Young people and Rio+20

This blog is mainly focused on my involvement with one of the 9 main segments of Civil Society--the Major Group of Children and Youth plus their involvement with Rio+20. Or at least that is what it was supposed to be...

If you haven't ever heard of Rio+20 (aka Earth Summit / UN conference on sustainable development) then you will need to google it...today I am focusing on how crazy our world is. It isn't enough to have passion, to have energy, to want to be engaged and to spread the word. Young people's participation in Rio+20 has been fragmented and but not due to a lack of passion / commitment. We are the least funded of all the segments but we have managed to reach out to thousands of young people who represent millions. But it frustrates us how many young people still haven't heard about it....

So, that is our goal at the moment. It is funny how 17 dollars resulted in our delaying launching a website for 6 months. I suppose that is depressing if you think about how much is spent on useless things. It also makes you wonder...how committed are we?

Luckily, we have just created a fundraising team and I am happy to see if they can pull off some magic so we can really build pressure--cos the zero draft is a waste of time and it is not leading to the future I want! The numerous meetings prevent concrete engagement as they are short and not cost effective (either from a carbon or financial perspective). But do I think that Rio+20 will be a complete failure--no. Do I think it won't meet expectations--yes. Do I think that its going to result in a document that we can look back on like the Rio declaration....no! So, what are you doing about it? If the answer is nothing--its not too late. If the answer is loads--hug! I don't know what the never ending optimism comes from. I do know why I care about this. 

So, what am I looking forward to?

I am looking forward to the Youth Blast where 2,000 young people will gather in Rio de Janiero to discuss the next 20 years. I think that there is where magic will happen.