Blame It On Rio
In June of 1972, some 35 years ago, a group of future-thinking leaders met in Sweden for the first United Nations Convention on the Human Environment. By the end of a whirlwind week, they had issued the Stockholm Statement, established what is now known as UNEP, and given birth to the modern field of international environmental law.
Twenty years later, in June of 1992, just one month before he would be chosen as Clinton’s running mate, Al Gore was scheduled to present as the head of the Congressional Delegation at the NGO “Global Forum” at the Earth Summit, an event that spawned the Convention on Climate Change, the precursor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Unknown to Gore, a group of 30 rabble-rousing teens and 20-somethings were waiting for him the day of his talk. Organizing themselves into “U.S. Youth at Rio” — in Brazil to push for Bush I to sign the Biodiversity Convention and to call for real leadership on the environment — they somehow got to Gore’s staffers and asked, quite audaciously, to be allowed to introduce him.
One 22-year-old in particular, Aimee Christensen, was ... Read more
