How ASPIRE can promote dialogue among civilizations

Three billion young people stood on a single stage at the opening plenary session of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Summit) in Rio de Janeiro this past June. They demanded change and called on world leaders to take action to ensure that a sustainable future for our children and our grandchildren was secured. The voice of those three billion people under the age of 25 was somewhat meek, yet confident, and had a New Zealand accent. Indeed, seventeen year-old Brittany Trilford let leaders know that we cannot accept any more broken or empty promises. Brittany might have challenged leaders from an environmental standpoint, but as she was addressing the conference, young people in Europe struggled to find jobs as the beleaguered region continued to grapple with its ongoing debt crisis. Young people in the Middle East were trying to see through the settling dust following the Arab uprisings. Tensions over an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons programme continued to simmer, as biting sanctions from Western powers continued to affect the large population of youth there.