We are so thankful to all those who attended and hope to continue hosting these discussions in the future! Stay tuned for future think tanks, and, as always, if you are interested in getting more involved with War Child at Mac, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via our social media!
Think Tank Refelctions
March 18th, 2020 | By Sneha Wadhwani, Bronwyn Luders, Emily O'Halloran
War Child at Mac’s first think tank was an evening filled with thought-provoking discussion and building connections between like-minded people. Our vision was to inspire students to engage in meaningful discussions that would empower them to make changes in their lives and communities in order to address these issues.
The topic of the evening’s discussion was ethical investments. Specifically, we considered how we can best use our time and resources as individuals, consumers and citizens to promote social justice.
With regards to ethically investing our financial resources as consumers, concerns were raised regarding the accessibility of corporations’ (un)ethical practices (ie, treatment of employees, environmental sustainability, etc), as well as the temporal and financial limitations of a student lifestyle which make it difficult to change spending habits. We also felt it important to note that the rhetoric of advertisements and our environments reinforces unethical consumer choices. These issues may be addressed through incentivizing corporate accountability and transparency through a shift in consumer habits - if there was a higher demand for ethical businesses in the market, our economic landscape would shift to meet that demand. We felt that this demand could be created by educating individuals on the importance of ethical consumerism and how to make informed choices as a consumer.
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We then engaged in a conversation surrounding political and civic engagement to inspire social change. We recognized institutional change as important in taking a “top-down” approach to creating a lasting, large-scale impact. Participants expressed that voting cannot be enough; that it was important to connect with legislators to share our perspectives and form communities to effect change on a local level. We spoke of tools such as petitions, contacting local governmental officials, community organizing through protests and rallies, and making informed votes as mechanisms for instigating political pressure.
Our third discussion topic was regarding actionable changes we could make in our lives to invest more ethically. We spoke of using our intellectual capacities to create new resources, collaborating across disciplines, finding ways to engage others in these discussions without guilt, and focusing on commitment and consistency.
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Across the three topics, common threads included the importance of education to allow individuals to make informed decisions and creating mechanisms for institutions such as corporations and the government to be held accountable to the public.
Our attendees ranged in discipline from business to engineering to Arts & Science, allowing for diversity in the perspectives expressed and giving some a platform to share ideas they would not be exposed to in their academic environments. Here are some of their perspectives about the discussion:
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Attendee, Bronwyn Luders stated, “I went into War Child’s think tank simply hoping to learn as much as I could about ethical investment and our role in helping the lives of children who have been impacted by war. I left that evening feeling like not only had I experienced that but also something I had been missing out on for the first year or so of university. I’m a second-year Kinesiology student, and I love my program and the people in it. However, last week’s think tank was an important reminder to me of the value of open discussion and critical thinking practiced among members of a community. I am so glad to have experienced that and I want to continue to seek out more of those opportunities in the communities I belong to on campus because I too often forget that true learning and growth comes from sharing ideas and values with others to understand issues we face, solve problems, and affect change.”
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Emily O’Halloran added, “Engaging in the discussions about ethical investment was a fantastic opportunity to consider the important ways in which my actions, or lack of actions, impact the lives of people both within my local community and in the global community. I found it interesting that many of our conversations centred around themes of global conflict, humanitarian needs, and climate change. Attending this think tank helped me to understand the intersectionality of the climate crisis and its widespread humanitarian repercussions. The diversity of disciplines represented at the think tank allowed for an invigorating discussion, as each person provided unique insights into the topic. Conversations about ethical investment are an essential first step towards effecting social change, and I hope that everyone who attended the think tank will use what they learned in the discussion to take action, which is the crucial second step”
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