If any hashtag could make the world a better place, #2030now would be a leading candidate. A few weeks back, it received over 1.6 billion Twitter impressions as people around the world followed the inspiring events at the 2015 Social Good Summit in New York City.
As the U.N. General Assembly discussed Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, big thinkers and celebrities took to the summit stage and took up the cause with #globalgoals. As businesswoman and singer Victoria Beckham, model and humanitarian Alek Wek and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan added glamour, groups around the world formed their own summits and connected with each other via #2030now.
Summit highlights included:
Academy Award–winning actress Charlize Theron joined fellow South African Kweku Mandela, grandson of Nelson, on stage to discuss her organization’s fight against AIDS. “As I was so bluntly made aware of backstage,” she said, “apparently I’m not part of your generation because I’m too old.” But her memories of growing up among AIDS patients inspired many younger attendees to play a role in the battle against the disease. They gathered at the #GenEndIt hashtag.
The actress Freida Pinto, famous for her role in the movie Slumdog Millionaire and for launching Girl Rising, a global campaign for girls’ education, spoke out for gender equality. She urged “fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins to actually send their daughters to school, to be able to start this conversation on gender equality.”
Madeleine Albright came to the United States as a refugee, obtained an education and rose to become U.S. secretary of state. “I’m very glad that Secretary Kerry has suggested we take in 100,000,” she told the summit.
Facebook’s new vice president for social good, Naomi Gleit, believes that people reaching out to each other makes a difference. “Social media makes the world more connected,” she said, “and we believe that is a social good.”
Make connections but also take action. Learn more about teen innovators, refugee advocates, empowering strong women, and HIV researchers. However you act, make your voice heard at #2030now.
