One of the supporters of the Connect campaign is Heart Phoenix, mother of the late, beloved actor River Phoenix.  Heart carries on River's commitment to working for a better world.  Before River's untimely death at age 23*  which sent waves of despair through his generation  he spoke out for rainforest protection, vegetarianism and personally lobbied the Hollywood community to take more leadership for environmental and animal rights. 

"River's work connected not only a lot of people but a lot of issues," Heart said.  "His life was about connecting people with something meaningful."

"Every generation changes the world," says Danny, whose spunky youth-led organization Project Underground is said to eat multi-national corporations for breakfast.  "But to change the dynamics of the human population today will mean some pretty substantial restructuring of the major power institutions that guide behavior.  For example, financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) paint a certain model of development on the 'majority world'  people who currently live relatively sustainably."

"The power of the current development paradigm is strong, far-reaching and scary.  But if we embed ourselves in the problems, we'll come to believe there's no alternative," he suggests.  "The Zapatistas in Mexico have said 'no.'  I can say 'no.'  Hell, young people have been saying 'no' for generations!"

As once-isolated youth activists across the world have begun converging, strong networks have developed and new terms like "majority world"  a witty spin on "developing countries"  have become part of a new global wordset that is fresh and vibrant.  As one of the co-founders of ASEED (Action for Solidarity in Environmental and Economic Development*), Danny has long been at the forefront of a growing youth movement that sees global networking as central to effective activism in the 90s.

"We began meeting in preparation for the United Nations' Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.  Because [the Summit] was selling us down the river, basically, young people around the world decided to target it," he recounts.  "That was when we launched our attack on corporate control of the Earth Summit.  We proudly were, I believe, the first ever to drop a banner off the United Nations building.  That was great, a ten-story banner reading 'Earth Summit  Hijacked.'"

During that same week in 1992, Bineshi Albert was convening the first Native Youth* circle of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), on the banks of the Columbia River in Washington.  While the Earth Summit's sessions was excluding many of the  youth in attendance, young Native American activists from all over the U.S. solemnly observed the 500-year anniversary of the arrival of Columbus to the Americas.  There would not be a repeat of the last 500 years.

"It's been very challenging working as a youth in the native community, meshing traditional beliefs with the current need for activism," says Bineshi.  "But there's a very strong sense that we're right and we'll continue working for that."

As visionary activists like Bineshi live according to their traditional beliefs on the heels of historic oppression and genocide, indigenous youth from the South Pacific to the North Pole face non-stop pressures from Westernization and the pillaging of resources on their lands. 

"Indigenous peoples across the world have the book of sustainability written in their brains," says Danny.  "We must support them."

What Makes Young People Get Involved?

What was the point at which these individuals chose to cross over the line of apathy?  And how did they decide to dedicate their young lives to such significant challenges?

"I first got involved in the environmental movement when I was 12," says Brem Wanbantei Blah Lyngdoh, an indigenous representative of the Khasi Tribe in India.  "I could not stand seeing my homeland destroyed by people who were only concerned about their profits and their self-interest."

"I come from Cherapunji, the 'Wettest Place on Earth,' in the foothills of the Himalayans," he says proudly.  "The Lyngdoh Sacred Groves have been protected for centuries by my father's clan and by my forefathers.  There are very few of these groves left today.  Coal and uranium mining are turning Cherapunji to an eroded desert."

Brem, now 23, is a shining example of a grassroots activist who has taken up arms globally to change the playing field.  "I joined the United Nations Youth Organisation and, after going to New Delhi, worked with an eco-regeneration project in the deserts of Northwest India...  Later, I was elected as one of the 15 World Youth Commissioners for the United Nations.

"During my high school days," Brem recalls, "I was involved in some demonstrations against deforestation... which threatens the existence of our peoples.  Instead of cooperating with the youth, the government reacted by sending the police and the Army to keep us quiet.  It resulted in a riot where many innocent students were brutalized, arrested and even shot at.  One of my friends was killed in one of those riots."

In western Africa, similar conflicts stem from public support of sustainability.   "The current ruling government thinks our student movement is in opposition to them,"  says environmental leader Lawrence Amoaful, 23, of Ghana, Africa.  "They sent convoys of police to disburse the demonstrators -- someone got shot recently...  You have to be tough and know what you're doing is right."

As a leader of the Renewable Natural Resources Student Association, Lawrence has co-developed a program called Adopt-a-Village, where he and his peers journey to remote, mountainous settlements along the west coast of Ghana.  There, they work with the local people to educate them in reforestation, family planning and health issues like AIDS.  They instruct villagers to not "slash and burn" forests and promote the use of condoms.  This holistic approach to sustainability has proven successful.  Lawrence is planning a trip to the United States to share the model he helped create  and take a vacation.

"If you would have known me in my early schooling, you wouldn't think I'd be like this now," admits Mafe del Rosario, 25, of The Phillipines.  "I would readily throw a candy wrapper on the street."

Today, Mafe works for Cascadia Quest, conducting restoration, tree-planting and advocacy on a global scale.  She was born and raised on an island called Negros and, as a child, had a seemingly endless rainforest in her backyard. 

"We had this place in our province, with a lot of waterfalls and we would go there and enjoy the beauty of it...  All these huge mahogany trees.  We would go sit there or play or go to mango trees and get some fruits," she says.  "It's really sad to realize that those trees that we once enjoyed are now gone, cut down.  You can see more roads being built.  There is less than 5% of forest cover left on that island."

"One of the worst moments ever," remembers Marie Segger of Canada,"was going back to a rainforest in Quebec that I just totally love and identify with and standing on the stump of a 200-foot tree, a 2000 year-old cedar."  Marie, 23, is nicknamed "tree" by many of her friends and co-workers because she hardly sleeps, hardly eats and tends to be, uh, hard to sway.

To Marie, this forest, one of the last remaining temperate rainforests on the West Coast, represents one of her primary sources of inspiration. "That's the place I go back to when things get hard [with activist work].  They cut this tree down while I was in Latin America," she recalls "while I was attending a conference for sustainable development.  I came home and realized we hadn't won, all we'd done was keep them off for a while."

What Role do Youth Play in the Movement?

"I have this thought of how you could live your life with importance and heal the planet," says Mafe from The Phillipines.  "You always have to have love, the four-letter word.  If we understand the beauty of nature and we begin to appreciate what's in nature, we become alert to learn about our surroundings.  I always take time out to appreciate nature," she says. 

"Just even going outside and smelling the flowers and when you are going hiking, listening to the birds and  I'm getting very poetic here  feeling the breeze going through the forest...  I appreciate everything I see."

"You know, for me, in any struggle," says Angela, "it's always the culture.  It's the people, it's the song, it's the way in which folks organize.  Those are the things that I always remember, the things that make it fun."

"You fight to win and it's the victories along the way that keep the spark going.  The protests on the lawn, the sit-ins... participating in that kind of thing is so powerful."

The awareness of a "global family" is being realized, steadily yet painfully.  The social and economic forces of globalization -- good and bad -- are visibly laying the foundation for a planetary perspective and young leaders are at the bleeding edge of this historic transformation.

For all the time-tested structure and protocol of the traditional ranks of environmental organizations, there is something undeniably infectious about young peoples' vision and approach to activism.  The key is to assure that youth are offered more than lip service and are given a wide berth; and that the freedom to integrate their important voices in policy is given a warm greeting.

"I believe in the righteousness of our struggle," Angela says.  "I just hope that whatever we do, that we make sure the next generation understands how we made the decisions we made.  I think the way to do that is to ensure that future generations are at the table, helping to make those decisions."