On December 1, 2022, Dr Ash Pachauri and Dr Saroj Pachauri visited Stanford University where Dr Ash Pachauri delivered a lecture on the POP (Protect our Planet) Movement.  Ash Pachauri had put together a panel of POP mentors from Mexico, Nigeria, and China who participated online via Zoom. The session was organized from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. The closing session of the annual series was organized and moderated by Professor Richard Dasher who is Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University.

Dr Dasher introduced Dr Ash Pachauri and the structure of the session to the audience that joined in person and via Zoom.

Dr Ash Pachauri began with a 20 minute presentation which was very lively and participative. The panelists then spoke of their experiences with the POP Movement from their respective perspectives. Dr Norma Patricia, Professor and Distinguished Mentor of the POP Movement spoke about the problem of Sargassum in Mexico and the Caribbean that the POP Movement is addressing. Samuel C. Okorie related his personal story and how he has led the POP Initiative in Nigeria.  He talked about how he overcame numerous social and environmental challenges. He has just received the Presidential Scholarship Award for undertaking a Masters Program in the US.

Xiatong from Beijing discussed this problem of melting glaciers which she is working on via a mini app to be embedded in WeChat. Kevin and Ivan related their experiences with sustainability issues in Mexico and how they have built up an extraordinary circular economy program called Resilience 2020. Dr Dasher, who is on the board of the World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF) asked several questions which the panelists addressed.

The session was very well received by the audience.  The conference room was filled to capacity. In addition, about 65 scholars participated virtually. Dr Ash Pachauri met with the participants for about half an hour after the session to chat informally.

Dr Dasher invited Dr. Ash Pachauri and Dr. Saroj Pachauri for dinner after the event. He had also invited three other distinguished persons, including Vish Mishra, renowned and world famous venture capitalist, Tatsuki Tomita, co-founder and COO of Vivaldi Technologies and EIR at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Marianna Grossman, Founder and Managing Partner at Minerva Ventures, LLC. Diane Le, a close friend and member of the POP/WSDF family, unfortunately, could not join. It was a wonderful evening and they learned a great deal through networking with the group.

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