 Maybe I'd just like to start by, of course, thanking the Baha'i community of Atlanta for hosting us here in this wonderful venue, this wonderful city, and also to the Association for Baha'i Studies for really entrusting us with this responsibility of sharing a few of our reflections on engaging in this discourse at the international level. This is really such a beautiful space that's been created. And I'll just say I've been crying all morning. I'm hopeful that you all won't be crying after, but we'll see. So as mentioned, I'm Dan Perrell. I serve as a representative for the BIC's UN office in New York. And my name is Yvette Allen, and I serve as one of the researcher writers. This is my first AVS, having come recently to the United States, so please be patient with me. So for those of you who are unaware, the BIC's UN office is the formal representation of the Baha'i community at the international level. Most of our work is engaged with the United Nations, but there are other ancillary bodies that offer us similar opportunities to share some reflections from the writings and from the experience of the worldwide Baha'i community. As I was rehearsing for this talk this morning, I was actually reflecting on how I was feeling. I'm not nervous speaking in front of ambassadors. I do that all the time, or even with the Secretary General. But I think the feelings I have now are really a reflection of the esteem in which we hold this audience, the import of the work of the Association of Baha'i Studies and of you all as individuals. So suffice it to say, we took to heart Mr. Birkeland's advice last night and are looking forward to the fruits of our prayers for intercession. So at the outset I should say that the reflections we'll share with you today are really those of Yvette and I and we are not speaking on behalf of the BIC. It's our own understanding of our office's engagement in this discourse. As I'm sure you can imagine, all of our efforts rely upon the contributions of many wise and dedicated souls, but unfortunately you're stuck with us. So today we'll use the statement One Planet, One Habitation as the vehicle to share some of our learning. Now this document was prepared last year in 2022 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first large international conference on the environment which took place in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972. So One Planet, One Habitation is the product of a process with which we're all becoming familiar. We're simply reading our reality, determining a distinctive contribution and finding a means to share that contribution with others. In that sense this is just one narrative in an unfolding process in the framework that guides the entire Baha'i community in its participation in the discourses of society. It may be helpful to offer a bit more context on what our office does before we get into the content of that statement, but unfortunately we don't have time to unpack every chapter of the statement. We'll be around for questions later of course. So the BIC has worked with various agencies of the UN with representatives of government as well as international civil society organizations since the establishment of the United Nations. Through its work the BIC has been learning about what it might look like to focus the light of Baha'u'llah's revelation on the evolution of thought as well as the exploration of social reality on the international stage. At the international level many of the conversations we're observing are often characterized by a sharing of positions rather than an exchange of ideas. You'll find various actors offering formal statements, declaring positions or calling for action on a given issue. This mode is often one directional. It can be quite adversarial and isn't always conducive to a genuine search for truth or consultation. In responding to this reality a large part of the BIC's work also involves learning about how it can co-create a collaborative and consultative culture among international actors which is so critical to bringing about enduring peace where ideas can be dispassionately explored from various perspectives and a sense of common endeavor instilled. I promise I'm not wearing the same outfit there that I'm wearing here. I just had a look and felt really unoriginal. It's a different tie I swear. The Universal House of Justice in its 18 January 2019 message states that in the last 100 years there were three historical moments when it seemed as if the human race was reaching for real lasting peace. The third such moment was in the 1990s when numerous global United Nations conferences were taking place on various important issues, environment, gender equality, population and development, social development, and yet just a spoiler alert, we did not achieve the peace that humanity has longed for. As the message states, The tumult raised by the contending peoples of the earth threatens to drown out the voices of those noble-minded souls in every society who call for an end to conflict and struggle. As long as that call goes unheeded there is no reason to doubt that the world's current state of disorder and confusion will worsen, possibly with catastrophic consequences until a chastened humanity sees fit to take another significant step, perhaps this time decisive towards enduring peace. So in a sense a large part of the BIC office's mandates could be conceived of as seeking out areas of discourse at the international level where humanity sees fit to take another significant step. At this moment in history the mandate of the United Nations is actually broader than what the BIC UN office can impactfully address, try though we might. Peace and security, global health, disarmament, migration, human rights, food systems, and the list goes on, which means that we need to be discerning. Fortunately, the 18 January message articulates certain qualities which can help guide our consideration of various opportunities. For example, the reality that humanity is one people must be the starting point for a new order. The vast array of relations among the nations and within them all need to be re-envisaged in this light. Second, the need for a global order that unifies the nations of the world with the assent of humanity. And third, the realization of such a vision will require a historic feat of statesmanship from the leaders of the world. What are some areas where the aforementioned prerequisites can be found and where might we be able to meaningfully contribute? As you might have guessed we thought humanity's relationship with the natural world could be one of them. There are a number of elements of this discourse that could serve to accelerate the forces of integration. That this challenge is shared by all. That it requires new forms of global organization in order to be successful. And that overcoming narrow and short-term interests will be instrumental in meeting the moment. In some the environmental crisis represents one of the many potential avenues which can lead humanity towards peace, as one planet, one habitation states. The question before the nations and leaders of the world is whether the needed action will be taken as a matter of conscious choice and prevention or whether it will be prompted by the destruction and suffering wrought by escalating environmental breakdown. So we root for the first one. So as Dan mentioned there are growing a number of opportunities to contribute to the evolution of thought on the international level. The state of the world today is prompting many to search for alternatives and new ways of arranging our affairs. Both destructive and constructive forces are creating conditions for greater receptivity to ideas such as the oneness of humankind and to new conceptions around human identity and purpose including who we want to be and what world we wish to live in. More and more people are calling for global approaches and are explicitly acknowledging humanity's interconnectedness. It therefore seemed ripe for the BIC to make a contribution in response to the planetary crisis. Yet we needed to draw upon both the reality of the international space and also what we have been learning as a global community. We also had to understand dimensions of timeliness and receptivity. The writings tell us. Not everything that a man knoweth can be disclosed. Nor can everything that he can disclose be regarded as timely. Nor can every timely utterance, that got really loud, be considered as suited to the capacity of those who hear it. Our challenge then has been learning when and how to share the wealth of insights derived from the writings and from our beloved and from the guidance of our beloved Universal House of Justice. Which provide hope and speak so clearly to the exigencies of our time. And how to do so in a way that is both befitting and accessible to our audience. Confident in the healing remedy they bring, well ever conscious that we are constantly learning about their implications. We don't have all of the answers, but we do have a responsibility to contribute to a growing body of knowledge alongside others. We don't know exactly what our future systems and structures will look like. But we can distill insights from the vision Baha'u'llah has so lovingly outlined for us. And we can offer some of the approaches that can help us along this path. As we're learning about what it means to shed the light of the revelation in the various areas we're exposed, we're engaged in. This quotation, the quotation that Dan read offers a helpful roadmap. It helps us to ask first, what do we know or what are we learning? What is timely to share and with whom would it be timely to share? The BIC was beginning to see, to identify a window of opportunity and a receptivity, particularly in the discourse on climate change and the natural world. But we found it was also important to gain a historical perspective, to know a bit more about where we were coming from and how far we've traversed within this discourse area, in order to know more about where we are going and how we might move forward. So naturally there's been an evolution in a conversation at the UN around humanity's relationship with the natural world. In fact, from a broader perspective, we know that this relationship hasn't always been caused for global concern. It's a product of certain assumptions and approaches that are associated or have come to prominence with the modern era. The emergence of this issue became the genesis of the 1972 Stockholm conference I mentioned earlier. The conversation then began by determining the nature and scope of the problem with sufficient scientific clarity. It was at that point, at that conference that UNEP, the United Nations Environment Program, was created to do just that. And it may be heartening to know that the BIC was represented at that conference in 1972, and in fact, one of the representatives who was there remains one of our most stalwart collaborators to this day. Now the UN identifies anniversaries, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, as significant moments for follow-on conferences or commemorations. So 1972 was this Stockholm conference. Ten years later, in 1982, was the year of my birth. At least I thought that was pretty significant. In the early 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, new horizons were opening, and this gave rise to the conferences referenced in the 18 January letter. The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was one such conference. Now skepticism still remained, of course, but plans were coming into greater clarity. It was this conference that gave rise to the United Nations Climate Change Convention, the UNFCCC, as we call it today. Now by 2012, the urgency and the clarity of the challenge humanity faces came into even sharper relief. And at Rio Plus 20, as it was known, conversations around what came to be known as the sustainable development goals began. And in 2015, the nations of the world agreed on their latest plan to address the challenge. This is known as the Paris Agreement. It happened in Paris. But often when we take this longitudinal view of the institutional evolution, we can see that there are changes that come about. Now today, the United Nations speaks about the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. And I apologize that sometimes we'll say climate change, but really we recognize that it's one sort of cadre of challenges that we're facing. So throughout this process, scientific consensus was built, problems were identified. And humanity began to develop ever more sophisticated institutions and strategies to address them. But despite these advances, and as Mr. Birkeland referenced last night, the RISVON 2023 message states that there's widespread acknowledgement that the present day structures of society are ill-prepared to address the needs of humanity in its current travails. In terms of the contributions of the BIC over time, it's important to note that it was always focused on the principles which must underlie this issue. We're aware that though we're able to draw on science and as an important source of knowledge and practice, the Bahá'í international community does not have a technical position to take. We can see why when we look at the 29 November 2017 message to three individuals who asked about this very topic of this contemporary discourse on climate change. And if you haven't read that message, it's a remarkable example of the wisdom required when entering really any discourse. So we read there, significantly on an occasion when a scientific question was asked of Shoghi Effendi, he responded in a letter written on his behalf that, we are a religion and not qualified to pass on scientific matters. And in reply to scientific issues raised on a number of occasions, he consistently advised Bahá'ís that such matters would need to be investigated by scientists. Therefore, in technical conversations, how many parts per million, what are the appropriate timelines, how many fractions of a degree, the BIC does not offer specific recommendations. But it offers reflections on the principles and possible root causes. Of course, Bahá'ís scientists and experts are often in position to comment on the technical dimensions and our office benefits tremendously from their wisdom and experience and our consultations with them too. So now let's move up to 2022, this Stockholm Conference, Stockholm Plus 50. At this point, we've perceived actually a shift in the nature of the conversation. Whereas for 50 years, the international community seemed to be describing the scientific dimensions of this problem. Now, the science was sufficiently settled, including elements, including even elements of what needed to be done. But the international community was wrestling with a different question, an implementation problem. It's a challenge more related to courage, related to the oneness of humanity, related to countering the inertia of prevalent social forces. And for some reason, Yvette doesn't know why. I often think of this pale blue dot photo taken by Voyager 1. For those who aren't familiar, that little dot in the streak there is all of us, that's Earth. So in other words, at the international level, we now require the feat of statesmanship that we referred to earlier. And this is a conversation to which the BIC felt it had something to contribute. Now, finally, I'll say that there are a few other important dynamics that led us to develop the statement. So many faith-based organizations and faith communities themselves had been offering perspectives on this issue. And justifiably, Baha'is and Baha'i communities were also asking what the BIC might say at the international level about this. This strong question of morality, of future generations, was coming to the fore from different quarters, ranging from Greta Thunberg to the Pope. And the Secretary General of the UN selected climate change as a central area of focus, given that with all the division in the world, this was an area where high levels of consensus, not to mention tremendous urgency, had been reached. And if we return to the 29 November message, we see remarkable alignment. But while there may indeed be a localized and highly charged political component to the public discussion, more remarkable is the fact that at a time when nations have difficulty reaching agreement on many important issues, the governments of nearly every country on Earth have reached political consensus on a joint framework in the Paris Accord to respond to climate change in a manner that is anticipated to evolve over time as experience accumulates. Now, finally, this planetary crisis became a sort of meta-narrative at the UN. Nearly every space, every discourse was seen through the lens of this issue, whether it was about youth or gender equality, about peace and security or global governance. Each of these was intersecting with the natural world, and the office needed to understand how to respond. As we looked at the growing receptivity and movement within this discourse, as well as the increased opportunity to contribute, we had to return to our objective, our North Star, since many dialogues and positions within the discourse were highly politicized and potentially adversarial. For this, we turned to the writings, to ground us, to see what has been said about the environment, about our relationship with the natural worlds, as well as the way in which we arrange our global affairs and our shared reality. We also turned to our framework, which helped us to consider the importance of framing various topics appropriately, as well as offering a vision of the trajectory being traversed by humanity. We saw the importance of deconstructing limiting assumptions, particularly in the way that we view ourselves and our relationship with the natural worlds. We explored how insights derived from the Baha'i experience and from the writings could be shared, as well as if there were any suitable and timely recommendations that we could offer. And we saw the importance of promoting growth in areas of consensus, as well as energizing the discourse with a sense of optimism. So we can offer a few examples of what all of this looks like in our work and how we began to refrain certain topics. So first, conversation at the international level is often characterized by despair and pessimism and focus at the level of challenges. It's as if we're set to climb a large mountain and the conversation is mostly spent describing that mountain. Now, not to disparage the importance of this description, it serves to build knowledge and consensus and help us make plans. Some elements of problem-solving start to come in. For example, there are calls to reduce our carbon emissions, to disconnect from fossil fuels, to provide more equitable distribution of resources and technology. Even so, as actors speak about climate change and in fact many other issues, there's almost this pro-forma list of various crises. The Polly crisis is what they're calling it now. That humanity is facing. So why does this matter? So imagine we're at this mountain about to climb it. Sorry, did I say climb it? We're about to go up it. The team leader says this mountain is huge, it's icy, our ropes aren't really strong, we don't have the proper clothing, our health is in decline, we can't get along, we haven't adequately prepared. The mountain is a crisis of existential proportions. Now let's get out and climb that mountain. So naturally the BIC wants to come from a slightly different perspective. Of course, not ignoring or being blind to the challenges that we face, but also not dwelling on them to the point of incapacitation. So another observation is that there is a strong narrative dominating many conversations where one group of countries is painted as a victim in need of assistance, while another is seen as the oppressor responsible for our present crisis and therefore must be held fully accountable. While it's important to recognize the historic contributions to the present crisis, we wanted to frame the topic appropriately and to offer a more nuanced reading which both acknowledges the gross disparities and the injustices in the world without vilifying any one actor to the extent that they have no motivation left to act. In other words, this is a shared challenge. The contributions will look different, but we are on the same team. So much of the work of the United Nations and its member states is focused on programs and projects that can be replicated or scaled. This essentially utilitarian and economic approach to development, well, certainly well-meaning and even sometimes quite beneficial, it does create a number of challenges. It runs the risk of reducing the agency of the community, the capacity-building that comes when a population can read its reality and determine its own solutions. It assumes sameness across tremendous diversity. We wanted to offer a learning posture, a process-based approach. This extends both to the building of capacity beyond technical capacity and also to the building of community, as well as to our approach of measuring progress and conceiving of stumbling blocks as stepping stones. So there's also an increasing acknowledgement of the role of religion in conversations around climate and the environment. However, it's more often in the context of religious communities and their resources, for instance, their land, their funds, their number of followers. And so the international community often seeks buy-in from religious leaders and institutions and considers this as a success when it comes to religion. The BIC wanted to extend the conversation and contribute insights around the transformational capacities of religion. Essentially, between the knowing and the doing, there's the choosing. And so the power of motivation, the sacrifice that religion can inspire is something to learn from and bring into the conversation. Religion also provides an important source of knowledge around the values that inform our thought and our action. And so we also saw the need to reframe the conversation around our values. Either within the international space we see, either it's assumed that we all have the same values or our values are so incompatible that for the sake of diplomacy, it's better not to raise them at all. But our framework helps us to see that these values are a necessary starting point for our conversations and therefore represent a distinct contribution that the BIC could offer to this space. And then in the cases where these values are assumed to be the same and so we don't talk about them, they often remain in the realm of words in our global agendas though with limited action. So the BIC saw this as an opportunity to explore what it might look like for the international community to translate the values that we claim allegiance to in our global agendas that we all articulate. And to learn more about what stores of motivation could be tapped into that could allow words on a page to find expression through profound changes of behavior. Now additionally, the international community itself is quite fractured. This is just one of many charts that I could show that represents what only the United Nations organogram looks like at the Secretary at this ignores a lot of other dimensions of it. So it's very fractured. It's built largely on a culture of competition and in many ways it's challenged to find true coherence across these spaces. At the heart of our contribution, unsurprisingly, is the notion of unity and diversity. So it's not only the starting points so often referenced in the Baha'i writings but it's also so beautifully expressed when we merely look outside and see the harmonious interaction in the natural world. As such, this essentially became the primary theme of the main text of the piece. So all of what we just described helped us to consider tone, framing, our approach and we also turned to various collaborators including individual Baha'is as well as other colleagues who are actively engaged in conversations around climate and the environment through their professional work and we asked what they thought would be timely to share or appropriate. We explored how the lens we use to view reality has a real bearing on the way we respond to our challenges. If the way we view our world and our purpose is incomplete then our proposed solutions no matter how meritorious will also fall short of enduring transformation. So as a starting point we needed to explore some of the values and underlying narratives that are driving the discourse. And you can see a few over here. And then we next turned to a number of spiritual principles that were especially relevant to the discourse. There are a few, we've got moderation and equity for instance and in addition to principles there were certain concepts and some which have gained a greater acceptance in society such as the oneness of humanity. Yet this still required a deeper exploration of its implications. Then there were other concepts that required new or expanded definitions. For example in the way we view power and justice you can see a few other concepts. Then questions related to process in terms of how we would translate those principles into action. They also became important. For instance a posture of learning and yeah just considering the scientific learning around process. And in a discourse that was often shaped by urgency and frustration and in many cases hopelessness. We also wanted to remain ever aware of the opportunities awakened through the various forces that play in the world. For instance opportunities to create new habits and redefine our systems. So you can see that there was a lot to say. And one question then was how could the BIC distill all of these ideas which all felt relevant and timely into some sort of a contribution. This was not an easy task but we're lucky we have the example of Eptzal Baha for inspiration. Let us too bear in mind the example which our beloved master has clearly set before us. Why is intactful in his approach? Wakeful and attentive in his early intercourse. Broad and liberal in all his public utterances cautious and gradual in the unfolding of the essential verities of the cause. Passionate in his appeal yet sober in argument. Confident in tone, unswerving in conviction. Dignified in his manners such were the distinguishing features of our beloved's noble presentation of the cause of Baha'u'llah. While the example of Eptzal Baha inspired our approach our task was to find a way to coherently present all of these ideas which all felt so central and timely to the unfolding dialogue. And we saw many challenges with trying to articulate this web of complex and overlapping ideas through the medium of writing which we know is inherently linear in nature. So we don't have a lot of time to go into that story of the writing process and involves a lot of stylistic exploration and experimentation but we can share a bit more about that process for anyone interested in joining the afternoon session today. We did however want to spend some time right now unpacking just one of the many concepts in the statement just to get a sense of how our content unfolded. So we've both already touched a bit on the importance of our narratives and underlying assumptions in the way that we view the world and interact with it. One dominant assumption which we've observed in this discourse area is that progress is largely defined by economic considerations. On its own, this belief is incomplete. Yet this belief has very real implications. We act as if we can carry out infinite material growth on a planet with finite material resources. We're driving our Earth's resources beyond what is sustainably possible while not fully exploring other elements of our individual and collective purpose. Another implication is that we keep hoping that this same materialistic lens, that lens which has contributed to the very challenges that we are facing in the first place will in fact be the solution out of our present problems. Our solutions then end up being largely about how many financial resources we can pour in or what new technical fixes can solve the problem rather than looking into deeper root causes. But we can all agree that finance and technology do have an important role to play on this path. But what we're seeing is that money and technology alone cannot address deeper questions of meaning and purpose which seem to drive a lot of the unsustainable patterns prevalent in society today. It's true that many actors on the international stage are recognizing and articulating the limitations of purely materialistic indicators of progress. But what seemed to be missing is a compelling alternative. So we saw this as a window of opportunity to explore ideas around what a more holistic conception around progress and human purpose might look like and how specific spiritual principles might offer an expanded view of our reality. What if we prioritize qualities such as moderation or a concern for future generations and what might that look like in practice? We also wanted to present some of the implications of this expanded conception, including an exploration of what it might look like if we were to begin to rethink our economic arrangements based on a different set of assumptions. You'll see throughout the statement, if you have a chance to glance through it, that the BIC also offers concrete proposals. Just one more slide, yeah. So it doesn't just remain within the realm of ideas and principles. In order to be part of the conversation, the BIC needed to speak to and highlight some of those ideas in society that represent a transition toward more mature conception around progress and purpose. For this particular proposal listed out here, the BIC echoed the UN Secretary General's call for the development of measures of progress that could complement GDP. The BIC further added that many diverse spaces existing in the UN could explore this matter using their expertise, thereby contributing to an ongoing process of inquiry into how to define success and progress. So one for the dimension related to the creation of content. So even beautiful words have their limits without an appropriate way of illustrating them. Actors with whom we engage at the international level would sometimes share that the BIC statements and approaches are really beautiful, but suggest that it's too idealistic or out of touch with reality. You consulted on this stumbling block and considered ways of sharing the experience of Baha'i communities in order to make tangible these abstract ideas. As a global community, our experiences are still nascent and humble, but they offer glimpses into new ways of arranging our affairs as well as alternative ways of viewing relationships with each other in the natural world and with our institutions and the planet in its entirety. Through these examples, we're beginning to see how patterns of behavior emerge in diverse localities that reflect a greater appreciation of our responsibility to the Earth and to future generations. We try to share how these communities develop their capacity to live out their purpose in this way with service to society and a culture of learning and exploration of defining features as defining features of their efforts. To this end, the BIC developed supplementary material to compliment the statement of the natural world, sharing stories both written and in film, thanks to the filmmaker who's probably sitting out in the audience somewhere, of communities learning about more holistic patterns of life with their environment. We find the efforts of those laboring at the grassroots to truly reinforce and actually lend meaning to the work of the BIC at the international stage, illustrating in lived reality the language that we're trying to share with others. In this, we see the value of our overarching framework which lends coherence to all of our endeavors as a worldwide community in whatever arena we're engaged. As an example, one of the stories we've shared comes from Zambia, where we're beginning to see how the efforts of the Bahá'í community helped a group of young adults to develop their capacity to respond to the needs of their environment. This process also improves certain aspects of the culture of the community, a tutor of the group shared. Before, people thought that development could only occur when others with money would come in to fund projects. But then they started to see development as something that can come from within the community, that when we work together in unity, we can build our community. So another final chapter that we'll discuss here is how this document has served the office. A key benefit was that those of us who serve as representatives can speak with greater clarity and confidence in the spaces when we're engaging in at the UN. This process of drafting, of consulting, of redrafting and repeating over and over again for years, it's fun. But it also gives us a tremendous amount of confidence that what we're sharing is actually based on a degree of understanding that we've reached. Moreover, it seems to have resonated with a few other Bahá'ís as well, as demonstrated by a wide range of indicators. From the number of emails our office receives about it, to the number of languages it's been translated into voluntarily by the members of the community, by yourselves. And German is coming up next. To the study groups and courses that we've heard about. Oh, here we go, here we go. Here we go, to the study groups and courses that we've heard about. And even, of course, to the invitation to present at this gathering. So the process of drafting the statement helped us to expand a network of collaborators as well. Something which really helps the office advance. So please reach out if you're interested. And beyond the Bahá'í community, to our audience at the international level, one plan at one habitation serves as a great tool to advance relationships, demonstrate legitimacy, sophistication, and even creativity. And that process actually started a year prior to the launch of the statement when we brought a working paper version of it to COP26 and Glasgow in 2021. We shared this version with many individuals to try and get their feedback, which created opportunities for meaningful conversation and ultimately a refinement of the statement. At Stockholm plus 50, a couple years later, we were able to build on the excellent relationships of the Swedish Bahá'í community that it has with its government and launch the document at the Swedish Parliament building. At that gathering, a former president of the General Assembly, who's become quite a good friend, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, shared some reflections on the document. She said. We cannot afford the luxury of pessimism and inaction. We have to rally behind the power of we. This document explores both the principles necessary and practical proposals to bring these principles into reality. And she went on to say that we have to. Transit from greed to solidarity and redistribution of wealth and power, from prejudice to empathy and kindness, from indifference and hate to radical love. Radical love for humankind and for nature. So this is just one example of the kind of response that we have been able to get from a few individuals. It's not as if everybody at the UN is now speaking this way, but we thought it'd be nice to share one. So these conversations do seem to demonstrate that we're providing a distinctive content to a gap in the discourse. Now I cop 27, I know there's a lot of numbers in years. This is a meeting that occurred in Egypt last year in 2022. We decided to continue pursuing this principles and values-based approach, trying to turn the words of the statement into conversations with others. We co-hosted a small two meter by two meter exhibit booth and we asked conference goers, what values guide you? We had sticky notes prepared and markers, but the booth was often a bit of a corner. So one of our delegates decided to write this out of the paper. He wrote, what values guide you? And he stood out in the walkway and it was much like those old free hugs videos, you remember? And he was asking total strangers, what values guide them? And a few of us were skeptical of this approach, but we became believers because soon enough, we were all taking turns jumping into this stream of passersby because the depth of the conversations we had was inspiring. And participants were excited to provide their reflections and here's the booth covered in sticky notes, listing things like empathy and honesty and kindness. Nature's our only home. It was so lovely, such wonderful conversations. So this upcoming year, last number, COP 28, we're trying to take this a step further. This will happen in November, December this year. And we're reaching out to colleagues and friends to co-host sessions on the values that guide them in their particular issue. Is it food systems? Is it climate induced migration? Is it finance? What values currently guide the work and perhaps more importantly, what values should guide their work? Now I've had people reach out to me from other organizations, how they can get involved, how they can help. Of course it's too soon to tell, but it does seem that there is momentum building around this approach. So one planet, one habitation then, is more than just a document, outlining concepts and making proposals. So it's a tool for us to refine our language. It's an offering that the Baha'i community can utilize and build on. It's an invitation to strengthen our relationships with others. It's a platform for further collaboration and activity. And importantly, at least to us, it's a meaningful contribution in our neighborhood, the United Nations, which is filled with brilliant people who are deeply involved in the process of contributing to the evolution of thought and policy at the international level. So as you can see, there was a lot to cover in this session. But for those interested in learning more about the evolution of this specific discourse area, as well as participating in discourses more broadly on the international stage, we'll have more time for those joining the follow-up workshop later today. As Dan mentioned at the start of our time together, this was just one effort of the BIC, learning to participate in discourse at the international level. The experience from writing one planet, one habitation, helped the BIC to learn more about the systematic development of content through reading reality, working with collaborators, deepening relationships, distilling insights into writing and testing and refining language. The BIC has been continuing to build off this experience, learning what it can take from this particular process and applying it to other discourse areas. It's exciting that we're all part of this collective endeavor of contributing to the evolution of thought, whether at the grassroots, through our professions, or on the international stage. All, we're all learning from each other and we're all contributing to an ever-expanding body of knowledge. The words of Abdul Bahad give us hope and excitement and inspiration as we explore future projects to come. The publication of High Thoughts is the dynamic power in the arteries of life. It is the very soul of the world. We look forward to learning further about how this dynamic power can bring light to the different spaces which we all participate in. Thank you. Thank you.