Team Fulcrum
* Team Name
* Team Email Address (Email will be used for
team communication with/by the U.S. Fund
for UNICEF):
LauriV@harker.org
Team Members
First Name
Last Name
Email address
Gender
(M / F)
School / Organization
Date of Birth
(YYYY-MM-DD)
Jacob
Chappell
11jacobc@student
s.harker.org
M
The Harker School
1993-03-13
Tyler
Koteskey
11tylerk@students
.harker.org
M
The Harker School
1993-04-25
Shreya
Nathan
11shreyan@stude
nts.harker.org
F
The Harker School
1993-09-24
Olivia
Zhu
11oliviaz@student
s.harker.org
F
The Harker School
1993-04-30
2) G8 Summit agenda issues: Focusing on selected G8 agenda topics, describe two
ways you would recommend to G8 leaders to solve each problem. Please write up to 300
words to describe two ideas for each topic below.
A. The Environment and Climate Change
Describe two ideas for ways G8 countries can achieve sustainable and efficient
energy supply, energy consumption reduction and other measures to curb global
warming and better protect the integrity of the environment. (Maximum 300
words.)
Current trends of global energy consumption are increasingly unsustainable. As
humankind wastes energy, natural resources are depleted as such waste is exacerbated by
the threat of global warming and climate change.
Thus, we propose that G8 countries mandate a gradual reduction of carbon
emissions through the use of a cap and trade program, as the necessity of purchasing
permits becomes a negative market incentive for pollution-heavy industries. The many
benefits of capping emissions include alleviating the current energy crisis and slowing the
greenhouse effect. Not only does a cap and trade system decrease carbon emissions, but it
also spurs the innovation of environmentally friendly business practices such as
renewable energy. Such research and development creates new industries and jobs.
Moreover, cap and trade infuses tradable assets into the global banking system,
expanding a viable market for investment. The governments of cap and trade friendly
nations can use tax revenues from carbon credit sales to subsidize renewable energy and
offset the costs of creating a more efficient energy grid.
Improved grids would solve the problem of the effective distribution of electricity.
Currently, many developed and developing countries experience blackouts, shortages, or
loss of business revenue as a result of inadequate grids and other energy infrastructure. In
restructuring an energy grid, governments would stimulate business growth, especially in
renewable technologies such as hybrid cars, as decreased utility costs make such
environmentally friendly options more commercially viable. Cap and trade revenues
could be used to design more streamlined layouts for these modern grids.
Thus, the dual forces of carbon credits and modernized energy grids would garner
more efficient and responsible energy usage while mitigating the effects of climate
change to better serve our world’s environment and its inhabitants.
B. HIV and AIDS
Infectious diseases such as HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are a major
burden on the health and productivity of people – particularly children - in many
low-income countries. Describe two measures to help curb one or more diseases
that can be undertaken by G8 leaders. (Maximum 300 words.)
HIV/AIDS programs have been implemented in developed and developing
nations for decades, yet a significant portion of the world’s population is still afflicted
with this deadly virus. To be most effective, organizations should provide a combination
of both treatment and prevention options in their struggle against HIV/AIDS.
Therefore, we propose that the G8 nations engage in culture-specific education
programs to bring practical HIV/AIDS knowledge tailored to the various unique and
distinct peoples of the world. Empirical evidence from Uganda and Senegal has shown
that a combination of faith-based, non-governmental, and private sector non-profit
organizations is the most salient way to aid those living in developing areas. These
groups could work trilaterally to provide STD self treatment kits in rural areas, sex
education programs in schools and on radios, and providing same-day counseling and
treatment facilities in urban areas. Contrastingly, educational programs that encourage
and culturally de-stigmatize condom use have tended to work better in South Asia,
Europe, and the Americas. We suggest a multifaceted approach focusing on different
curricula relevant to each and age group. For those 14 and under, an approach centered
on the dangers of HIV/AIDS could be used to discourage sexual activity and delay the
average onset of sexual relations. For older demographics, the focus should be on disease
prevention and decreasing the number of sexual partners.
In addition to prevention education, we propose drug cocktail subsidies to help
extend the lives of those currently infected with HIV. Reducing the cost of these
medications will make these vital treatments more accessible in the areas they are needed
most, and help those infected with HIV to lead more normal lives. Culturally-tailored
preventative educational programs used in conjunction with drug cocktail subsidies
would provide an especially effective method to combat the spread of HIV worldwide.
C. A third topic of your choosing
Every year, the leaders at the G8 Summit discuss the world’s most pressing issues,
of which there are many. Topics could include the financial crisis, the global
food crisis, education, etc. Please identify a global issue you feel is particularly
relevant to your team and to young people around the world and describe a
response that you think G8 leaders should support. (Maximum 300 words.)
According to a BBC estimate, nearly half of the world’s population lives in
unsanitary conditions and lacks access to clean water, yet nearly 80% of the world is
covered in water. We propose to make use of the resources we have by desalination, a
process by which seawater is purified into clean, potable water. By using currently
available reverse osmosis practices, the purified ocean water can be consumed and the
leftover salts and minerals can be sold to help cover capital costs. While transportation,
energy use, and the initialization of the desalination plants remain expensive, these costs
will be greatly offset by the increased Gross Domestic Product that disadvantaged
countries will experience. As well, human life should never be outweighed by simple
economic barriers.
There are a number of secondary benefits that will greatly improve the growth of
such underdeveloped countries. The construction of desalination plants, the transportation
of potable water, and continued maintenance of pipelines, delivery systems, and the
plants themselves will stimulate vast employment growth throughout developing nations.
Not only will these desalination plants create more jobs, but also the increased
availability of clean water will enable agricultural societies to produce more crops and
thus become first time net exporters. Improved sanitation and better access to food and
water will allow children to benefit from primary and higher levels of education, in turn
moving their nations away from destitution and on the path to the vanguard of today’s
technological age. Desalinizing seawater, a resource readily available to everyone, will
not only advance the financial and agricultural stance of third-world countries, but will
also improve the well being of their citizens to allow their nations to compete with the
remainder of the world.
3) References: Cite all of the references you used in a bibliographic list (include the
websites, newspaper articles, magazine articles, letters, presentations, books, etc. that
informed your research).
"Climate Change." United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 19 Mar.
2009 <http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/>.
"Climate Change: Ten ways to save the world." The Independent. 23 Mar. 2009
<http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/
ten-ways-to-save-the-world-1645384.html>.
"Desalination." GE Water & Process Technologies. 19 Mar. 2009
<http://www.gewater.com/what_we_do/water_scarcity/desalination.jsp>.
"Global Warming by the Numbers." Environmental Defense Fund. 17 Mar. 2009
<http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentID=4981>.
Henkel, John. "Attacking AIDS with a 'Cocktail' Therapy: Drug Combo Sends Deaths
Plummeting." US Food and Drug Administration. 22 Mar. 2009
<http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/1999/499_aids.html>.
"Information Center: Recent News and Links." United Nations. 24 Mar. 2009
<http://www.unicwash.org/news/news.html>.
"Key Facts and Statistics." Water Aid International Site. 22 Mar. 2009
<http://www.wateraid.org/international/what_we_do/statistics/default.asp>.
"Seawater Desalination: Background." California Coastal Commission. 15 Mar. 2009
<http://www.coastal.ca.gov/desalrpt/dchap1.html>.
United Kingdom. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Postnote.
HIV / AIDS in Developing Countries. 21 Mar. 2009
<http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/postpn210.pdf>.
"Safety of an Oral HIV Vaccine in HIV Uninfected Volunteers." Clinical Trials.
U.S. National Institutes of Health. 22 Mar. 2009
<http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00062530?order=8>.
"Water and Gender Gendered Perspectives on Water Privatization: Case Studies
from around the World." Public Citizen: Energy Program. 23 Mar. 2009
<http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/gender/>.
5) Mobilizing others: The Junior 8 Summit is one event in a wider UNICEF strategy to
connect and assist communities of young people in their efforts to make the world a
better place. If you were able to attend the Summit, how would you inspire other young
people to become involved in global issues in your community upon your return?
(Maximum 500 words.)
Growing up and learning in a community that is very active in local and global
affairs, we feel fortunate to have had exposure to both the problems that the world faces
and the work that is being done to ameliorate such issues. However, there is definitely
more that our group, school, community, and country can do. Today’s youth are ready to
learn how to lead, so Team Fulcrum will do as much as possible to make the future
leaders aware of the obstacles that our world faces and give them the tools and skills we
learned in order to solve such misfortunes as poverty, sanitation, disease, and lack of
education and equality.
If we were able to attend the J8 Summit, there would be so much that we could
share and learn from both the G8 leaders and from the other students there. Through
presentations, our community service work with middle school students, and spreading
awareness of the J8 program and its goals, we could work to make global affairs a top
priority among young adults. Bringing back personal stories and perspectives on
problems such as poverty would make the issues real for the members of our community
– and communicating such information would more likely spur a response from the
young people who hear our experiences.
Youth activism can extend from the grassroots to the global level. At our school,
we would emphasize that despite the drought in California, many of us still waste water;
however, in places like Sub Saharan Africa, the majority of people exist on less than a
tenth of water that we use. Educational programs such as these have proven successful in
our community in terms of reducing our own wastage of natural resources and raising
funds for aid elsewhere.
Furthermore, through our volunteer work with young people outside of Harker we
could spread the message and goals of the J8 beyond our own school community. Even
some awareness of global issues is better than none, and perhaps we can inspire them to
learn about and to act on the problems plaguing mankind. Since many of the public
schools in California are cutting extracurricular programs, we could even form something
akin to an International Club at these schools. Not only would the middle school students
there be receiving more educational opportunities, we could also encourage them to take
responsibility for what is happening in the world today.