Un Stagiaire


The Weeks Fly Past Us: Missions Committee Update Tara June Winch


The week’s fly past us, already it


seems August is in sight. We have re- sumed an orderly schedule, filling days with alarm clocks and coffees, monthly metro cards and the comfort of co-workers and cubicles – before, soon to be leaving. It’s sometimes a feeling of tragedy,


being involved, only to have to walk away, an ode to summer romances. The weeks are being filled too with vis- its at Permanent Missions to the UN. We have covered the Headquarters, In- ternational Monetary Fund, World Bank, and country representatives – Iran, China, France, Brazil, and Iraq. The visits have been interesting,


sometimes arduous, like the greatest lie – we want tobelieve everything good and dignified about the Country represented, and I suppose, in our own patriotic ways, we want to see every- thing that is good and dignified about our own countries, or perhaps our- selves, in a place where we represent our home lands to some extent, and the laws, policies, violationsand preju- dices they hold dear. The world cup is over, there is less ca-


maraderie, missing swing chairs and excitement, but how glorious that we were here for it? I still think about the games leading up to the final, the great finale of an epic poem – the story of humanity, with the graceful appear- ance of a tapestry of stories, colours,


Ole, Ole, Ole... Continued from Page 1


They Scored! "It's been a tough game, but tough


games are those that'll never be for- gotten," said Spanish Intern Andrés Barragán Andino. After the game a few of the interns


were on a mission to find massive celebrations, and they succeeded. Columbus Circle was crowded with fans, chanting, dancing, and jump- ing in the fountain in the middle of the plaza. "Even though I was dying to be in


Madrid celebrating the victory, gath- ering with other Spanish fans in Columbus Circle rose to the chal- lenge,” said Andino. The game provided great joy and


sore for all watching. It was a well deserved win for Spain, a country that has never won the World Cup before. “All in all, to my mind, this has been the victory of team play, modesty, focus and courage over conservatism. For all of the above, let me say here ‘!GRACIAS ES- PAÑA!’” said Martinez.


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un inteRnS at the peRmanent miSSion of iRan to the uniteD nationS oRganiSeD By the miSSionS committee


flags, languages and the way in which a people huddle and chant and cry. The media has been filled with other


stories, the scandals of home, the hijab being almost passed by the French senate to be banned, the upheaval of Australian Prime Ministership, BP oil clean-ups and the Catholic church’s pending issues and North Koreas new food and health crisis. We exist in a world of hypocrisies and


confusion, even here, doing some- thing seemingly humane and being part, however brief of a machine of peace that we believe in, we still strug- gle, I believe, to place justice outside the order of rank, the red tape, and the pain of timeliness on projects, that are stunted in the processing through bu- reaucracy. Visiting the Permanent Missions has been a fortuitous process, to better un-


derstanding the UN and our world. To- morrow I’ll be attending the Iraq Per- manent Mission, and I’ll listen closely when the special representative talks about progress back in his home coun- try, and I’ll try to listen and imagine, that peace, and change, and some- thing lasting – can happen, if not from where we’ll be sitting tomorrow.. Then where?


Greening the Blue: Making the UN Carbon Neutral


Seun Shokunbi and Joanne Claudon


With carbon emissions of the UN


being equivalent to those generated by 200,000 people, “greening the UN” has become one of the top prior- ity announced by the Secretary Gen- eral Ban Ki-Moon last October 2007. Since then, an informal group has been created and as of today, they are 50 focal points in the UN. Last Friday, Sophie Ravier, Enviorn-


mental Officer with the UN Depart- ment of Field Support, along with Ségolène De Basquiat (Office of Com- puter Technology), and Chiara Gi- amberardini


department), presented to more than 50 interns methods the UN is consid- ering to contribute to sustainable de- velopment. Eliminating personal printers, en-


couraging staff to shut down comput- ers after working hours and opting out of business-class travel are all steps the speakers hope will be imple-


Newsletter Team:


Kevin Cunningham (Ed.) Hege Forsvoll


Neeti Bandodker James Aldworth Zeynep Karaca Michael Uduhiri


Get Involved >Recycle by using the blue been under your desk, recycle plastic >Print less, print in black/ white Turn off your computer after work >Any ideas? Write to the DM sug- gestion box on the iSeek page


(Management


Sophie RavieR, Segolene De BaSquiat anD chiaRa giamBeRaRDini of the ‘gReening the Blue’ initiative at the SeminaR


mented. TelePresence is another major initiative being backed by Ms. Ravier. This technology, donated to the UN by Cisco Systems, allows em- ployees to host video conferences with attendees who otherwise would have to travel long distance to partic- ipate. It has been a challenge for UN em-


Leading by example > Use recycled copy paper > Capital Master Plan (CMP): re- duce water consumption by over 40% > Umoja Project (ERP): leveraging modern technology


ployees to uphold the USG Compact on climate neutrality, according to Ms. Giamberardini, who offers exam- ples of ways staff can improve upon environmental sustainability. “The Secretariat building is empty,” she points out, “but when you go around at night all the lights are on. How can this be?”


Contact: www.GREENINGtheBLUE.org


Sophie : raviers@un.org Ségolène : debasquiat@un.org Chiara : giamberardini@un.org


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