GLFP Fellows
Forum
5th Cohort
Course Overview
- Purpose
- The course analyzes various issues in global society in multiple perspectives through class discussions, reading and writing assignments. GLFP students develop a global perspective with a sense of leadership by engaging in individual and group projects and other activities. GLFP Students are expected to build a common ground of GLFP by working together on specific subjects and learn from each other.
- Theme
- In academic year of 2018-2019, Forum was comprised of invited lectures, discussion sessions, and workshops of group project. Students discussed various subjects, including global peace, environment, and human rights with their own analysis of the issues. After having a series of discussion on the impact of globalization, the role of global citizens for global inequality and environment in class, students shared common concerns and learned approaches to overcome challenges in the world.
Guest Speakers
- Lecture
- We invited several guest speakers in academic year of 2018-2019. In the lecture series, GLFP students had opportunities to learn more about specific issues on human rights and environmental challenges and the possible approaches to make a change directly from the representatives in the fields and discussed the roles of citizens for the sustainable future of our global society.
- Fall 2018
- In Fall 2018, Dr. Mbuli Charles Boliko, Director of Liaison Office in Japan, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations offered a lecture on food security in the world and discussed the role of citizens to work for food loss and waste and gave an advice on the ways of practicing leadership to the students.
- Spring 2019
- In Spring 2019, we had special lecture series on global sustainability. Dr. Keith Alverson, Director of International Environmental Technology Center, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP-IETC) explained an overview of waste management, recent challenges of plastic pollution, and approaches for implementing preventive measures. Mr. Takayuki Tujii, General Manager of Patagonia, Japan, discussed the corporate environmental and social responsibility and the role of consumers as global citizens that would make an impact on practice of corporations. Ms. Kazuko Ito, Lawyer, Secretary General of Human Rights Now, discussed the human rights issues in global supply chain and explained how the organization has been working through the original research and policy advocacy via United Nations.
Group Project
- Presentation
- GLFP 5th Cohort worked collectively for the group project to understand the idea and practice of sustainability for two consecutive semesters and made a public presentation at Ono auditorium, Waseda campus in July 2019.
Who Are You Wearing?
Understanding the Global Force of Fast Fashion
- Summary
- In 2017, the fast fashion industry enjoyed 35 billion dollars in sales, and it has seen an annual growth rate of nearly 5% since 2011. When the fifth cohort of the Global Leadership Fellows Program conducted a survey of over 250 university students from Japan, the US, and Western Europe, on the topic of clothing and fashion, only 6% of respondents stated that they had not shopped at a fast fashion retailer (names including Uniqlo, Forever 21, H&M, and Zara) in 2018. The ever-growing popularity of fast fashion brands amongst our generation cannot be ignored as the industry continues to expand its reach.
Our research chronicled the often-overlooked story of fast fashion: a story marked by a global cycle of unsustainable consumption, environmental degradation, and human rights violations. We examined the links between consumers’ relationship to digital media and problematic industry-level trends. Overproduction has led to mass consumption of our resources and harmful impacts on the environment. The production process, catering to ever-tighter time and budget demands of global brands, is plagued by questionable working conditions and human rights policies for laborers in the Global South.
The fifth cohort of the Global Leadership Fellows Program advanced solutions toward a sustainable future for the fast fashion industry that not only champions the environment, but also all the hands who touch its global supply chain, including consumers. The cohort offered international policy, enterprise level corporate social responsibility, and lifestyle strategies for bettering the global impacts of the fast fashion industry.
