- Fantastic huh?
Inspirational.
So take a deep breath.
We've been on a race for the
last several hours, right?
Breath it in.
I'd like to thank everybody
who's been part of this event,
those who have helped to
organize it, imagine it,
implement it and for all of you
who have participated in it.
We've been in this together,
over the last day and a half
and I hope that you've found it
not just interesting, but transformative
in the ways that you see the world,
the way you think about your career
and the ideas you have about
what you'll do coming
out of this experience.
So first of all, thank you all.
Second of all,
Katie and I were talking about
how to close this session
and what sort of final
reflections I can bring.
We've covered a lot of ground.
I'm not sure I can tell you anything new
or that we haven't already addressed
and really the point wasn't
for me to have the
inspiration and insight.
It was for you to have those inspirations,
insights and reflections.
So let me just give you a little warning
that in a moment I'm
going to share some ideas,
but I'd like to hear from
at least a few of you
about what are the things that
you think will really stay with you,
something that you learned,
some question that you have,
some new insight that you have.
So I'd like to just hear
from a couple of you
and if we don't get anyone to stand up,
I know that I can force
some of the Duke students
to stand up, because I
control their grades.
So that's my threat, at this point.
I want to share just a few thoughts.
First of all,
it's clear from the conversation today
that climate change
is an incredibly urgent issue
and it's the tip of the iceberg.
I think we're not only
looking at a climate issue.
We're looking at a systemic issue
about how we
sustain
a human population the size we have
at the quality of life
that we want and aspire to
on a planet that has finite resources
and requirements for us.
So climate change is the most salient,
most urgent, most visible
part of that challenge,
but I think it's much
more pervasive than that.
It touches every system
that we care about;
food, energy, cities,
soils, people, ecosystems
and all of us are embedded in that system.
So that's, I think, first takeaway is
climate change is a great way in,
but once you get there you
recognize the connections
to all of the other issues we care about.
Second is that
from the beginning today,
from Katherine's talk
and throughout the day, we know that
there's an imperative for
radical systemic change
and that we don't control
the pace of that science.
The chemistry of the
atmosphere sets the pace
for our ambition on that.
Number three:
the transition has well and truly started.
I think what I took away
from this conversation today
is we're not talking just
about what we might do,
but about what is really already happening
in every corner of the world
and the level of commitment
and experimentation
that's already going on.
So the revolution's here; we're living it.
To rise to challenge though,
I think we need to have
more imagination
than we've had in the past;
more investment, clearly,
in the trillions of dollars;
more coordination of players
who haven't really necessarily
figured out what interest they share
or how they might work together.
We need to to this at global scale
and we need to do it at the
urgency as if we were in a war.
So I think, how do we
build that kind of urgency.
Number five:
In the energy panel, it was clear
that there is no silver bullet.
No silver bullet; lot's of buckshot
all shot at a really
comprehensive and coordinated
and strategic way.
I think that's the challenge.
There's lot of pieces that
have to be figure out,
need to be implemented, need to be driven.
Number six: the leadership imperative.
I think you have heard from
Lord Michael and from Jim
that
we are the people that
we've been waiting for.
This is the moment for all of us to play
leadership roles and really
what could be more exciting than that.
And finally, that's, I guess,
where I come away from today ...
I think I honestly can say
that this is probably the most
energized and
optimistic I've been around this issue,
after the discussions
that we've had today.
The tone in all of the
conversations that I've heard
is urgent and serious, but there's a level
of emergent optimism
and excitement about it.
So I think that's what we
have to continue to build on,
draw from and really use
to our own advantage.
Those are some the points that
I wanted to share with you.
Any of you would like to
share any of your thoughts
on just some single points
that you've taken away?
Yeah, Eric.
- [Eric] Yeah.
When Kate Gordon said climate
change is as disruptive
as automation, I thought that
really resonated with me,
because so much discussion
that we have in business school
was often around how are
companies leveraging automation
and here's a topic that's
actually impacting all of us
at a global scale and
just remembering the scale
of both of these issues simultaneously.
- Yeah, to be able to reframe it
along some of those other
sort of tectonic plate shifts
that are going on.
Anyone else?
Yes.
Joseph.
- [Joseph] Something that came up to me;
I'm relatively new to sustainability,
probably the summer
before I started school,
I'm a first year hear at Fuqua;
is this idea that the time is now.
I've heard that a lot
in past year and a half
of studying these type of things
and I'm really curious to hear ...
Think about how many of
you have heard this before
and is it actually the time.
Dan, you said you're
really excited right now
and I come from strategy consulting
and I've heard this about a
lot of other things as well;
talking about cybersecurity
and AI, blockchain;
the time is now for all
these different things.
So that's something that I'm going to
think about a lot personally,
is this actually the time,
but also, more importantly, does it matter
if it's the time and what can I do,
whether it is the time now
or it's still ...
- Translating enthusiasm into action.
Good.
Anyone else?
Yes.
- [Woman] From here in
the Food and Ag Center,
it's been said, how can I
be a sustainable ally now
if I'm not in a sustainable field,
specifically with that
title, and Diane pointed out
we all can be that individual
that we're having here
and be able to look at
the economic advantages
to be able to have substantial growth.
It doesn't happen just because
we have sustainability on our title,
but because we're looking
for the opportunities
in where we're at now.
- Awesome.
Good.
So I just wanted to kind
of wet your appetite.
We're going to go to a reception now,
which is going to be over
at the JB Duke Hotel,
right across the way here.
I'd like to thank you all for being here,
the great attention, the speakers
that shared their insights
and the energy that you
all brought to this.
So give ourselves a round of applause.
(applauding)
