“The stories about the Anthropocene age will be written over thousands of years. Whether other species will have a happy ending depends on whether we can replace the ‘traditional business model’with a‘new normal’”. On Feb. 26th, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Mr. Achim Steiner visited Tongji University and delivered a speech on Stories from the Anthropocene to students of the university forTongji Global Vision Lecture Series. He encouraged students at Tongji to apply knowledge in meaningful practice and write colorful footnotes for their personal stories by developing innovative green technology through multidisciplinary collaboration to face the daunting challenges of human beings.

Mr. Steiner said to students that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 13th Five-Year Plan of China brought together unprecedented opportunities for people to reconsider about how to live a life in the Anthropocene age. To a large extent, the success of each of our endeavors rests on whether the solutions provided by public and private sectors are scientific enough. It will also be determined by how individuals and enterprises put policies to practice.

In the end, Mr. Steiner expressed his hope to Tongji students. He said,“it is time for you to write your own stories. You may choose to fiddle in the corner and entrust your fate to others; or you may decide to be among the architects, lawyers, engineers, politicians, scientists, business leaders and investors and make efforts to tackle the human civilizational challenges faced by China and the rest of the world. These are stories that only you can write, and I look forward to finding them.”

Translated by May Language Studio based upon

http://news.tongji.edu.cn/classid-15-newsid-50246-t-show.html