In conjunction with the U.N. Climate Action Summit held on September 23 (Monday) in New York City in the United States, the “Climate Change Action Meeting” (Sponsored by Soka University SDGs Promotion Center) was held with 70 students, faculty, and staff in attendance.

The purpose of this meeting was to have students, faculty, and staff, who are interested in climate change, get together and discuss what actions they can take as Soka University and on an individual basis, and to compile a priority action list based on their discussions.

At the meeting, there was an explanation on SDGs that Soka University is currently engaging in as well as actions taken to date pertaining to climate change. This was followed by Associate Professor Michiyo Kakekawa of the Faculty of Economics presenting topics on how the world and Japan are coping with climate change.

Then, students of “Climate Action SOKA”, a student group that promotes involvement in climate change, gave an activity report, which was followed by a group discussion with Associate Professor Fisker-Nielsen Anne Mette of the Faculty of Letters serving as a coordinator. Each group made various action proposals such as, “Change consumer awareness from ‘I’ to ‘we.’ Elevate the awareness of the impact we give to our environment and our loved ones,” “Elevate awareness for non-plastic, cooperate with business circles toward eliminating plastic wastes,” “Hold weekly Vegetarian Days at the cafeteria and increase options for vegetarian meals.”
To close, Soka University SDGs Promotion Center Chief Ryohei Tanaka shared his resolve, “Cooperating with all of you students, and with the center is the core, we would like to accelerate our engagement in SDGs including climate change measures.”

Participating students commented: “It was a wonderful event through which I learned about the severity of climate change and gained an understanding of how our actions are connected to it.” “In this event, Japanese and non-Japanese students, faculty, and staff were all able to discuss together and exchange views on a major topic. It was truly a fruitful moment.”