SustainUS’s Citizen Science Paper Competition is an entirely volunteer-run, youth-led program that promotes appreciation of environmental issues by challenging fellow youth to actively generate innovative scientific solutions to environmental problems. For eight years SustainUS has provided competition winners the rare opportunity to present their original research and solutions to environmental professional and United Nations representatives from around the world at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City.
Thanks to a grant from the Captain Planet Foundation SustainUS expanded their paper competition to encourage middle and high school students to explore the link between environmental stewardship and women’s empowerment. The winners wrote about this year’s theme of “empowering rural woman and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges.” The winners presented their work at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Citizen Science students are interested in enriching public dialogue with innovative and scientific approaches to sustainable development. The paper competition actively engaged the students in real world environmental problem solving and facilitated transformative, hands-on learning experiences in the halls of the United Nations, empowering future environmental leaders with the perspective to innovate planetary-scale environmental solutions.