So it’s almost 1:30 in the morning on Saturday. My plane leaves in about four hours, and by 11, I will be in Michigan with my grandparents. As happy as I am to see them, I’m extremely sad that this wonderful experience is practically over for me, especially when there’s a week left to go. I’m not ready for it to be done, and I’m not ready to leave all of these wonderful people, even though some things have not been going so well.If you read Bob’s last post, you’ll notice that I have been quite upset with my country, the United States, and the way they are handling negotiations and text changes.

Don’t get me wrong—I have loved CSD, more so than I ever thought I would. Meeting other youth from around the world, forming opinions on key issues, making statements…it’s amazing, and describing it just wouldn’t do it justice. However, it is also very frustrating that the country which I’m representing, my home, is pushing for textual changes within the document that (let’s face it), make the suggestions it contains hardly worth as much as the paper it’s printed on.

I have been joking with several youth delegates about changing nationalities, so I’m no longer associated with the US and it’s usually narrow view. Belgium was very receptive, Bob said I could be Canadian if I wanted to, and Turkey sounded promising. I was busy trying to learn how to say “goodbye” in Turkish.

This morning, I was talking with a youth representative from Israel, named Eyal. We had been discussing an article he wrote, all about how the consumption in the West needed to be contained and declined, or else changes wouldn’t happen. At this point, frustrated again by the US’s unwillingness to commit to any real changes, I asked if I could come to Israel. Eyal gave me an odd look and asked “Why?”

“So I can represent a country that isn’t trying to place blame on everyone else, that has no desire to change it’s overly-consumptive ways. Even you pointed that out.”

“But you are American,” Eyal countered. “You care, and you want to see changes. America is where you need to be.”

I sat back and played with that idea. It made sense, of course, because I do care a great deal about where this country, this world even, is going. If we keep going on the path we’re on, small islands like Tuvalu will be underwater; Cyprus, (as I learned today), will be engulfed by desert; and places that are already facing a multitude of problems, like Africa, will see an intensification of the challenges facing them. Heck, my home until I was 18, south Florida, where my parents and younger sister who I love so, so much live, will be only a memory.

But how do I get involved and try to make changes in such a place, when the US, the main problem to many people, is showing absolutely no signs of budging from the oil and carbon-hungry mindset it has? As much as I believe in the power to change the world, what in the world could I really do?

It was then that I focused on where I was. Eyal, Bob, Ruthie, Chloe, Lauren, and I had gone to a side event titles “Penguins on Thin Ice.” It was a musical about global warming and climate change put on by the women’s glee club of New York’s High School for Environmental Studies (HSES). As I watched these youth, my peers, really, sing about how the ice is melting, how islands are drowning, how we are still in love with oil, I was filled with an immense sense of hope, one which I haven’t felt in a very, very long time. I realized that these were the people I was specifically representing: the youth and children of the US, the youth and children who were singing at the top of their lungs for a change, the youth and children who are out there giving it everything they got, whether they felt they could change things or not.

The rest of the show was magnificent. Truly the most amazing thing at the UN, I’d say, at least personally. I don’t cry, as I’ve asserted many times, but my eyes were definitely misty when the show closed (no teasing, Bob!!). There I vowed that as long as there are people out there fighting for changes, then I would join them and fight as well. At the end of the day, the worst thing that I can say is that “I tried my very best.”

I spent the rest of the day after that with a bit of a different outlook. I went to negotiations, talked with the US delegate, had several discussions with the other youth representatives, and came to my conclusion around the time a group of us started off for dinner:

CSD is, and I feel will be, a very important meeting for countries for a good while. It’s a wonderful venue for many who normally don’t have a voice in policy to speak up and be heard. It’s an even better way to educate governments and delegates, as those of us who have been lobbying can attest to. It can also be seen as a crucial part of soft policy, which can help many countries in implementing changes. However, until those that are responsible really start to account for their actions, and language moves from “welcomes” and “invites” to “strongly suggests” or even “requires” (I know, probably not going to happen…), we on the ground, at the so-called “lower” levels, must go on without prodding. Enough of us are making a racket about this; we need to come together as a strong, unified voice, to say “we must change NOW.”

Again, saying goodbye to everyone is hard, but it gives me such hope for our future, knowing that my friends are all over the country, all over the world, spreading the same message I am. I would like to go back to CSD next year, to reunite with old friends, make new ones, and renew our urges for a better world—not just for the youth and children, but for all who call this magnificent place home.

Wow. Sorry this was a long one. I think the girls who walked into the room would like to go to sleep, without the light I have on to type. I have so many messages to convey, so many ideas in this head of mine, I don’t know how to end this. I guess I will have to rely on the words of another:

" Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead  

☺

Lindsay Baker

Hello everyone!

I'm currently sitting in Conference Room 4 waiting for discussions on revisions to the Chairman's text with respect to climate change to begin.  Since I last wrote, we have developed the Youth Caucus response to the initial draft Chairman's text, coordinated lobbying plans, and talked to several government delegates.  Many of the conversations have been intriguing, as I've been able to discuss various countries' stances on air pollution, energy, and climate change.  

Aside from lobbying, I met an interpreter who translates from Chinese to English and vice versa.  Did you know that one of the rarest language combinations is English-French-Russian?  

Oh, session is starting.  More to come soon, but for now:

Stephanie

Youth Caucus hard at work. 

I didn't get to CSD until lunch today since I had a final exam in the morning. I got a chance to go to the Global Youth Action Network side event partly presented by our very own Juan, along with delegates from the Netherlands, Germany and a researcher from the Smithsonian Institution. The researcher talked mostly about doing research in the arctic, and didn't get to much into education and youth. The delegate from the Netherlands went into detail about how the Dutch education system is actively incorporating sustainable development, and seems to be one of the leader countries in terms of S.D. education. The German presenter was a substitute for the actual delegate who was supposed to do the presentation, but could not make it as she was in negotiations (actually, same with the Dutch presenter). He got notified an hour before the presentation so he didn't really know what he was talking about... ha... Juan mainly talked about the history of the Global Youth Action Network, from its inception to CSD15.  At this side event, I met with a high-level official of the Korean Ministry of Environment, and a UNEP official. 

 After this event, I went to the I.D. conference where the countries were making amendments to the Chair's text. The most interesting (yet not surprising) thing happened with the U.S. delegation, which repeatedly corrected the text to lower the significance of sustainable development and CSR. For example, the recommended changing "Encourage corporate social responsibility" to "Welcome corporate social responsibility." Lindsay beside me just went "arrrgg" and hung her head in shame (I'm Canadian...haha). Norway was the opposite of the USA. It requested to add environmental responsibility and several other important sustainable development points into the document. 

The climate change conference was posponed till tomorrow morning as delegates needed more time. I am looking forward to attending this meeting, and especially seeing what the USA has to say about climate change.

 Peace out!

 Bob Ma

Most of today was spent waiting in high anticipation for the chair's draft of the negotiating document. The day started with the youth cacus meeting where several of us volunteered to follow the other major groups by dropping in on their meetings. Joann, a delegate from belgium, and I volunteered to follow the business and industries group, as we are both going to business schools, and have an interest in industrial development. Through seeing what the other groups are doing, we hope to find common grounds with other groups as the more voices the better. After that, we split into each of our respective sustainability areas (I was in Industrial Development) and set lobbying priorities that we would later use after the negotiating doc is released. 

We had an especially large lunch today which included several delegates from other organizations, especially with THIMUN, an international youth Model UN organization with delegates from China and all over Europe. The SustainUS delegates immediately became friends with these other delegates as we all shared common grounds as part of the Youth Caucus. I think by the end of the day, everyone saw each other as part of the Youth Caucus as a whole, and less so as to focus on being part of their individual organizations. I was very impressed by this cohesiveness. 

 After lunch, the majority of the SustainUS folks, as well as several of our new friends, attended the Citizen Science presentation where the winners of the competition shared their essays. After the presentation, people just kinda wondered around for a short while since the chair's doc was delayed for more than an hour. Actually during this time I had a chance to talk with a delegate from Business and Industries, who is an Adviser on Climate Change from the World Nuclear Association. This was interesting because the NGO group (with support of other groups, including youth, i believe) released a written statement against nuclear energy that morning. In our conversation, I was surprised that the WNA rep told me that business and industries are strong proponents of sustainable development, and not opponents who are solely in the interest of profit. His main point was that you can't do business is the world is dead. But he obviously also refuted most of the points from the Anti-nuclear energy statement. From him, I learned that the B&I group isn't really as cohesive as the other interest groups, and you can't categorize this group because there are such diverse interests. Although profit is a goal (for most of the organizations, the WNA is a non-profit), you can't profit if the planet isn't working. I believe the B&I is the only major group that doesn't hold regular caucus meetings --> they just meet in the cafeteria. Hopefully this representative will help me get in touch with more B&I'ers.

After the chairman's doc was released, the real work began, and the youth experience became even better. Pretty much the entire youth caucus met at the cafeteria, and further bolstered our lunch-time group. There were literally double the number of sustainus folks (and us being the largest single org), with new friends from all over the world. We then sat down together to review and suggest changes to the document.

 Whew that was long..