By Nick Buglione
Stephan Schwartz, a 17-year-old about to enter his senior year at East Meadow High School, is an active member of SustainUS, a group that formed in 2001 and comprises about 385 young people nationwide.
"We're an organization representing America's youth," Schwartz said. "It's one of the few organizations out there that is run exclusively by youth, to promote a youth agenda."
SustainUS was created following a meeting in Sweden last year, when it was realized that no group would be representing United States children at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, set to kick off on Aug. 26, 2002.
Since its creation, SustainUS, which Schwartz has been a member of since April, has lobbied and raised awareness across the country on issues pertaining to environmental protection and adherence to international agreements.
"We communicate by e-mail and conference calls because we're all over the country," Schwartz said of the group's members. "Though we haven't been around very long, we've managed to do a lot."
The Aug. 26 summit in South Africa, according to Schwartz, is a follow-up meeting to the 1992 Earth Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro.
"The 1992 conference was formed to set guidelines on what the governments should do to help the environment," Schwartz said. "This meeting will decide how successful we have been in the last 10 years."
More than 65,000 delegates representing governments, businesses and environmental advocacy groups across the world are set to attend the South Africa conference. There, they will tackle issues surrounding the environment, economy and society.
Schwartz said one of the biggest problems the environment faces is the lack of binding international guidelines and standards for businesses on points related to the ecology, such as waste disposal.
"I'm hoping that the governments will set these binding standards for businesses," he said.
In an attempt to coax President George W. Bush to attend the summit, SustainUS proposed a bet with him in which thousands of students pledged to reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 20,000 tons between April 1 and July 31.
"If we did it, he would have to come to the summit," said Schwartz. "It was just something we threw out there. He never agreed to the terms of the bet."
Still, the group succeeded, cutting their carbon-dioxide emissions by 21,800 tons. President Bush, however, is not scheduled to attend the conference.
This is not the first time Schwartz, an East Meadow native ,will be working with the United Nations. Last May, Schwartz attended the United Nations Special Session on Children, where he participated as a panelist on the topic of public-private partnerships to help youth.
And while SustainUS was created specifically to represent young people at the Aug. 26 summit in South Africa, Schwartz said the group intends to remain together after the conference concludes on Sept. 4.
A member of SustainUS' steering committee, which determines the group's focus and policies, Schwartz said they are planning to broaden their scope to include issues outside of the environment.
The local student is slated to return to East Meadow on Sept. 3, the night before school begins. He's not sure if he'll be able to make the first day of classes. "I'll try. It depends on how jet lagged I am," he said.
With college fast approaching, Schwartz said he already has a list of 10 universities he'd like to apply to, although his dream is to attend Columbia University. There, he just recently attended a summer program for high-school students, where he studied global politics and international economic relations. He one day hopes to enter a career in politics.
Aside from his scholastic achievements, Schwartz serves on the board of directors for the Bellmore-based Long Island Crisis Center and on the advisory panel of the Freechild Project.
