3 Solutions to Climate Change: Unificationists Weigh In

“Climate change protests are taking place all over the world, and many young people continue to protest governments that have not addressed this issue,” said Unbi Choi. “As a young person myself, I believe that we need to take action instead of relying on demonstrations.”

Unbi Choi and fellow Unificationist Soonmee Iwasaki presented the idea of global tree planting to address climate change during the recent S!NERGY Climate Action competition, where the two came in first place. The competition, part of a series hosted by the International Association of Youth and Students for Peace (IAYSP), streamed live October 16 on social media. IAYSP was founded in 2017 by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and aims to advance world peace by empowering youth and students to become global citizens through character education and peacebuilding projects supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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“The UN’s 17 SDGs are an urgent call for action from all countries in a global partnership,” said program emcee Norman Shafto. “These go hand in hand with strategies for improving health and education, reducing inequality, and spurring economic growth. Addressing climate change can preserve our oceans and forests.”

Choi and Iwasaki proposed large-scale tree planting — a strategy that is already taking root in some parts of the world, including the Philippines, to offset carbon emissions and reduce our ecological footprint.

“We plan to work alongside a U.S. nonprofit that has led a forestation program in North Korea in the past,” said Iwasaki. “Our plan will require networking and spreading awareness and education, as well as raising funds. We hope to serve North Korea, because by doing so, it epitomizes what our project stands for: disparate nations coming together and modeling coexistence for the purpose of benefiting the earth.”

Unificationist Iris Wojtowicz, who placed second, shared her proposal of making the global fashion industry more sustainable by shifting away from gender clothing. The global fashion industry is a huge contributor to climate change, producing more than 92 million tons of waste annually.

“My project, ‘Unbound,’ is a social media page dedicated to educating people on unlearning concepts about gender clothing to promote environmental sustainability and gender equality,” said Wojtowicz. “Clothing in and of itself is nonbinary. Products don’t have a gender identity; our minds do.”

Wojtowicz said Unbound would feature interviews, education materials, tips and hacks. She explained that adopting a nonbinary approach to clothing is not only more environmentally sustainable, but could also lead to more unity between the sexes as an “equalizer” in the social realm of how people perceive one another.

“Being able to have a more diverse palette for selecting our clothing and expressing ourselves would be a great justice to society, reaching back to a historical neutral point where we didn’t dress according to gender concepts, but instead out of necessity,” she said. “This approach lessens the amount of clothing and production, and creates more opportunities to save the environment.”

Unificationist Kozan Morimoto came in third place, proposing to address climate change by harnessing nuclear power.

“Our fossil fuels cause many more deaths from accidents and pollution than nuclear power,” he said. “Using nuclear reactors with uranium, we can actually power our world for many thousands of years... The ocean has lots of uranium in it, so that’s something we could put more research into and how to extract it. It’s difficult to recycle nuclear waste for reuse,” he said, “but more research can be invested into that.”

Guest judges Insup Park, chairman of the Pacific Rim Integrated Development Group; Susan Golden, president of S. Golden Education; and Dr. Dinshaw Dadachanji, research director of the Hyo Jeong International Foundation for the Unity of the Sciences (HJIFUS) weighed in on each proposal, with online viewers submitting their votes. The winners received a cash prize toward bringing their proposals to life.

You can learn more about the International Association of Youth and Students for Peace here.