A Richmond youth organization is encouraging young people to join in a summit with high level government and industry officials.
YouthTalkNation, an organization that connects youth voices and ideas to high levels of government, is hosting a YouthTalkSustainability Summit at UBC on April 18.
The summit is giving youths an opportunity to speak with the government and industries on their ideas for climate action, as well as a chance to win funding for students’ sustainability projects.
The BC Minister of Environment, George Heyman, is the keynote speaker at the event and will be joined by Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s Minister of National Defence, Joyce Murray, Canada’s Minister of Digital Government and other guests and ambassadors.
Franco Ng, founder of YouthTalkNation, said it is important for youths to be given an opportunity to converse with higher levels of government to get support for their climate solutions.
“Climate change is the top issue on youth agendas, however, we need to have a constructive channel of communication and provide greater support to youth sustainability innovations,” he said.
Students from five school districts in the Lower Mainland, including Richmond, will spend a full-day of education and dialogue in an environment with ministers.
In addition to the conference, YouthTalkNation will be hosting a student grant competition where the best sustainability solution will be funded and sponsored by the organization.
Student teams will present sustainability ideas to a panel of judges from the City of Vancouver, UBC Sustainability, Vancity, Open Technologies and Offsettes for a project funding of $2,500.
Deadline for grant competition applications is March 7.
YouthTalkSustainability will be held at the UBC Nest on April 18 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Tickets to the event are $10 plus tax and can be bought online at tiny.cc/vfttkz
