Day 1 of the conference....

Generation next: our voices

The wait is finally over, the much awaited conference on “Ethical Framework for a sustainable world” started on the 1^st November, 2010. The youth was seen in action from the very beginning of the conference, there is a “Youth Corner”, which is set up by the youth for conveying strong messages of sustainable lifestyles, and consumption patterns, and they are also placing their opinions on various aspects of creating a sustainable world like biodiversity, CSR, Role of ICT in creating environmental consciousness, ESD, global challenges and governance, spirituality, school education and teacher training etc. The activity of putting thumb prints for depicting action is being done on canvass by all the participants, there are beautiful depictions in the form of collage, portraits, paintings made by the youth themselves.

The youth participants were bifurcated into various groups that attended the workshops that took place on ten thematic themes. All the participants met in the evening to share what they learnt from their respective workshops and how they could contribute towards it better, and what more were they expecting from the workshops in the next two days. The youth thought that the workshops were extremely knowledgeable and inspiring, but they wanted the workshops to be more interactive and engaging.

The youth participants have been significantly adding to the conference by playing their roles as rapporteurs, volunteers, & participants who have fresh ideas and are ready to implement on them. One of the youth representatives also represented the next generation in the plenary discussion on climate change. We as youth realize our responsibilities, and are striving to offer our energy and capabilities towards creating a better future.

It’s time to become activists and not just thinkers; it’s time to learn from the experience of the older generation and collating that with our curiosity and capacity towards attaining sustainability for our future & the future of the generations to come.

                                                                                        -Shraddha Ganwani