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Committee Profile
The enchanting, ancient city of Venice is facing numerous modern-day problems from overtourism, building decay, and of course, the effects of climate change. Although the city was often ahead of its time and ahead of the climate change curve, devastating floods still left much of the city underwater. All the while, tourists and aging architecture lead to urban decay and overcrowding. As these existential threats result in an uncertain future for the city of Venice, it is up to the city council, made up of no more than 30 men and women, to determine that future. These 30 delegates will be tasked with alleviating these problems. Simple enough, that task would be, if it weren’t for the presence of a dozen different political parties in the city council, the fact they all have to answer to both Italy and the EU, and the political party of the city’s mayor holding a majority of delegates and power. So, there’s numerous checks and balances preventing legislation from getting through. On the precipice of climate disaster, this generation of councilmen and councilwomen possess incredible power to change the future. How would you use it if you were them?
Chair Letter
What’s up, delegates,
Welcome to the Venice City Council committee for BruinMUN 33! My name’s Dean Bruton, and I’ll be your chair. I’m a third year environmental science major and environmental engineering minor here at UCLA, and appropriately hope to become an engineer after graduation. I’m from Chicago originally, but I am loving my time in California and can’t wait to give you guys the best BruinMUN experience!
As for my experience in Model UN, I started in freshman year of high school. Due to COVID shutting down conferences during my sophomore year, I actually quit MUN because the virtual conferences couldn’t compare to the in-person ones. Over the course of that year, I realized that MUN was important to not only my education, but my development as a person, and it helped me make memories with my schoolmates. So, I returned to MUN in my junior year, and have not stopped it since.
Aside from Model UN, I am absolutely obsessed with baseball. I played for my high school team and played travel ball, too. To a lesser extent I also like volleyball and soccer. My favorite music genres are rap (rage and experimental) and indie (shoegaze). Furthermore, as you might have guessed based on my major and minor, I love the environment. Conservation and sustainability are passions of mine; I intend on alleviating climate change through engineering sustainable projects in my future profession—fingers crossed.
On the topic of conservation, the Venice City Council deals with the intersection of climate change and politics. For years, major floods in the historic Italian tourist destination have made international headlines. Much like the scientific consensus, the general Italian political consensus is that climate change is real. It’s now a matter of mitigation versus adaptation; climate change has certainly left its mark on Venice, and yet so much more can be done. In 2003, a state-of-the-art flood prevention system was set in motion, but that didn’t prevent more than 80% of the city from falling underwater in 2019. As climate change as an existential threat grows, delegates in this committee have to make sure that the influx of tourists will be safe from natural disasters, yet simultaneously refrain from potentially ruining the city’s charming appeal with drastic measures. Or do that, if that’s your thing.
Good luck and have fun!
Dean Bruton