Youth mass dialogue on climate change
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Amber Church, 604.432.6451 (o), 604.908.3955 (c), achurch@sfu.ca
Jennifer Sunday, 778.782.3538 (o), 604.789.1997 (c), sunday@sfu.ca
Matthew Carroll, 604.432.6451 (o), 604.812.9369 (c), matthew.carroll@gov.bc.ca
Amber Church hopes that mass dialogues aimed at inspiring worldwide youth action on climate change will make her peers as passionate as she is about confronting the global problem.
The Simon Fraser University earth sciences student has spearheaded efforts to have SFU co-host such a dialogue session. It will enable youth delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland to talk to youth around the world on Wednesday. (Dec. 10)
The UN conference has brought together 10,000 people, including 500 youth, from more than 180 countries to develop international response to climate change.
The advanced teleconferencing technology in SFU’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences (IRMACS) will enable youth at the conference to see and communicate directly with peers worldwide.
The dialogue event is open to the public, free. It will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday and run for 75 minutes.
You can also participate online at http://www.2degreesc.com/page.php?id=94. There, click on Wednesday’s “5:30 p.m.” session (That’s Polish time, which is 9:30 a.m. Vancouver time.)
Church, a Masters of Science graduate student, is studying glacier retreat and natural hazards in the Yukon. An eyewitness to massive, troubling environmental changes in her own backyard, the Whitehorse native is also a Climate Change Action Facilitator for the B.C. Ministry of Environment.
“Having youth present in person, on the phone and virtually via the Internet at the conference ensures they have a voice,” says Church. “Mass dialoguing can mobilize youth quickly to take action around the world by writing letters to politicians, creating petitions and launching grassroots initiatives aimed at rolling back or at least slowing climate change.”
Church is hoping that Caroline Lee, an SFU Master of Science student in the School of Resource and Environmental Management, will participate in the event. Lee is one of 31 Canadian youth delegates—the only one from B.C.—at the conference.
The University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria are also co-hosting the mass dialogue. Different institutions globally are taking turns hosting the dialogues twice a day during the conference.
To reserve seating please contact: Jennifer Sunday at 778.782.3538 or sunday@sfu.ca.
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