Hi everyone,

Thanks for posting the minutes, Lindsey. Some of my 3-5 points were mentioned at the meeting, so there's some overlap here, but I thought I'd put them down for the record with a small amount of further explanation:

1) General comment - the conference statement is very science-focussed and theoretical. I don't think we can add much to it as a recommendation for future research, but we can use the response to put it into context and ask 'so what are we all going to do about it'?

2) I think we're all in agreement with aims of the main conference statement (i.e. sustainability issues are important and we need a concerted effort to understand and respond to them better). If we are, it's worth writing some supportive words at the outset.

3) Assuming this is going to be read by decision makers at Rio +20, we can point out that our generation is firmly behind the goal of sustainability. The scientific evidence of the problems is not controversial to us. In other words, the decision makers can be confident that we, as their constituents, want them to take strong action. Someone in the conversation used the phrase: 'BE BRAVE'!. I like that enough to propose it goes in the response :-)

4) I admit I was the one who suggested the 3 cheesy catchwords of sustainability, equity and opportunity (i.e. development)! This is because I'm not sure how clearly the main statement puts sustainability in context with other concerns. Part of the reason people don't take action on the environment is because they are dealing with apparently more pressing concerns about equity and opportunity. I think this can be tackled head on in the response: where solutions exist that improve all 3, we want them implemented now. Were there are currently conflicts between the 3, we as the next generation commit to working on better solutions.

Hope that helps, and sorry I can't join you tonight for dinner. All the best with pulling this together :-)