Xiamen City, 24 November 2021— Consul General Maria Antonina M. Mendoza-Oblena graced the TEDxMXIS event at SM Xiamen and delivered Opening Remarks before the more than 200 guests which included students, teachers, speakers, parents and organizers.
Prior to the TEDx Event, Consul General Mendoza-Oblena together with Vice Consul Elaine Mae V. Laruan-Hernandez, Mr. Li Xiu Mien, MXIS Chinese Principal, and Mrs. Eve Denise Coronel, MXIS IBDP Coordinator, led the Photo and Poster Exhibit ribbon cutting ceremony.
The exhibition, held at the Topaz building of SM New Lifestyle Center features posters and photography by students from different international schools - the Manila Xiamen International School, Xiamen International School, Chiway Repton School, Maple Glory School, and Xiamen Xingcai Vocational & Technical College.
At the TEDx, six speakers shared their ideas on actionable solutions to combat the warming planet. Stephen Duah Agyeman from Ghana, currently a doctoral candidate/researcher at China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University, shared Gen Z’s attitudes towards consumption and its contribution to energy use. Alvaro Enrique Royo Barcenas, an architect-designer from Colombia, talked about how eating three times a day can help the planet three times a day. Founder and Creative Director of the KRE8 design studio, Bode Oluwa from the UK, discussed a vision of a world where kids do not outgrow shoes. Uwe Michael Schall from Germany talked about ALGAE and its essential role in saving the planet. Raj Prasad, an interior architect from Singapore, spoke about the future of our cities. Lastly, Lin Yan Yan, GRC Rooftop Garden committee member from China, talked about the rooftop garden project in a community in Xiamen.
The Exhibition, organized by Ms. Cielo Erin Go and Mr. Morris Lin, both Grade 10 students from MXIS, has the theme, “Climate and the Community: The Challenges and the Solutions.”
There were student performances from different international schools as part of the program. The MXIS Dance Team presented dance performances, XIS performed two band shows, and MXIS Grade 7 students performed a drum duo.
TEDx is a self-organized event that brings people together to share in a TED-like experience. This year, the students organized the TEDx Countdown: To a Better Future event, part of the Countdown Summit, that brought together 1,000 leaders in Edinburgh, Scotland, last October, where TED speakers shared a blueprint for a beautiful net-zero future.
The TEDx Countdown aims to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 in the race to a zero-carbon world – a world that is safer, cleaner, and fairer for everyone. This event is a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action. The event aims to spread the critical and urgent issue of the climate crisis and global warming and the plans and actions China or the Xiamen community is making. Like the saying goes, “Think Global but Act Local.”
Also in attendance were Consulate General’s Political and Economic Officer Faith P. Bautista and Cultural and Information Officer Reigfred P. Albello, Chinese Academy of Sciences representative Mr. Franz Gatzweiler, and other notable Filipinos in Xiamen, Mr. Bong Antivola and Ms. Liz Go, artist and entrepreneur, respectively, among others.
