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From campaign to real change: How young people can push climate up the political agenda!

Date
From campaign to real change: How young people can push climate up the political agenda!
Date
Tuesday 16 November 2021, 9.30-2.30

In partnership with the climate charity Hope for the Future (HFTF), Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira Co-Director of the Centre for Democratic Engagement will run an event tailored for young people to harness their campaign skills, by exploring channels, methods and actions for effective campaigning on climate change. This event will target young people from an academy of schools across South Yorkshire. The event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences as well as of UK Parliament Week.

The academy of schools is taking part in a 12 month collaboration with HFTF to empower student eco-councillors, spread across the Trust’s five secondary schools, to commit to and engage with their elected representatives on climate change. Over the course of the project, they will create a campaign, develop action plans and engage with their local council and MP on a pertinent local issue related to the environmental crisis.

This event will bring the eco-councillors from the five schools together for the first time. It will be structured around interactive activities to encourage young people to consider how democratic engagement can help to affect climate change and influence positive change on their chosen campaign issue. By the end of the event, participants will have gained a better understanding of effective political campaigning on climate change, as well as exchanged ideas with young people from other schools potentially leading to wider action beyond each specific school.