Press release for the Wellington Youth Climate Forum – for immediate release.

Wellington Youth Climate Forum

This weekend (12 & 13 September) approximately 90 secondary school students from the greater Wellington region will come together at Victoria University of Wellington’s Rutherford House to share their ideas, opinions and hopes about New Zealand’s action on climate change.

The Wellington Youth Climate Forum is being organised by Enviroschools, 350 Aotearoa and Gecko (VUW’s student environment group). The forum will provide a space in which the region’s youth can learn more about this critical issue and the United Nations climate change conference taking place in Copenhagen in December this year. They will develop skills to have their voice heard on this issue. Event organiser Charlie Devenish says: “In terms of climate change, today’s youth are at a particular disadvantage: they will have to live with the consequences of global climate change, yet have limited input into how New Zealand deals with it today.”

Wellington Youth Climate Forum creates an opportunity for youth input by bringing decision makers to the students. Minister of Climate Change Issues, Hon. Dr Nick Smith, Wellington City Mayor, Kerry Prendergast as well as Wellington City councillor Iona Pannett and regional councillor Paul Bruce will be interacting with students at the event on Saturday. Devenish says: “Amongst other things, climate change is an intergenerational issue and the sooner we acknowledge the voice young people have in this conversation, the more prepared our society will be to make the necessary changes.”

The skills the students acquire over the weekend will be used to organise their own events on October 23 which is the 350 Aotearoa Schools Day of Action on climate change. This will feed into the International Day of Climate Action on October 24th where groups in 100 countries around the world will be taking action to raise awareness about the number 350 - the number recognized by the world’s leading scientists as the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are currently at 387 parts per million (ppm) and increasing at about 2ppm per year.

The Wellington Youth Climate Forum is proudly supported by Unesco, Enviroschools, Wellington City Council, Victoria University of Wellington, Tranz Metro, Kapiti Coast District Council and Commonsense Organics.

Members of the Enviroschools Team and volunteers from 350 Aotearoa and Gecko will be facilitating the weekend’s activities.

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