From: Student Pugwash USA <uspugwash@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.org.pugwash
Date: 14 Dec 92 11:55 PST
Subject: Re: *Tough Questions: Fall 92 News
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1758700030:cdp:1758700041:000:6547
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!uspugwash    Dec 14 11:55:00 1992


Tough Questions - Conference Issue 1992

NEXT STEPS
By Barry Lasky

************************************************************
RIf you Tdo your homeworkU and Tthink things outU, it is possible to 
figure out just the right place to intervene in a big, complicated, 
seemingly overwhelming system.  You can do something, when no one 
notices, without necessarily possessing wealth and power as 
prerequisites to taking action or causing change.  You can have a 
significant effect.S
          Howard Brown
          President, Resource Planning and Management Systems, Inc
************************************************************

     Ever since the first SPUSA International Conference, Science 
and Ethical Responsibility held at the University of California, 
San Diego in 1979, SPUSA has emphasized that all citizens, young 
and old, have a right and a responsibility to join with experts in 
addressing the worldUs most pressing problems.  But how?  Even with 
an appreciation of the importance of this mission and a clear desire 
to involve oneself in the decision-making process, Taddressing the 
worldUs most pressing problemsU can often be a confusing and 
frustrating endeavor.  Recognizing the importance of working together 
to move beyond this confusion and frustration, one student participant 
from the 1992 International Conference recently wrote to us, RItUs 
wonderful that so many people take an interest in important global 
issues, but taking an interest is not enough.  We must search together 
for answers and solutions.S

     Aside from informing themselves and others on critical global 
issues and participating in extensive issue-based discussions, the 
student delegates to the 1992 SPUSA International Conference, Visions 
for a Sustainable World,  sought to take their conference experience 
one step further.  They sought to extend the dialogue on a 
sustainable future to action and application by developing a 
Personal Plan of Action, embodying their commitment to continue 
exploring their rights and responsibilities as individuals and 
participants in the process of social change.

     Most delegates felt that the very first step in creating a 
safe, sustainable world is a personal commitment to being informed 
about important global, social and scientific issues.  Students 
identified the following initiatives as ways to further educate 
themselves on the issues they find important and  to prepare 
themselves to educate others in turn:

     organize further discussion groups based on issues examined 
during the International Conference;
     join an established SPUSA chapter or create one of their own;
     cycle across the U.S., learning and writing about various 
community organizing efforts;
     explore, with organizing and lobbying groups, the possibility 
of local and regional political actions concerning Conference issues;
     learn another language;
     travel to the tropical rain forests of Africa and South America;
     live and work on an organic farm in order to gain first-hand 
knowledge of a TsustainableU way of life.

     The more than 90 Personal Plans of Action generated at SPUSAUs 
International Conference exemplify a commitment to the learning 
process and serve as a starting point  to affecting change.  Abikok 
Riak, an Economics and History major at Bluffton College, writes, 
RIUve always known that IUd go TintoU development, but now I have a 
better idea of what exactly development is and how I can make a 
difference.S

     With a solid foundation to build upon, many conference 
participants wish to direct their efforts towards outreach.  
Mentoring younger people was one educational avenue identified 
repeatedly.  Specifically, students identified the following avenues 
of outreach:

     communicate with secondary school teachers in order to discuss 
the possibility of incorporating Science, Technology and Society 
issues into the curriculum;
     organize a Rjunior PugwashS mini conference at the junior high 
school level;
     explore educational alternatives focused on building young 
peopleUs self-esteem and involvement in environmental issues;
     conduct day and overnight wilderness excursions with inner-city 
children;
     set aside time to talk about the International Conference with 
their children or younger siblings.

     While outreach to younger people is certainly a primary 
component to empowerment and education concerning the worldUs most 
pressing problems, an equally urgent need exists to focus on the 
inclusion of women and minority groups in the decision-making 
process.  The International Conference highlighted the need for 
empowerment of traditionally underrepresented groups through a 
panel discussion on access and equity in the sciences, leading many 
students to examine their roles and responsibilities with regard to 
social justice.  Spencer Geswein, a mechanical engineering student at 
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, says, R[The Conference] changed 
my outlook on people more than on issues.  I have lived my entire life 
in a homogeneous society, but now, at least I know how to begin to 
widen my perspective.S  Furthermore, several Conference participants 
have identified specific outreach objectives as being part of their 
Personal Plan of Action to work toward a sustainable future.  While 
attending medical school at Emory University, Nicolai Hinds plans to 
involve more members of the African-American community in SPUSA 
events, Rbecause the issues that SPUSA addresses are so critical in 
shaping our vision of the future, and because these issues necessitate 
having all  members of our global community included in the decision 
making-process.S

     Obviously, no single educational program or outreach initiative 
will suffice in Taddressing the worldUs most pressing problems.U 
Nonetheless, the student delegates to the 1992 SPUSA International 
Conference have developed Personal Plans of Action to explore their 
rights and responsibilities within the process of social change.  
After working together to create visions for a sustainable world, 
they have made a commitment to ensure that these visions become 
reality.  Reflecting on her conference experience, one woman writes, 
RI expected to find a great deal of discussion between students and 
professionals concerning science and technology as they relate to the 
world.  What I found instead was an incredibly enthusiastic group of 
diverse individuals devoted to making the world a better place.S