Challenges for World Summit in Johannesburg

From: elohimjl <[email protected]>
Date: Fri 12 Jul 2002 - 16:59:30 CEST

from: ECONEWS #118 JULY/AUGUST 2002

Challenges Developed at ICC 2002

Every day, the delegates developed challeges in their Friendship
Groups, based on the day's theme: Water, Climate Change, Healthy
Communities Healthy Children, and Resource Conservation. Two
children, Justin Friesen of Canada and Analiz Vergara of Ecuador,
were elected at the conference by their peers to attend the World
Summit on Sustainable Development and deliver these challenges to the
world leaders there. All the challenges are listed below.

THE CHILDREN SPEAK

All over the Earth, people want more food, bigger houses, bigger
cars, and more consumer goods. And yet with every bite we take, we
take another bite out of nature.

A new study by the California based Redefining Progress shows that
humanity's demand for resources has soared during the past 40 years
to a level where it will take the planet 1.2 years to regenerate what
we remove each year. If Planet Earth was a corporation, we would have
driven it into bankruptcy. And still we go on wanting more.

At a time like this, where do we look to find leadership? To the
Earth Summit, that's coming up this August? Maybe - but we also need
to look to our children. It is they who will inherit the mess we
leave behind, and live with the scarcity, bewilderment, poverty and
loss that we are causing.

In May, 400 children aged 10 - 12 from around the world met in
Victoria at the International Children's Conference on the
Environment. At the end of the conference, they issued a challenge to
the governments and the people of the world, which two of them will
take to Johannesburg (see
http://www.iccCanada2002.org/challenges.html).

I. WATER

        We challenge the governments of the world to:

* Be good environmental role models for everyone
* Conserve water by
* Promoting the use of organic farming
* Redesigning fuels so that they don't pollute water
* Collecting rainwater for drinking and watering gardens
* Encouraging the use of technologies that help purify and/or
conserve water
* Supporting environmental groups
* Incorporate solar aquatic sewage treatment in their country
* Build bio-degrading facilities like Solar Aquatics.
* Do not clear cut, as it causes soil erosion.
* Find alternatives to oil
* Create more environmental projects and contests for kids.
* Ensure that people from developing countries all have access
to clean drinking water and it should be shared equally.
* Protect wetlands and water in order for environmental
programs to keep functioning.
* Put in place stronger laws and penalties against industries,
individuals and corporations that pollute water. Fines should be put
in place and the money from the fines should go towards cleaning up
the water.

We challenge the people of the world to:

* Be good role models
* Protect and do not pollute water!

II. CLIMATE CHANGE
        We challenge the governments of the world to:

* Sign the Kyoto Protocol
* Ban and create laws against CFC's and other toxic chemicals
* Stop war and bring back the environment to what it was 300 years ago.
* Support the use of alternative transportation, like biking,
walking, using more public transportation and car pooling, instead of
driving.
* Limit the use of gas cars, to make idling for more than 5
minutes illegal and to limit the number of cars per family
* Make clear cut logging illegal and if you do log, plant two
trees for everyone tree you cut down.
* Give money for research about electric cars, alternative
energy and eco-friendly products and technology.
* Make a limit on the number of factories in a city and fine
cities that have too many. To close all the industries for one day
per year and penalize industries that use fossil fuels.
* Use greener energy like solar, wind, biomass and hydrogen.
Ban non-green energy like fossil fuels.
* Have more recycling and composting programs.

        We challenge the people of the world to:

* Not buy products that cause pollution
* Use ozone friendly products, heal and protect the environment
* Educate everyone about climate change, education and carpooling.
* Decrease pollution and stop smoking. Have an Earth Week
instead of an Earth Day.
* Live simply and use only what you need.
* Promote greener cars, like solar and electric cars, and make
them cheaper
* Invent more solar cars and machines that treat pollution.

III. HEALTHY CHILDREN, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

        We challenge the governments of the world to:

* Help developing communities to be healthier, to work
together, and to focus on leadership
* Forgive the debts of developing countries
* Promote health care and vaccinations for all the children of the world
* Have International Friendship and Multicultural Days
* Make a lane for bikes and roller blades so that people can
exercise without using cars.
* Have clean, healthy plants, animals and parks. Clean up slums.
* Incorporate environmental education into the school
curriculum. Encourage clean-ups and more involvement in environmental
issues.
* Make sure that everybody is healthy, has clean water and good
food and a place to live
* Stop child labour in harsh conditions (sweat shops and
chemical factories)
* Ensure that the people of the world have clean water and a
healthy environment.
* Stop destroying non-renewable resources.
* Make stricter laws on the environment and the use of landmines.
* Keep your community clean and children healthy by not using
pesticides and/or herbicides
* Listen to each other, especially children

        We challenge the people of the world to:

* Reduce, reuse, recycle and compost. Use renewable resources
and use them wisely. Reduce the number of factories and cars.
* Create clean, healthy, peaceful homes and better living conditions
* Respect all creatures and realize that we are not the only
ones on the planet
* Redistribute the wealth, and help someone less fortunate
* Come together with their communities and focus on the
environmental issues that they are facing
* Conserve water by taking shorter showers.
* Don't pollute water and treat sewage properly.
* Stop smoking and, if they must, they should not smoke in
front of children.
* Listen to each other and especially children.

IV. RESOURCE CONSERVATION

        We challenge the governments of the world to:

* Stop cutting down trees without replacing them
* Create more efficient cars
* Put a limit on how much fossil fuels we use
* Protect our environment through keeping the landmarks of the
different cultures of the world and banning clear-cutting
* Limit the drilling of oil
* Protect fresh water from pollution by ensuring that it is not
wasted or misused by individuals
* Tax people that waste non-renewable resources
* Create protected areas and plant more trees
* Find more sources of energy and use what we have more efficiently
* Invent solar energy, use bio-degradable products and use
buses, subways or carpools
* Make and enforce new laws on conserving our natural resources
* Give tax breaks for environmentally-friendly products

        We challenge the people of the world to:

* Reduce, reuse and recycle
* Protect the earth's resources e.g. don't clear cut and plant more trees

-- 
elohimjl
Received on Fri Jul 12 17:00:32 2002

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