Children have a remarkable ability to live in the moment, to lose themselves wholly in an activity and take pleasure in the most simple of things. They do not spend time dwelling on the past, worrying about the future or deliberating on the consequences of their actions. That's what adults are for. And yet, as we prepare for the Rio Earth Summit later this month, it is hard not to have a sense that this generation of adults are collectively failing our children.
Yesterday provided an opportunity for a handful of those children to take center stage as over 30 young people aged between 12 and 21 sacrificed a day of their precious school holidays or reading weeks to attend a 'Rio Youth Question Time' event at the Science Museum. The event brought them together with a variety of environment and sustainability experts including broadcaster Simon Reeve and Stern Review co-author Dimitiri Zenghellis to discuss the key issues they want addressed by world leaders at the Earth Summit. In the afternoon they were joined for a lively final discussion by environment secretary Caroline Spelman.
The young people pointed out that unlike many of the political decision makers attending Rio+20, they would still be around for Rio+40, Rio+60 and Rio+80 and they challenged the minister to help instill a long term vision among policy makers for a sustainable future for the planet.
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