Year 10 Geography student Edie was invited to participate in a panel at Yorkshire’s first Sustainability Week, as part of her work in the Regional Youth Climate Assembly. Here’s a blog post from Edie, recounting her day:

On Wednesday 5th July, I was invited to speak at the first Yorkshire Sustainability Week in Leeds, where I was the youngest speaker at the event. 

Firstly, along with two other members of the Regional Youth Climate Assembly, I spoke as a guest on an episode of the events founder Kate Hutchinson’s ‘The 17 Podcast’. Every episode focuses on one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we were discussing the partnership goal (number 17), how we can meet this specific goal, and what it means to us. 

We also spoke about our partnerships with regional mayors through creating youth combined authorities, where we have carried out research on active travel which is needed to reduce carbon emissions, as well as our previous partnerships with South Africa on a global scale. 

My panel, which followed, was based on the topic of the water sector and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. I was joined by Nicci Russell, MD at Waterwise, Nikki Roach, Honorary Vice President at CIWEM, Neil Dewis at Yorkshire Water, and Rosa Foster, Co-Director, Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission. 

We spoke about some of the environmental issues facing the water sector, such as the many incidents of sewage leaks from storm overflows, and I also spoke about the need for new water storage solutions such as reservoirs, and the need to increase river biodiversity. 

I thoroughly enjoyed speaking on both the podcast and panel, and hope to speak at the event next year. I would also like to thank the Geography department for the help with my preparation for the event.