The Power of Information

by Jane Chukwudebelu, Nigeria, ELP 2014   Environmental Policy Resource, Policy Climate Change Impact Assessment, Pesticides and Farm Worker Safety/Health, Waste Water Treatment, Rural Electrification, Technology and Fit Risk, Quantifying land use/land cover change using big data, Population/Health, Gender and Health in Policy Making, Population, Media and Advocacy, Collaborative Leadership for Sustainable Change, Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Enterprise Facilitation, Biofuel/Future of Fuels Debate, Greening our Cities, Technological Approaches to Climate Change, Leadership for Multistakeholder Engagement, Urban Planning for Sustainable Development, Agroforestry, Water, Food Security Agroecology, Sustainable Food Systems and Berkeley Food Institute, workshops, and all the field trips and visitations including the receptions just to mention a few. Then, the brainstorming starts, from Central and East Africa comes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, from North Africa is Tunisia, then Southern Africa comes South Africa, Madagascar and Mozambique. The West Africans made up from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, and South Americans who are from Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile. Here comes the Central and West Asia made up of Afghanistan and Mongolia, and the East and South Asia from Japan, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Southeast Asians are from Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Myanmar/Burma, Philippines and Laos, and Australia and Europe made up of Australia, Denmark, England, and Switzerland. Among all of us are inquiries, enquiries, debates, arguments, deliberations, suggestions, comments, observations, questions and answers. At the end, I realized that everything that took place is good for one to become a leader and not just a leader, but a sustainable environmental leader. I have learned that for me to be a good leader I must collaborate and that I can do good while doing well. I have gained new skills, which will help me pay attention to little details in my work because that’s where the success lies. I have been armed with information and materials by the best brains around the world found at the University of California, Berkeley. I will help in my own little way to save the world.