Shopping for a better world

[Music]

[Applause]

when our friends and colleagues are

given the opportunity

to say something about us we’d almost

always be surprised at what they say

sometimes their words are extremely

critical

other times their words holster in truth

that we’d only come to realize

many years after i can recall

in grade 7 during the last year of my

elementary school

during the last weeks of class everyone

is given a survey

that only the graduating students will

be able to participate in

the survey is for the graduation

yearbook and in one section

we were asked to vote for whom a person

is most likely to become when they grow

up

now i wanted to be a female leader or a

businesswoman

but that didn’t happen mom

dad at the age of 13

i was voted the most likely to become

a shopaholic

now their words were not critical nor

complementary

but they hold certain truth and a

journey of self-discovery and reflection

i students

embarked on they knew me too well

fast forward 11 years i began working at

unesco headquarters in paris for the

education for sustainable development

now unesco i found out pretty quickly

that i was different

unlike most my colleagues who had their

background in education

in social sciences political science

law and other humanity degree

i study business i also found out that

some of my colleagues view business

as a force that is counterproductive to

what the united nation is trying to

achieve

they think businesses only care about

profit which is counterproductive

to the united nation goal which is to

achieve peace and well-being

for everyone

now understand why people think

businesses only care about profit

the capitalist society we live in puts

profit

at the expense of society at large

allowing private companies to think that

we need good

right it’s an evil plan in making

consumers the ultimate

victim of materialistic and thoughtless

spending habits we see countries defying

their success by gdp growth domestic

product

defining a country’s success by how much

worth of good it is made

countries and companies somehow have

found a perfect way to realize this

measurement

they want to generate meat

in excess of it so they can consume

in excess of it and it’s an excuse for

them to produce

in excess of it that way they can

generate higher gdp

however when profit is the only thing

that we care about

we forget that these profits come with

consequences

we’ve seen some of these consequences

unroll in the past few decades

we know climate change and unsustainable

economies build on sweatshop

child labor and pollution we have

allowed our greed

to benefit from the short-term gain

we all know what will eventually happen

if we consume as if nature has

infinite amount of resources

i am sure you’re aware of the effect of

global warming climate change

greta and other environmentalist groups

have done a good job in spreading this

awareness

but what is allowing individuals

companies government countries to

continue

to ignore this fact is the excuses

that we make for us

there’s a psychological term called the

socio-psychological phenomena

which is a diffusion of responsibilities

studies have shown that a person is less

likely to take responsibility for their

action or inaction

when a group of bystanders or witnesses

are present

meaning in scenarios where everyone

should be responsible

no one actually feels responsible

individuals blame companies who blame

government who blame economies who blame

other governments

it’s all too familiar cycle

but how can we break this well instead

of relying on businesses to make the

change

we need to change from within

you see nothing just happens changes

doesn’t just come on a platter of gold

we must desire change and take steps

in actualizing it

a concept that i came across is voting

with your money

voting with your money is a powerful way

to drive a sustainable

ecosystem every time we pull out our

wallet to buy a product

businesses actually analyze our buying

behaviors

and in turn collect our preferences to

generate big data

they will then use this big data to roll

out similar products

and products that they think we would

like

voting with your money means you become

informed and are conscious

about your buying decisions

the powerful side of this is that we all

become

informed vigilant buyers who shift our

spending power

according to what is right it translates

into a powerful message

it transforms us from passive shoppers

to vision buyers and collectively our

buying habits

will allow us to build a cleaner

and more sustainable world

for example every time that i buy at a

local store

i tell the businesses that my community

is worth more

than a big box store sell every time

i don’t buy things i tell businesses

that i don’t need anymore things to make

myself happy

every time i buy organic i tell

businesses

that i want more farmers to grow

healthier and more sustainable food

and every time i buy certified fair

trade i champion

and fight against poverty wow who knew

there are so many voting rights

associated with the dollar that i spend

making these conscious decisions will

allow businesses to shift

from a commercial perspective to adopt

to a more sustainable

business model that benefit us

so next time you purchase an item don’t

buy anything that you think is cheap

what’s convenient but buy what’s right

with our collective power we can drive

the society that we want to see

so back to the present after 12 years

i finally found the new meaning

of my elementary title the most likely

to become a shopaholic

yes i am crazy about spending money

because i know that every single dollar

is a voting right

and i’m shopping for a better world most

of the time people want their voices to

be heard

but how can we be heard when we’re not

even speaking

by voting with your money you become

voices that cause

positive change from the very root

and with this i urge you to join me and

shop for a better world thank you