Two recent Orcas Island High School graduates are headed for the United Nations Rio+20 Conference in Brazil at the end of June.

Makala Forster and Jacqlynn Zier, who graduated from Orcas school in 2011, have been attending annual UN conferences advocating sustainable development since middle school, and will be joining more than 65,000 global representatives of civil society (non-governmental) and governments (heads of states and delegations) negotiating agreements on sustainable development issues. The conference Rio+20 is the 20th year anniversary of the groundbreaking 1992 Earth Summit, where the Agenda 21 and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development originated.

As Orcas Island students have attended six years of Commission on Sustainable Development meetings, the island community has proudly supported this effort and made it possible for Orcas voices to be heard at global discussions in New York in the past, and to tell their stories in Rio this June.

“Even though the international negotiations may be controversial, it is a global conversation, and the issues affect us all,” say Zier and Forster.

Zier and Forster have worked the past year with a team of international professionals on a documentary film, “Alas de Rio.” This project showcases the efforts being made by young people in their different countries and communities to develop, enhance, and ensure sustainable local and global environments.

One of the overlying themes of Rio+20 is “The Future We Want” campaign. The youth and other civil society groups are dedicated to this theme. They ask, “What does the future you want look like?” In regards to Orcas, the answers to this question can be transformed into clear action in continuing sustainable projects on the island, as well as easing into more sustainable lifestyles.

For further information on Alas de Rio visit www.alasderio.org or contact Makala Forster (makalaforster@gmail.com) or Jacqlynn Zier (jacqzier@gmail.com).