BOSTON, Massachusetts – This summer, United Planet, supported by a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and in partnership with The Peace and Freedom Organization of Iraq and Boston University Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitative Sciences, hosted the Virtual Climate Change and Health Impact Exchange Program. The program brought together high school and university students from 25 US states and territories and students from many of the 18 Iraqi provinces.
320 US and Iraqi students from diverse communities worked together for 7 weeks to innovate real world solutions to these global issues. 32 cross-cultural teams developed websites, global non-profits, products and services designed to address climate change and its impacts on human health. The program culminated in four exciting days of student driven presentations empowering hundreds of youth from both countries to become climate change leaders.
Gregory McElwain, Cultural Affairs Officer for the US Embassy in Baghdad explained, “The US Mission in Iraq is very glad to be able to provide support…helping mobilize societies to action and broadening the need to address climate change around the world.” Climate change is both a local and global issue with Iraq being the fifth most susceptible country globally.
David Santulli, the Founder and President of United Planet congratulated the students on their exemplary presentations. “These challenges are overwhelming but if we work together across our countries and communities, our response can be even more overwhelming and we can find the solutions that we need,” he said.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, it offers personalized and immersive service-learning, project-based learning, and experiential learning programs, including volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual classroom exchange in more than 30 countries. Volunteers and interns have helped address important global issues—such as health, children and education, and environmental sustainability while developing leadership and 21st century skills, building bridges across divides, and forging cohesive and productive cross-border relationships both in-person and online.
Learn more about United Planet here https://www.unitedplanet.org.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For questions or interviews, please contact Mohammad Hijazi, Marketing and Communications Manager at Mohammad@unitedplanet.org.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
