Climate change features in pioneering north Dorset event for young people
 
Young people’s ideas on climate change and the environment as well as social injustice, digital innovation, and wellbeing are the focus of a unique international event coming to the north Dorset area on 24th November 2022.
 
Organised by Sherborne Area Schools Trust (SAST) group of schools, the day-long ‘Louder Than Words’ event is both by and for young people and focusses exclusively on young people and the future.
 
Some 16 speakers mostly aged between 13 and 19 from six countries, including America, Canada and India as well as the UK, with six from Shaftesbury School and The Gryphon School in Sherborne, will present a series of short talks at Shaftesbury Arts Centre on 24 November.
 
Subjects include titles such as  ‘We can't solve the climate crisis without cows’, ‘Is humanity doomed by its own creation?’, ‘Bodies are like biscuits’, and ‘Youth rebellion and Capitalism’.
 
Talks cover almost every topic, from science and business to global issues such as climate change, and are in more than 100 languages. TEDx events are local offshoots run independently.
 
Local lead organiser Alex More, assistant head teacher of Shaftesbury School and short-listed for the UK's Teacher of the Year 2022 award, said: 'This is a first for the area and it's unique and special because it's by and aimed entirely at young people.
 
‘A TEDx youth event is an event created for youth and by youth with the help of adult mentors. The audience is half young people and half adults so it's a platform for our youth to speak up about prevailing issues in a public arena. Giving a TED talk is career-defining for everyone involved.'
 
He said the event will be videoed and transferred to the global TED talk platform so hopes this ‘will shine a light on our little corner of the world and give our speakers a resonant voice on an international stage.’
 
The event, sponsored by Swiss company GF Piping Systems, consists of four 90-minute sessions or ‘chapters’ of four talks. Tickets, on sale via Shaftesbury Arts Centre, cost from £3 per chapter or £12 for the whole event.
 
For more details see www.tedxyouthshaftesburyschool.com, Instagram @tedxshaftesburyschool or https://shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk/events/tedxyouth-shaftesbury-school.

Dorset CAN Briefing 27/9/2022: The UK Government’s deregulation plans
SUMMARY:

Defra: ELMS (Environmental Land Management Scheme) & Subsidies

• ELMS (the planned system for rewarding farmers for their environmental work) is under review
• Any watering-down of ELMS would be a highly damaging move away from the principle of public money paid for environmental good and back to a system of subsidies based on land ownership.

 
Government to scrap EU nature protection legislation

• The Retained EU Law Bill would drop/amend retained EU laws and introduce deregulated investment zones. The Bill would scrap:
  • Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations (which protect hundreds of wildlife sites from unsustainable development)
  • Water Environment Regulations 2017: which guard against river pollution.
  • Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010: imposing limits on toxic air pollution.
  • The Marine Strategy Regulations 2010: protection for our seas and sea life.

 
Response to Government plans
Three major Conservation Groups have come out against the Government plans:

• Wildlife Trusts: Craig Bennett, chief executive, said: “What you’ve seen in the space of the last week is Liz Truss’s government basically trashing all the environmental commitments that were in the 2019 manifesto.”

 

• National Trust: Hilary McGrady, Director General, said: “Rather than ramp up action to support our environment, this Government appears ...to be heading in the opposite direction…. The new Investment Zones represent a free-for-all for nature and heritage.... Likewise a rumoured return to EU-style land subsidies will squander one of the biggest Brexit opportunities for nature, fatally undermining improvements to the nature, soil and water....” 

 

• RSPB: “Make no mistake, we are angry. The Government has launched an unprecedented attack on nature and the laws that protect it. We need to defend our vulnerable and vital wild places, now. Don’t let this happen in your name.”

 Read our full briefing (1 page, 3-minute read)