| UI students to attend U.N. summit on sustainability |
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| Written by Alec Lawton -Argonaut | ||||||
| Tuesday, 18 April 2006 | ||||||
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University of Idaho students and youths younger than 25 will have a
voice in a coming U.N. summit on sustainable development, thanks to a
volunteer-driven environmental organization and the hard work of two UI
undergraduates. SustainUS is a national organization with the goal of empowering youth in social and national decisions that affect the world they live in, namely environmental sustainability. UI juniors Justin Saydell and Mark Moroge will use the channels created by SustainUS to represent the organization May 6 — 12 in New York City. Because the U.N. commission is in a planning year, Moroge said, its goals for the conference will center around interaction with other representatives from SustainUS as well as the youth caucus, rather than interacting with the commission itself. In previous conferences, members of SustainUS, including Moroge, have written statements of intent and read them on the plenary floor. At the commission on sustainable development, Saydell and Moroge will share ideas with other students regarding sustainability and community involvement. For example, Saydell said, youth in Washington, D.C., are mapping businesses that sell ecologically sustainable products to encourage consumers to spend in an environmentally friendly manner. This is one idea Saydell hopes to implement in Moscow in the coming years. Saydell said SustainUS helps students promote sustainability, mainly through the way the organization is structured. “We have what we call Geoclusters, which are a group of people under the age of 25 in a given area, which really help make it possible,” Saydell said. “They’re often asked to house visiting members.” Moroge said that he never realized how much influence he had before working with the organization. The trip began long ago for Moroge and Saydell, even before they started raising their own money for this trip. Saydell, a junior studying ecology and conservation biology, has been interested in the environment since the second grade and has since become the vice president of the UI Environmental Club and the ASUI director of sustainability. For him, traveling to New York to attend the U.N. summit is largely a reaction to other people’s passion as well as his own convictions. “It’s a great experience,” Saydell said. “I don’t think there’s even a word for it. It’s more than great. It’s like Severn Suzuki (a Borah Symposium speaker) stresses the importance of youth addressing issues that will affect them as adults.” Moroge is also a junior studying ecology and conservation biology. He became involved in SustainUS after a professor recommended he publish a paper he wrote on sustainability. After sending the paper to SustainUS, the organization contacted him and asked him to get involved. In February, Moroge represented the organization at the Commission for Social Development. One of Moroge’s goals is help SustainUS expand westward from its East Coast roots. “One of the reasons we want to get this started out here is that we can establish, through this organization, a constant connection between youth and high-level conferences.” Moroge said. Moroge said that SustainUS benefits from sending students from all over to the country to these conferences not just to address international leaders, but also to network with one another. Although SustainUS is not affiliated with the UI Environmental Club, or other environmental groups throughout the region, Moroge said that he envisions it as something that can bring the various environmental causes under one umbrella. Saydell described the organization as a nexus for like-minded individuals. “People our age are extremely motivated,” Saydell said. “It’s good to know that they exist and they’re working on the same issues.”  Add as favorites (155) | Views: 3365
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