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United Nations Youth Commissioner Bremly Lyngdoh, 22, from the Himalayan foothills.

"Saving an Awesome Planet:
Youth of the World Rise to the Challenge of Sustainability"

by William R. Buck

It's no joke that today's youth are seeing global conditions worsen: the rapid loss of species and their habitat; startling effects of accumulating toxins in our bodies and in the environment; increasing depletion of the ozone layer.   Yet ironically, the world is also pulling into the drive-thru of the Information Age -- a one-stop shopping extravaganza that offers historic leaps in areas like art, science, health and personal development.  What's up with that?

"I think we understand our historical responsibility, in terms of being the generation that makes or breaks it," says Danny Kennedy, 26, who became an eco-activist at age 14 in his native Australia and is now an international youth leader. 

Tens of thousands of young activists across the world like Danny have chosen to stand and rise to a special occasion: the, uh, end of the world as we know it.  The leading edge of a generation branded as "slackers" and "Generation X" -- apathetic and uninvolved -- is proving boldly that today's youth have motivation, intelligence and even hope for a future widely thought to be up in the air.

"We are not a Generation X but a generation which has inherited a degenerated world," says Adam Werbach, 24, re-elected this May as president of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest conservation group.  "We're engaged, we're ready, we're all mobilizing for a common goal... and we're having a lot of fun together."

"What I find a lot of the time is that if youth aren't involved, it's because they don't know how to get involved," says Angela Brown, a recipient of the International Human Rights Award who began fighting a proposed PCB landfill at age 13. 

Twentysomething leaders raised on Brady Bunch re-runs, sugar-coated product-branding and the dubious climate of the 80s have "popped out the other side" and are alive and well.  Excellent!

New Tools Used by a Fresh Generation

Unlike the stereotypes that have been cast upon the leaders of "Generation X", in reality they tend to be: confindent in their ability to create change; reasonably hopeful that a sustainable society can be designed; and, willing to go as far as they can to win their struggles.  After all, according to an unspoken concensus, there's no other option.

High technology is adding a powerful new component to activism and a fresh spin on what is considered effective in the environmental justice movement. Though there is a lag in getting good quality hardware and training to organizations that need it, tools like the Internet are being used innovatively to network, organize and inform an activist community that is becoming increasingly techno-savvy.

"[Technology] is phenomenal as far as mobilizing and organizing goes," says Angela, now 32, who lives in Atlanta and runs the globally-focused Youth Task Force.  "It's now more possible than ever to communicate with sisters and brothers around the world.  Which means that trans-national corporations no longer have a monopoly on all power of communication internationally."

In Washington, DC, a national student network called Free the Planet! is using a system that quickly gathers hundreds of personalized letters on urgent issues, which are transferred from email messages into faxes.   First, action alerts are blitzed via email to concerned citizens, who personalize the core text.  A centralized computer system then transfers the email text to a printed letter which rolls out the fax machines of the appropriate targets.

"That's what you call using technology wisely," says Rick Taketa, 24, who helped create "EnviroAction" with the Environmental Defense Fund* in late 1996.  "We can literally shut down the fax capabilities of polluters and politicians, while delivering a pro-environmental message.  That's powerful."

Envirolink is a "grassroots online community" representing over 130 countries and supporting activists with services like daily action alerts, searchable databases and the design and maintenance of websites  started by young people.  Envirolink's Connect with Action website is another wise use of the Internet and it gets more than 100,000 hits a day* internationally. 

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