amazing to see how you know these young people who have been trained together but also have been building a community together are huddling in the negotiations and then no matter what country they're coming from they're actually drafting language because as you might know the UNFCC negotiations are consensus based meaning we need one language where every country needs to agree or at least not object and this is only working if we really work together and what young people bring in is this kind of passion this drive and speaking from the heart and lived experiences and I'm really really glad to see how this is changing now and I really hope that through this injection of young people you can see more intergenerational leadership where it's kind of driven by passion and love instead of kind of how can we kick each other out and how can we have you know like these very tough negotiations and how can we come together because ultimately it's our future and for us 2030 2050 or even 2100 are words where myself or at least my kids will be still alive and it comes from a very different point kind of having these time perspectives and that's why I think it's very very crucial that we have this momentum around young people and also global shapers in the space at the COP 27 thank you so much for that answer and I can also hear in you that that passion and drive that is so present in your work I am curious would love to know what do you think is missing if anything is missing from the UNF triple C agenda for COP 27 well countries have been fighting very hard to put loss and damage as an agenda item and before the negotiations actually started there were a lot of negotiations already happening to bring loss and damage on the agenda and I'm very very glad and happy that this actually happened because several of the young people you have been training have been reporting how their islands are already suffering from loss and damage right now or actually in the past and it's really important that this topic isn't the agenda and I really hope we can move forward with ambitious items this is already there and there is no standing alone item on young people which I personally don't think is actually a bad thing because I think young people are an intersection right I need to have the voices of young people in all the different items and that's why it's important to have them actually sitting in these decision-making tables and kind of bring forward how do we address the youth-related aspect when it comes to adaptation when it comes to gender how do we protect especially girls in loss and damage related questions how can we make funding more accessible when young people innovators have great ideas but they're excluded from the funding mechanisms so I think it's very important how we can mainstream the youth-related elements in these negotiations and this cannot only be done by young people themselves because I do truly believe in intergenerational leadership and it's a common cause we are fighting so how can everyone really contribute that the perspectives and voices of young people and especially the most vulnerable and also most marginalized young people can be included in all of these conversations and decisions and ultimately in the implementation thank you so much Marie Claire your your answers are informative thoughtful and heartfelt so I really appreciate learning from you thank you and best of luck for for the rest of cop we are going to transition to our next speaker already feel like we have heard so much information yes amazing absolutely our next speaker and our next guest is a namgye choden she's from our tempu hub in Bhutan she is a former curator she's a climate reality leader she also is actively breaking barriers to youth participation and decision-making as a foreign service officer and is also equipped over 400 Bhutanese youth in climate literacy so she is active in her community and also at these negotiations namgye rumor has it you have a very special pink badge if I'm not mistaken can you tell us more about what this pink badge means and give us some behind the scenes hi Natalie and Sophie such a pleasure to meet you over our video conference here as you know I am at the venue right now and it's been a long day having a pink badge means that I am part of my country's party delegation and I am actively taking part in the negotiations it has truly been an eye opening experience especially for me because this is my first time at COP and my first time in the negotiations amazing as an active member of the negotiations when you arrived in Egypt I'm curious what was your mission and mandate for COP 27 what are you hoping to see come out of this meeting I'll answer this from two perspectives so the first would be that my mission here at the COP 27 is to represent the interests of my country I am from Bhutan a small and least developed country in the Himalayas that contributes the least to climate change but does not exempt from the worst impacts of it I am also negotiating on the article 6 track which is on the carbon markets and within that we are currently discussing trading carbon credits between countries trading carbon credits with actors outside of the states but also to have an aspect of non-market approaches to mitigation you may have already heard that finance and money is the talk of the town and for developing countries there's a lot of expectations that we can establish a infrastructure and mechanism that is equitable that encourages more finance flows into countries that need it the most so where I am currently there's a lot of expectations riding on the outcomes of these negotiations so my mission here is to be a young voice here because I feel that we are at a time where there's a lot of skepticism about the multilateral process but when I come here and when I get to witness this for the first time I have not lost hope I am still very very optimistic and this is what I feel that including more young voices in the process brings to this entire institution that we have here that it is injecting a lot of hope and a lot of dynamism now going back a couple couple of steps as a global shaper and as a climate reality I'm also here to represent the interests of our larger community our larger world and I am here to ask our world leaders for more ambition and for more equity in the process you mentioned about more ambition and more equity I'm curious Namke when you think about the changes you'd like to see it also means action and I'm curious what actions do you hope young people will also take at the meeting but after the meeting too so I'm thinking about it in terms of my own lived experience here I am the youngest negotiator on my delegation and this is personally a this personally something that I'm very proud of but I also believe that we really really need to bring more youth voices into the international mechanisms for climate action but also at home I would like to talk a little bit about the global shapers Timpoha project the baton climate futures lab that was created with the intention of bringing more youth perspectives into the policy process because we really did notice that in the national policy discussions a lot of youth voices were missing because of a lot of existing barriers such as young people simply not being aware that certain policies and certain ways to address climate change at a systemic method at a systemic level exists so what can young people do I think it is crucial for young people to be ambitious themselves and to want to be in areas of decision-making I'm talking about politics but I'm also talking about government I'm talking about businesses so it's important for young people to place themselves in positions and places where they have a voice to influence decisions and it is not about consultations now but rather about collaborations between different sectors of society and where young people would have an important role to play there thank you namgay for joining us super helpful reflections from namgay of course we are ten thousand global shapers around the world many of whom are joining us for this session in over 500 cities in 150 countries and what namgay highlights so of course young people can shape dialogue from boardrooms to public offices young people have a role to play in really advocating for concrete change and holding people accountable but of course our young members who are on the line what we also heard from namgay is that you have implementation potential through hub projects through local initiatives we can reduce emissions we can conserve nature and biodiversity there's so much that young people are doing around the world particularly in the global shapers community so we're joined by three more representatives of our community let's move to who's next thank you so much up next we have Lucy Tom from the Beijing hub Lucy you are a researcher for climate change and sustainable development and also an organizer of global solutions festival which is an annual gathering of young change makers to solve pressing global issues coming both from the academic perspective and also the action-oriented perspective as I know you are a very action-oriented person how has this cop been for you which is also your first thank you Sophia so as you mentioned this is my first cop and I've always been excited to to attend this conference because this is where you know actions happen at a national level where negotiations happen and you know I come from a small town from Inner Mongolia and for those of you guys who don't know Inner Mongolia is the autonomous region north of Beijing and it's it's very deserted and my town is the town that that produces iron and steel for the country and from growing up I've always seen air pollution being part of my childhood and this has inspired me to become you know a climate change advocate and so it's especially exciting for me to attend cop this year and I think a few lessons I've learned during cop is first and foremost bring a lot of food and drinks I've been having a lot of trouble finding these and and so jokes aside the other thing that I really have thought about is prioritizing so I've realized that cop 27 is a magical place every everyone who is in climate is here all the youth all the business leaders the world leaders everyone who cares about climate is in cop 27 and so you really got to utilize your agenda and to see what you to to understand the topic that you're trying to under the trying to you know get into and to really utilize your time here and with that being said there's also another another thing that you need to be aware of which is to be on your toes and I've met so many business world leaders in on just on our on our way around and you really gotta you know utilize that opportunity to share your voice and to to tell them what youth are thinking about in climate thank you so much Lucy and those are some very useful tips for hopefully next year when even more global shapers can can go to the conference it also sounds like you're saying be dressed to impress at all times so well noted Lucy what is your call to action for shapers and for young people so I like to quote Gimway from the World Economic Forum here she's the head of the nature and climate team in in the forum and and during one of the comfort the panels that we had she mentioned that how she likes to mainstream the center for nature and climate and then in the next five years so that it's in the agenda of the business leaders and of the world leaders and I really think that global shapers and the YGLs could play a role here we oh I know that we have been drafting open letter but you know along the global shapers who are coming to COP 27 and I do feel like there has been a trend of global world leaders caring more about the voice of youth and so I really hope that we would be able to deliver this open letter to to the people who actually makes decisions at in climate change and I really and also to to be able to share the impact of global shapers as well as the forum at international opportunities like these thank you so much Lucy and that is something that we're working on together so I appreciate you mentioning it so I'll I'll get to work on it right after this thank you so much thank you for joining us and a lot to think about but we are going to move right along I like the balance between very specific logistical recommendations for upcoming shapers but also lots of high level recommendations for world leaders business leaders too so a big thank you to Lucy up next a familiar face to Sophia and I Alejandro it is nice to see you again up next we are joined by Alejandro Rene Dali Rivera he is a member of our Bogota hub in Columbia Alejandro we just heard from Lucy about the very real tangible important issue of air pollution I know you've just participated in sessions with the World Economic Forum's Alliance of Clean Air looking at ways to tackle our health and the health of the planet we also know of course you're a founding member of the Latin America Coalition for Clean Air you also are working hard on the integration of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Latin America through your own organization I'm happy to see you Alejandro how are you doing today I'm doing amazing thank you how are you doing and very happy and excited to talk to you and all of the other global shapers active in Egypt I'm very curious mission message this session of course is called youth perspectives and call to action what has been your message at COP 27 so far and what's your call to action of course and thanks for the question and as Lucy was mentioning air pollution is a huge topic and I'm a forcibly displaced migrant from Venezuela that used to live in Colombia air pollution like forcibly displacement reminds me of how things that you don't control can directly shape your future I was born with asthma that it got worse due to air pollution when I moved to Bogota and what it was not a common situation to get asthma attacks just became my daily life and that was the trigger point to start a whole journey of over four years of mobilizing young people in Colombia to America to tackle air pollution and when I gathered these as a mission I think my mission is to empower young people to discover their their best version for the world and mine was a version that could use his voice to shape public policy but also inspire others to take action and in this case my me my goal here at COP 27 is to make sure that we put health at the center of the climate agenda air pollution now kills seven million people every year and just in Colombia every 15 minutes a person dies of this is related to air pollution so how can we make sure that air pollution is at the center of the COP agenda and that we're taking actions to save not the lives of our future generations but the life of our own children and our own families are currently affected by air pollution thanks Alejandro you mentioned of course air pollution do you think anything else is missing from the UNF triple C agenda this year in COP and what are the issues young people are raising to make up for this we're seeing a huge increase of different issues such as loss and damage of course there's a debate a giant debate around deforestation but I think when we're talking something that is seeing at COP but not really on the agenda particularly will be air pollution non-communicable diseases that are also increased due to the climate crisis and a particular issue that is keen to me because of my history that is forced to display climate mobility and climate refugees where there is a pavilion of climate mobility but we should be seen that as a center of the climate agenda and not just an appendix of loss and damage how many people from small developments island states but also from Central America and South America we're seeing huge amounts of migrants living from even from Brazil or from Colombia and from all Central America due to the fact that they no longer have water or that they no longer can cultivate their own foods so I think we're on a track I will hope to say that is that we're on the right track but definitely what we need here is more young people that know that you can definitely shape the future because we're shapers and we're shaping it and and for me that the message here is if you think that you cannot do anything to fight the air pollution of the climate crisis or the effects of the climate crisis in your own community please you can you can definitely make a difference you can make a difference and you must make a difference Alejandro we are wrapping up on the first week of COP 27 I'm curious as we head into the second week are there things you're still looking forward to or things you want to achieve in the days ahead I think I'm actually really excited of the difference like more informal meetings we have everything happens so fast at COP this is actually my first COP as well and we and the weekend we are gonna have some spaces informal gatherings to gather to meet with other people interested in our own issues part in my case for example kept climate and health so I'm really interested in knowing their stories and because I know everyone that is at COP or almost everyone is here because they care and I want to hear the stories behind them and also I'm really keen to know how they go this negative negotiations are going to advance and if we're going to see some real action on loss and damage in the agenda thank you Alejandro thank you for joining us nice to see you and we wish you luck for your activities in the week ahead last but not least we have one final shaper to talk about and talk with Sophia who's up next next we have Camilla and she can go by one name kind of like Madonna for example or Beyonce Camilla is our community champion one of our wonderful community champions she's been a member of our community since 2019 she is a bridge builder between the big players and grass root initiatives and heavily engaged with the Amazon rainforest communities she recently launched the creators Academy initiative creating innovative and strategic ways to communicate messaging about climate action and democracy Camilla you are also a frontline advocate I know for the most vulnerable communities and one of our as one of our esteemed community champions I would love to know what you would propose for hubs to do to really make a difference with within their region what have you seen work so far Wow thank you very much for having me I've been seeing a lot in our communities especially shapers they are like doing great things through innovative innovation I've been seeing cross hub collaboration I've been seeing people like traveling across oceans to help another shapers and I believe that our community can be an example and lead by example other communities especially because we are highly engaged high educated we are super connected with the real issues that our communities local communities are facing and I've been shapers doing a lot of things especially here in cop we most shapers are some of those negotiators or specialists and I've been and I really believe that we can like back to our communities local communities and share not just about the such as like humanitarian aids that global shapers are doing Pakistan or in Amazon during the oxygen crisis last year because of COVID so shapers are leading the way we are changing our reality right now so I have I believe and I help that we can share more about our communities especially here in spaces like cop not just to be an example but help them to find a ways to help us continue making impact thank you so much for that response I actually because this is the last question I'm going to allow Natalie to do the honors I believe you also had a question for Camila Camila it is nice to see you thank you for joining us Camila you just mentioned it's so important for young people to be conscious of the impacts of climate and I'm curious what are the most significant impacts of climate change that you see in Brazil and and what's your call to action as you're in cop as we close up today's session what do you want to share with our online audience okay Brazil right now say to the whole world that we want to stop the forestation and we want to protect indigenous communities and traditional communities because they are really holding the skies above us as a indigenous leader from Brazil said so we must I've been seeing like Brazil fighting against like bad policies I've been seeing Brazil especially the young activists they are like telling the world what what we need but also have been seen like behind the scenes a lot of scientists and researchers and especially the the health workers they are doing the real work right now so Brazil has the especially a special role for me at this cop because we on like we are responsible for taking care of the the most important tropical forest so if we not if you we are not engaged and committed to really maintain the forest stand and stop the forestation the global community will like you know ask us for answers so right now I think all the Brazilians that are here they're committed to show the the global community that we are able to stop the forestation my my final takeaways of course this cop is calling the cops the cop of implementation so I'm here like help I'm here like I want to see those type of implementations I want to see really finance for laws and damage I really want to see the proposal to mitigation and adaptation become real projects but you know we are not more we don't have more time to pilot projects we must act we know that Nate basic nature based solutions works we know which nature based solution solutions can be scalable so we must invest on those on those solutions and now am I also helping to hoping to see the youth voices and especially those people from like small islands indigenous communities being heard and also being part of the decisions to to you know receive and use those investments thank you so much Camilla for joining us for today's session for the work that you do in Brazil to combat climate and to ensure that those on the front lines of this crisis are heard and part of the process as well and of course thank you for all the work you do to inspire and mobilize global shapers in your region and around the world it is a pleasure to talk to you today thank you all right Sophia wow it feels like we have traversed the globe talking to global shapers from different regions different countries we've heard about the effects of climate change around the world I'm inspired by what I've heard and I'm also just moved by the level of commitment that our members are showing to these negotiations and their work year-round absolutely we heard from Marie Claire that young people bring the passion in the heart and then we heard that with all of them and we and I felt it yeah the passion and the heart and the expertise yeah and it was amazing to see those shapers who are active in negotiation rooms and who are really advancing the climate agenda so congratulations to you you work with these members year-round and what a powerful reminder of what global shapers are doing on climate I also want to of course thank our global shapers for sharing their experiences and actions we heard from our members of course who are on the ground in Egypt and this as we heard this conference is not about ambition raising like in Glasgow or commitment making as we saw in Paris but this cop is really about concrete actions to address the climate crisis and as we heard from our members there are many solutions that exist that need to be scaled and replicated and we heard about some of the concrete ways global shapers are doing this I want to thank Lucy Nam gay Marie Claire Camilla will and Alejandro for leading climate action in your communities and on the world stage Sophia as we wrap up this conversation I do want to ask you for all of the global shapers who are watching what should we keep in mind and what as a community should we be focused on in the days and months to come I think that it's essential that we acknowledge that the real-life count consequences of the climate crisis are felt differently by our members around the world this past year it manifested in deadly heat waves that scorched India and Pakistan with the highest temperatures ever recorded heavy rainfall attributed to climate change has spurred severe flooding and landslides that have devastated communities in South Africa and Brazil in Pakistan eight weeks of torrential rain triggered devastating floods that left one-third of the country underwater off the coast of Australia the Great Barrier Reef experienced its sixth mass bleaching event and in my home country the United States a mega drought gripped the southwestern region with 2021 seeing such extreme dryness causing devastating fires that it has now been classified as the worst drought in 1200 years so drought coupled with extreme heat also blanketed China this year shutting down factories and impinging on hydroelectric hydroelectric power plants these are just a few of the consequences of climate change but it is essential to remember that these that these consequences impact our community differently with historically marginalized communities bearing the brunt of costs and impacts this is why it is critical for global shapers to not only address climate issues within their own communities but for those with greater resources to find ways to support others around the world it is in the spirit we are calling on all global shapers all climate leaders to declare a climate emergency and we aim to reach 50 cities by our annual summit next summer and for those of you who live in cities who have already declared to work on and work together to hold your policymakers and industry leaders accountable we are here to support you I am here to support you Natalie is here to support you so please get in touch and join us our call to action is clear declare a climate emergency in your city and work with global shapers around the world for a strong and powerful movement to advance the climate agenda it is essential of course for our members to understand and to also raise awareness for the real intangible impacts of climate change on our members around the world so thank you for that Sophia I do want to leave this session on a note of hope and that I think is what we heard today we have seen how youth and indigenous led acts activism has led to an increasing number of leaders across government the private sector and civil society who understand the urgent need to address climate change as well as the benefits of immediate action climate action is really now becoming mainstream across all aspects of the economy and society from central banks and multilateral development institutions to mayors and ministers as well as companies and local community groups and of course youth mobilization the members of youth movements around the world have a lot to do with this so we cannot stop now we need to continue to accelerate climate action and as we heard from Lucy Namgye Marie Claire Camilla will and Alejandro young leaders must have the information power and voice to shape decision-making processes and that is one key focus of the global shapers community we are grateful to the passion and activism of global shapers who are online as this session comes to an end and other youth activists around the world you give us hope for the future of our planet thank you for joining us today and we hope to see you next time