[LCM Articles] ACS youth conference explores social, environmental costs of war

[Farrah Haidar]

I might be biased. but I think this is great..

 


ACS youth conference explores social, environmental costs of war
By Nour Samaha 
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 

BEIRUT: The American Community School (ACS) hosted on Monday the sixth
annual YouthCan conference to promote peace worldwide and raise awareness of
the environmental and social damage caused by the summer 2006 war with
Israel. About 170 students from 10 schools from across the country attended
the conference, which this year was titled "When Violence Causes Silence." 

YouthCan, an international organization that uses technology to connect
participants and educate them on environmental issues, holds conferences and
other activities to unite young people and encourage them to make a
difference in their respective communities. 

The annual conference was sponsored in collaboration with the Lebanese
Education Ministry by the US State Department, the Hariri Foundation and
iEARN, the largest online network for primary- and secondary-school students
in the world. 

"The real issue here is about the youth and what can be done to change the
world," said Karim Abu Haydar, principle of the ACS middle school and
organizer of the YouthCan conference. 

Haydar explained that the school had been wary about organizing the event
this year but pushed ahead due to enthusiasm displayed by students toward
environmental and social issues. 

"The energy from the students was infectious," he said. 

Ryan Gliha, cultural attache for the US Embassy, delivered a video message
to the students, saying that YouthCan was "an opportunity for Lebanon's
younger generation to take control of the future and take care of the
environment."

Student presenters included Ramsey Zayek from Adma International School and
Zeina Hariri from Hajj Baha Hariri School, both of whom are active
participants within their schools on environmental issues. 

"I've been doing YouthCan since the beginning, six years ago," Zayek told
The Daily Star. "I really like it because it is somewhere we as students can
share and work hard together, and then present our hard work to others, so
it is not just for yourself. 

"I really feel that YouthCan makes a difference - its constantly growing
larger every year, and if it has made a difference to a few people, then it
is good." 

The conference opened with student videos documenting environmental
destruction during the war. Students from Egypt and New York participated in
the event via video conference. 

Workshops included "How to start a recycling project in your school,"
"Cancer Gene Therapy," "Hunger and Poverty in Lebanon" and the "Human Impact
on Survival of Species." 

"The advantage of YouthCan is that it brings awareness among the youth -
they are the ones who organize the whole event," Abu Haydar told The Daily
Star. "Although their fruits of labor may not show for a while, everything
they do is worthwhile. YouthCan is giving them the baseline to work on."


  

 

 

 

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