The debate in week 6 was  about what is the most urgent issue in the global community.

We where offered the following five propositions: 

A.    Nuclear weapons

B.    Pandemics like COVID 19 

C.     Artificial Intelligence

D.    Climate change (global warming)

E.     Lack of fresh water.

The class voted on what they thought the most urgent threat was and most of the class voted climate change.

The class then broke into groups to discuss each of the threats and then regrouped to present the issues and their views.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this class as I was in competitions, there for I couldn’t contribute to the debate.

However, this issue is very interesting and the views presented by students from all over the world are extremely interesting because I realize that while we all come from different places all over the globe and from different communities, who have different local problems, we all share the same worries about global threats, even though sometimes from different angles.

Obviously, my actions (lack of actions) and opinions did not have any impact on the other students because I was not present – which is different than if I was there and did not state an opinion. If I was there and just didn’t state an opinion, it could have been interpreted either as if I did not have an opinion on the subject or that I completely agreed with everything that was said. 

Other students’ opinions had an impact on me. As said before, the biggest impact was realizing that we all share the same concerns relating to global threats, without regard to which country or community we come from. This was a positive impact on me, because if these concerns are universally shared, it gives me more hope that the threats will be addressed and hopefully, to the extent possible, solved or at least improved. The students in the class, just like me, are the young generation of people from all over the world, and it is on us to start working on solving the threats to the global community.

The biggest impact on me came from the discussion on the threat from nuclear weapons. First, it was interesting to hear views of students from other countries (such as India and Ukraine) that also, like myself, live in countries that in a sense, are dealing the threat on daily basis. It actually made me think deeper, for example, on the issue of “do we trust the leaders – of other countries and of our own – to not push the button`’. I always had full trust that at least the leaders of Israel, which is a nuclear power country, would never actually use it. But the Nadia’s comment, “`I cannot trust the discretion of one person or another”, made me re-think the issue. Also, for example, I was deeply impacted by hearing the view of the student from Ukraine, who actually lived through the suffering of the results of the Chernobyl nuclear spill. For the first time I came to think about an angle I never thought of before – what can happen if something like this occurs in Israel? Is the benefit of having the deterring effect of being a nuclear power worth the risks to the citizens of my country.

My reflection on the communities I belong to, especially coming out of the global threats discussion, is that first of all, I am a “citizen of the world” which means I should be active in responding to global threats. Part of being a citizen of the world, is my belonging to the Regents’ school community which is a very international community. After that, I am of course a citizen of my country – Israel, which I feel very connected to and always try to be active in its issues – from political to social. Going from there, I belong to many communities, such as my family, my friends’ circle, my horse-competitions community, etc.. I try to be involved an responsible in each of them.   

The system is built from modules that can be expanded to any size, to treat and supply water for a single house a hotel and even a full village. No power supply is necessary (powered by solar energy) and therefore it can be utilized in any location, and is especially important for communities in remote places that are not connected to the electricity or water grid. 

My initiative relates directly to Goal No. 6 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, titled “Clean Water and Sanitation”. This Goal comes to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. I believe that the initiative fits right into this Goal.

The main things I learned from this module were how to research topics sometimes on a very short basis, how to summarize my arguments concisely and share them in writing “on the spot”. I also learned how to interact effectively with my groups via the media and present a group view on topics – things I have not done before. I also learned that on many issues, while I have an instantaneous opinion, I can also make good arguments for the other side – thus, there is always room for listening to other opinions and weighing their validity (for example, the AI issue – I only saw its benefits, but after class I could also see and appreciate the downsides).  I also learned how people’s perspectives on things differ based on where they come from and their upbringing values.

I will apply these learnings to my degree disciple because after this course, I will look at issues from a wider angle, trying to see other people’s perspectives relating them to their values and upbringings. This will help me in my future career as an international entrepreneur, because I will know to approach people more wisely by trying to think how they will react to things I present or bring to the table taking into account their culture and values. 

Reflecting on my performance in the course I can clearly state that I would have benefited more from the module and would have also succeeded more in my tasks had I been present in all the “live” classes, rather than reviewing various of the classes in the recorded format. Being present in all classes in “real time” would enable me to address the interesting issues along with my colleagues and to brain-storm, allowing me to respond to points raised by my colleagues, and allowing them to respond to points raised by me, thereby getting someone else’s perspective on my thoughts.  Reviewing classes on the recorded format made me a “passive” part of the class which is a disadvantage. My taking from this is that I need to be able to manage my time so that my other activities as a professional sportsman and my work will not deprive me of improving and reaching my best as a learner.