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Last week, while miscreants at one school were making trouble, dozens of students from schools all over the island were making good. Along with 19 teachers, 60 students from government, private and even home schools attended the Environmental Youth Conference.

This was no ordinary conference. Over three days the participants visited industrial sites, engaged with interactive learning stations, went on field trips and attended workshops.

They produced and delivered reports on every visit, workshop and activity. They not only developed an understanding of the complexity of sustainability, they made presentations that helped their peers, teachers and parents understand.

They crafted and produced a humorous skit with the simple but provocative message that if we keep building our ‘tool-sheds’ bigger, pretty soon the sheds will have covered over so much ground there’ll be none left to grow food on. They even re-wrote words to ‘Hail to Bermuda’ and coached the closing assembly in singing their environmentally friendly version.

I took part in one of the workshops — on ‘Alternative Energy’. I found the students bright, inquisitive, ready to challenge and ready to learn. BELCO, one of the event’s sponsors, donated model car kits. The kits gave hands-on knowledge for powering the cars using solar energy or fuel cells, and included a book of experiments and even test equipment that could keep teenagers tantalized for at least a few weeks. Students in the workshop got to take the kits home with them.

The organizing team of Jennifer Gray and Sarah Manuel of Conservation Services and Nicola O’Leary from the Bermuda National Trust put together and led an intensive learning experience that drew on the knowledge of over fifty environmental experts. Their team of youth leaders helped the students improve their knowledge of environment; and also their attitudes toward, enjoyment of, and skills in protecting the environment. They also kept the students well supervised and safe and on schedule.

In addition to the usual choices young people face, tomorrow’s citizens will have to make critical environmental decisions, many of them decisions our generation deferred. As an aging environmentalist, I am encouraged by the commitment these students have shown. They will be the environmental advocates for the future.

Of course there are some young people whose search for novelty makes them targets for the excitement of bad behaviour. I remember being one of them.

But there are many more young people who are being turned on by the excitement of understanding the intricacies of our world and the possibility of making it a better one.

And there are adults who are ready to devote time and energy to help give our young people insight and purpose.

My hat goes off to Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield for hosting the event. She opened and closed the conference and personally handed out end-of-conference packets, along with encouraging words, to all participants who attended the closing ceremonies.

Kudos also to Jack Ward, Director of the Department of Conservation Services, who spearheaded the first of this conference series in 2000, and whose Department organized the event this year.

So while there are a few young people whose bad behaviour makes the news, let’s keep our attention on the many in our community, young and not so young, who are spending their time and energy improving themselves and the world we all live in.[[In-content Ad]]

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