(the following is by Rocky, one of our youth activists in Jamaica)

The first time I heard about sustainability was in High School, when we were talking about types of governments and economies and resources. The essence of sustainability is that a population is able to use the available resources to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

When I heard the theme for International Youth Day 2009, the theme for a camp I attended earlier in the summer ran through my mind: "Action Time - Nuh Linga!" in essence, there's something to do, and we have to do it now.

The whole issue of sustainability, in my eyes, is a bit in the reverse, because the level of sustainability of one era is not dependent on how that set of people use their resources, but is dependent on how the people before them did; meaning that for the most part, we have minimum control over our sustainability. (NOTE: everything said after this point is my opinion, even though I won't be repeating "in my eyes" or "my view" much.).  The sustainability of the economy people live in can be likened to a family heirloom. (e.g. a plate). Currently, we as the youth have little control over what happens to that plate. It is in the care of our parents, so they have to take care of it, and preserve it so we can get it. The condition of the plate (whether it is still new or it is chipped and scratched) is dependent on what our parents did with it. When we do get it, it is up to us to care for it until we give it to the next generation. Sustainability is like this. If the current adult generation does not take care of the assets and resources we have, then our generation will have nothing to work with, and even though sustainability may be attainable for them, it will be difficult for our generation. In the same way, when we conserve and protect and preserve and all that, the benefits for us will be like 20% of the work we put in, while we will be significantly improving life for the generation after ours.

With that in mind, it is safe to say that if sustainability is desired for our generation, preparation had to have already started from years ago. However, we see so much evidence that that wasn't being done. As young people, if we really want to have a sustainable economy for our generation to live in, we have to make that 20% work for us, OR we have to try to have a greater say in what the current adults are doing with the resources that we will have to work with. And as the theme for the camp said, we have to take action, and NOW. We can’t linger, because the more we put off our quest for sustainability, and the more we leave it to the current leaders and governments, the worse off we’re making it for ourselves.