The Idea
At Borgholm, Sweden in May of 2001, a small group of United States youth realized that the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), or Rio +10, which was billed as the greatest opportunity since the Rio Earth Summit to make progress toward sustainable development, is rapidly approaching. Youth from other countries are already well organized and networked to make their voices heard at the WSSD and its preparatory process. To ensure that youth have a voice, they form the US Youth Planning Group. At a meeting of the group in October in Washington, DC, they reorganized the ever-growing movement into a network of US youth and called it SustainUS.

The new network would continue to meet and communicate amongst itself in preparation for the WSSD. In March of 2002, a second youth meeting, the "US Youth Summit on Sustainable Development," attracted over 200 people, representing over 25 NGO's and hailing from over 20 different countries and all over the United States. At the US Youth Summit, SustainUS kicks off its "Bet" campaign with then President George H. W. Bush, in which the youth bet the President that they could conserve 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide as evidenced in pledges by youth. At the same time, another meeting at the UN (Prepcom III) was underway. SustainUS sends a full delegation as an officially accredited organization to the WSSD.

Emergence
After countless hours of tabling, e-mailing, and networking, SustainUS won its Bet with President Bush. Youth carbon dioxide emission savings hit 20,000 tons with less than 48 hours remaining in the ?Bet? period. Nonetheless, Bush failed to attend the WSSD.

In August of 2002, over 100 heads of State and 50,000 people attended the WSSD in Johannesburg; President Bush did not. A last ditch effort was made to save the WSSD from the policies that derailed it in preparatory meetings, and some modest progress was made. Still, the WSSD produced a document without meaningful reform of international institutions, commitments to funding research for sustainable development, or time-based commitments by governments on energy, among other things. Despite difficulties, the SusatinUS delegation successfully covered the entire Summit and made crucial contributions to the Youth Caucus, whose statement at the Summit was widely reviewed as the most honest, articulate, and important one given. SustainUS returned home to reorganize and bring the new vision of sustainable development to the United States.

SustainUS Today
In March of 2003, the Science and Technology Newsletter of SustainUS partners with the International Young Professionals Network to create Symbiosis, a newsletter on sustainable development science and technology for the UN Millenium Development Goals program and the policy community, both young and old. This program would eventually evolve into Citizen Science, one of the two current national programs for SustainUS.