From Aug. 1 to 7, delegates from 25 regional government-members of the Youth for Environmental Action's Northern Forum will discuss the choices the next generation already has to make about how to interact with the environment.
"It will definitely answer some questions," said Claire Thorington, a Homer High School sophomore and one of the six-member delegation representing Alaska at the forum. "We may actually get something accomplished there."
Thorington, 15, and HHS senior Nate Spence-Chorman look forward to learning how other young people from different cultures look at the environment's future.
"They might have similar problems, they might have different problems," Spence-Chorman, 17, said. "We'll have to see."
The bulk of their week in Japan will be spent listening to environmentalists and other experts discuss the relationship between the environment and human beings, with a focus on climate change.
The team from Alaska, with the help of three adult chaperones, also will present a session on how climate change has affected Alaska, particularly energy development, water quality and solid waste.
Thorington and Spence-Chorman, both members of the Homer chapter of Alaska's Youth for Environmental Action, are heading the water quality portion of the presentation.
The Alaskans will be the only Americans at the forum. But, because their scope of knowledge pertains mostly to Alaska, "I feel like we're representing Alaska more than the U.S.," Spence-Chorman said.
Roughly eight countries, all northerly, are sending teens to the conference.
"AYEA is helping youth from rural and urban communities come together to address environmental problems in Alaska. It is a natural next step to address these issues with our international neighbors," said Polly Carr, AYEA program manager.
Regardless of where they are from, teens have a particular obligation to address these issues now, Thorington said.
There is theoretically a point of no return after which humans will have done irreparable harm to the earth, she said.
"We're living (on the earth) and so far we've only been detrimental," she said. "It's pretty bad, but it could get worse. And it will. (Young people) are going to be affected the most, definitely. It's that it really needs to be done and you can't count on other people. You have to do it yourself."
Anyone who helps fund the trip should consider it an investment in the future, she said.
The Homer contingent is $1,300 short of the $4,500 it needs for airfare. Once in Japan, all expenses are paid for by the Northern Forum, funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.
AYEA is a high school environmental education and leadership program of the National Wildlife Federation.
Contact Thorington at 235-3473 or Spence-Chorman at 235-6518 to make a donation to their trip.
Carly Bossert can be reached at carly.bossert@homernews.com.
