elissasmith.ca

My experience at the Twelfth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development was extremely rewarding and I learned a great deal about international decision-making, UN processes and the roles that civil society, especially youth can play on the global level.

As 2004 was a review year for the CSD, discussion centered on reflection and reporting of best practices and lessons learned in the key themes of water, sanitation and human settlement. Within this context, I worked with the 20-30 other youth caucus members to advocate for youth related sustainable development concerns through statements and interventions in the plenary, discussion with members of national delegations and other major groups, and written documents and campaigns. Our points included:

· The importance of education as a tool in promoting sustainable development, and the need for development and implementation of national Strategies on Education for Sustainable Development by member states.

· The need for greater caution and monitoring when engaging private sector partners in water, sanitation and housing provision.

· The role that youth can and do play as leaders in the implementation and promotion of sustainable development practices and initiatives, highlighting work that is already being done through youth led projects around the world.

· The importance of consultation and engagement with local communities (particularly marginalized groups like women and youth), who are the primary stakeholders in the design and application of development initiatives, to ensure projects are culturally sensitive and effective.

· A push for the inclusion of youth in more official delegations in the future, especially those from Southern countries, providing for more equal and adequate representation of the various voices and concerns of young people in the CSD.

During the two weeks I also had the opportunity to interact with officials in the Canadian delegation, gaining incite into Canada’s involvement in the implementation of Agenda 21 (Earth Summit, 1992) and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002) both at home and abroad through development assistance. It was interesting and perhaps disheartening to experience the bureaucracy in which the Canadian government and UN as whole operate, as it provides a major barrier to realizing many of the recommendations and goals set out in past years. In spite of such limits a great deal has been achieved through both the CSD and Canadian government and in many areas targets are being achieved or remain within reach. The CSD is a unique and effective process within the UN system as it is capable of unifying international actors and stakeholders from both government and civil society around the common goal of sustainable development.

Here is the address to the UN webcast where I say the official youth statement. The time is at about 2:36 when I speak but you might want to listen to the whole row of major groups (there are 9) because I helped to write the speach (with Pieter from the northern alliance for sustainability).

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Elissa Smith,
Environmental Science
University of Guelph

I would like to share with you the text from an inspiring poster that I recently received as a gift from my Aunt Mare. www.syrculturalworkers.com

“How to Build a Global Community

• Think of no one as “them”.
• Don’t confuse your comfort with your saftey.
• Talk to strangers.
• Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels.
• Listen to music you don’t understand. Dance to it.
• Act locally.
• Notice the workings of powr and privilege in your culture.
• Question Consumption.
• Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation.
• Look for fiar trade union labels.
• Help build economies from the bottom up.
• Acquire few needs.
• Learn a second (or third) language.
• Visit people, places, and cultures- not tourist attractions.
• Learn people’s history.
• Re-define progress.
• Know your physica and political geography.
• Play games from other cultures.
• Watch films with subtitles.
• Know your heritage.
• Honour everyone’s holidays.
• Look at the moon and imagine someone else, somehwere else, looking at it too.
• Read the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water.
• Know where your bank banks.
• Never believe you have a right to anyone else’s resources.
• Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination.
• Question military/corporate connections.
• Don’t confuse money with wealth, or time with money.
• Have a pen/email pal.
• Honour indigenous cultures.
• Judge governance by how well it meets all people’s needs.
• Be skeptical about what you read.
• Eat Adventurously. Enjoy vegetables, beans and grains in your diet.
• Choose curiosity over certainty.
• Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go.
• Pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism.
• Think South, Central and North- there are many Americans.
• Assume that many others share your dreams.
• Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.”

Elissa is a 19 year old female homo sapien. She refers to herself as a tree hugging pragmatic idealist. When she is not busy being a 2nd year environmental science student at the University of Guelph you can find her camping, traveling, socializing, yoga, skiing, cycling or swimming.

Elissa’s purpose at this chapter in her life is to support the youth environmental movement, and encourage youth participation in decision making. On a local level Elissa is involved in Guelph Students for Environmental Change, the Guelph Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, and she is on the board of directors of OPIRG-Guelph. She has worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Nationally, Elissa is on the board of directors of the Youth Environmental Network (YEN) of Canada. She is also the leader of the YEN policy working group. She has been involved with UNESCO-Canada youth and the Green party of Ontario. Elissa has volunteered with international organizations such as Rising Tide, World Carfree Network, People and Planet, and the European Youth For Action. Elissa has represented the Sierra Youth Coalition twice at the UN commission for sustainable development, in NY. Elissa is also a member of the Canadian Environment Ministers Youth Advisory Council- the Youth Round Table on the Environment.

Elissa tends to analyze all environmental issues from a social justice perspective. Climate change, sustainable consumption/production, and grassroots environmental education/action are her main areas of interest. But lately she has been focusing on her interests on environmental economics, policy and international development.

I believe that I live in the most exciting and fastest changing time that humanity has ever known. Our world is facing the most pressing problems that it has ever faced. The stress of the possibility of the extinction of our species weights heavily on my shoulders.

The timescales of revolutions are getting shorter and shorter- agricultural, industrial, technical… The Mayan calinder stops at the year 2012!

I live in a society that glorifies youth.

This is a strange place, a strange time to live in. That’s all I can say.

This website is dedicated to my uncle Robert Feagan for opening my eyes as a young child and ‘The Times They Are A-Changin,’ by Bob Dylan. My favourite vegetable/source of fat is an avocado- so I tried to use the colour scheme in the design of this website.

I feel strongly that online networking is an important basis for the anti-globalization movement, for environmental awairness raising, for reporting social injustices.

According to the UNU of Tokyo the environmental consequences of the information technology revolution are negative.

I figure if you can’t beat the bandwagon then join it. If there has to be a digital future then I want to make sure its an ethical digital future. So here is the official unveiling of my website- elissasmith.ca.

For Christmas my true love gave to me a website! It was no small job- I’m as picky as they come. How nice is that? He even took the photos that are on the top. For my New Years Resolutions I’ll try to be nicer to him