The inaugural Wokingham Youth Climate Conference will take place next week, with the event adapted to run online. It had been planned for March this year but was postponed due to COVID-19.
Questions were collected in advance from students across the borough and posed by Cllr Gregor Murray, executive member for resident services, communications and emissions, including climate emergency, to a panel of staff from Wokingham Borough Council.
Topics covered as part of the week, from 12-16 October, include housing, waste, energy, tree-planting, biodiversity and public health.
Guest speakers
All the keynote speakers are back involved and have created a video series on topics of interest to young people across the borough. The presenters are:
- On fast fashion - Ruth Gibbs from Oxfam
- On climate justice - Africa Bauza Garcia-Arcicollar and Dr Alex McLaughlin from the University of Reading
- On sustainable transport - Domhnall McFarline and Julie Pillai, My Journey Wokingham (sustainable transport)
The links to the content will be sent to schools who will be able to use relevant parts to inform the curriculums they are already following.
The content will also be used on social media and other council platforms to help inform residents about the council’s work to make Wokingham a carbon neutral borough by 2030.
'Delighted to be involved'
“Our guest speakers and staff have put together a series of fantastic presentations and panels to help young people continue to engage on this topic,” said Cllr Murray.
“I was delighted to be involved and ask questions on behalf of those who sent them in and it was great to hear highlights of the work we are doing to help tackle climate change in Wokingham Borough.”
Part of the council’s climate emergency action plan sets out how the council will encourage climate friendly behaviours through school visits and educational projects as well as facilitating young people to lead behaviour change across the borough.
“The borough’s young people are already incredibly engaged on the topic of the climate emergency and we hope they find what we’ve put together for them educational and informative,” added Cllr UllaKarin Clark, executive member for children’s services.
