In November Somerset Member of Parliament, James Lawson attended the Somerset Sustainable Futures event, where he spoke on the climate crisis. This article recounts the event in James’ words.
On Tuesday 26th November I was invited to the Somerset Councils ‘Somerset Sustainable Futures event in Taunton and I was offered the opportunity to be the keynote speaker. The event was the first of its kind and organized by Alison Jeffrey Strategic Manager and Head of Curriculum and her team to raise awareness and showcase the increasing exciting apprenticeships and careers in local industry around climate. Approximately 200 pupils from primary schools and secondary schools were able to interact with activities and learn more from companies such as Kier, Hinkley Point C, Heidelberg and Octavious. They offer a wide range of exciting opportunities to for young people considering a career with an environmental and climate focus.
I would consider myself an environmental activist, so it was exciting to speak to so many young people, somerset council staff and industry representatives about youth parliament, careers and environmental action.
I started my speech by promoting the Somerset Youth Parliament as we like to inspire people to join us, I explained that our goal is to represent young people in our area, by running campaigns and meeting with decision makers. We recently held a national conference in Warick, at which climate change was a focus. Although to join the UK Youth Parliament you must be elected, anyone between the ages of 10 and 25 can join the Somerset advisory Group.
The following is a section of the transcript of my speech:
Somerset Youth Parliament and Advisory Group is a friendly, diverse mix of young people from across the county who all share the same goal of creating positive change. Our youngest member is 10, our oldest 18. We hold monthly meetings either online, or in person, during which we discuss the most pertinent issues concerning young people. Throughout the years, the group has witnessed many wonderful achievements,
My main role in Youth Parliament is to run a campaign, which I have called Young People and the Fragile Environment. I chose this campaign, because ever since I was young, I have been extremely passionate about the environment. The purpose of this campaign is to spread environmental awareness to everyone in Somerset. Less than a year in, I have already seen some success, but I still want to take it further and spread the word. Sustainability and environmental standards are frequently being ignored, despite the impacts that we have seen or learnt about.
Sustainability is an incredibly broad term. A common misconception is that it only relates specifically to the environment, but instead it concerns three factors: social, economic and environmental. As a result of this, practices that we view as kind to the environment fall short of social and economic standards, either costing too much or negatively affecting humans. Therefore, with employment, infrastructure and actions, we have to strike a careful balance.
As part of my campaign, I want sustainability to be the biggest part of careers education in schools. There is very little point in promoting unethical jobs when sustainable careers are the only employment that are 100% future proof. Not only are eco- friendly jobs well paid, but they are also beneficial for the planet.
The need for clean energy workers is increasing rapidly whereas the requirement for fossil fuel related jobs is decreasing. The UK is aiming to reach net zero by 2050, meaning that thousands more jobs will be needed to maintain the offshore wind and solar panels. In 1978, a new career was born: solar panel installer. 26 years on, the number of places in this field has skyrocketed.
An unusual job opportunity found in the green revolution is an eco-software designer. December 7th, 2009 was a very special day, because it was when Ecosia, an eco-search browser, was launched. I want this opportunity to passionately advertise Ecosia to you, because every 43 searches you make on it, a tree is planted in vulnerable forest. Google became net zero in 2009, but it doesn’t plant trees. As I’m speaking now, Ecosia has planted over 219 million trees. If there is one thing that you take from this event, please download Ecosia!
Engineering is becoming an increasingly attractive path for those desiring a green career. With high demand for electric boilers and ground source heat pumps, workers with the capabilities of installing them are regularly sought for. Acquiring training to install gas boilers and heating systems is pointless when a ban on polluting heating in new homes is on the horizon. As with engineering, other employment paths have the potential to be made more sustainable.
Last year, I did work experience at the Somerset Wildlife Trust which is another job sector that I really want to showcase. It couples direct action and work, so essentially you get paid to improve the planet. The team was extremely friendly, and I would recommend that when you come to do work experience, you consider doing it with them or a similar charity. Roles with them include volunteer coordinator and social media manager. Technology is advancing, and we can use it to benefit the planet.
Another profession recently born is sustainability managers in corporations. Their role is to improve a firm’s environmental credentials, for example by ensuring suitable insulation on offices.
However, I do not feel like these jobs are being advertised enough by schools. It takes an outside event like this to bring them into the spotlight, and there are countless more niche career opportunities that even I haven’t heard of.
It is important to further acknowledge that most companies can become sustainable. Simple changes like turning off lights at night or using less office space can allow businesses to achieve this. But improving sustainability can be done much closer to home (or rather school…)
If possible, walking or cycling to school can be a great help. Furthermore, placing litter in the correct bins saves recyclable materials from going to landfill although many schools just empty their recycling bins into the normal ones. Asking your headteacher if your school’s bins are emptied separately or just combined. Volunteering to collect dead pens and used crisp packets is an amazing thing that you could start as well.
Returning to my campaign, I have been to a few events similar to this recently. At all of them- I was the only young person who attended! I have considered this carefully and concluded that the reason for the lack of attendance is that for our generation, climate change has been normalized. Personally, I cannot remember a time in my life when climate change wasn’t spoken about in some form. This ends up making it seem ordinary and unavoidable. Therefore, sustainable solutions feel unachievable. Events like this one are trying to change these stereotypes.
Climate change is incredibly overwhelming and confusing, so it’s no wonder that young people struggle to try and make a difference. Recently we have witnessed COP 29. Instead of offering solutions, it was the 29th broken promise to the future generation. Although trying to lead a sustainable future is a great help, we need to go further and challenge the lies of decision makers.
It is too easy for leaders to make bold statements, which then shapeshift and morph into fractured promises. Our generation, the generation that gets a lot of criticism on the news, needs to be better and hold them accountable.
Through learning, education and awareness, we can rebuild an earth that everyone can live on. Careers is a large part of this. By choosing a sustainable future, you can be the solution, not the problem. We have inherited the problem, and if we don’t solve it, our young people will have it worse.
You don’t need to take direct action such as protest. Change can be as simple as switching job or walking to work and school more often, but if everyone takes these steps, the problem will be reversed.
Small changes that you could start today are buying a bamboo toothbrush, starting a litter picking club at school, recycling your crisp packets at the Tesco collection point, baking cakes instead of buying ones with palm oil in, or even downloading Ecosia.
After my speech was over, I was heartened that so many young people asked me so many questions! Even teachers and adult representatives joined in.
I was congratulated many times- and even invited to apply for jobs myself in the future! The Somerset Youth Parliament support, and development worker and I were also able to network and establish some great contacts to promote and support Somerset Youth Parliament work which was incredible!
We still have some companies and organizations to contact from the event but so far, we’d like to give special thanks to:
Alison Jeffrey, Strategic Manager-Head of Curriculum & Literacy, and her team for inviting me and hosting an awesome event!
Mark Fortune, Climate Emergency Service Manager and Lucille Simms, Principal Commercialisation Officer – Infrastructure & Transport, for supporting my campaign and Somerset Youth Parliament, as well as securing strong Industry networks.
Louise Friend, Somerset Careers Hub, for approaching s with the offer of promoting Youth Parliament work and reaching out for new members through school’s newsletters.
Chris Grimes, Head of Environment, Sarah Mahoney and Nick Brooks from Octavius–Transport Construction, Maintenance & Infrastructure Solutions, for meeting to explore how the company can offer support our local Youth Parliament and promote youth voice
Tim Hoyle, from Heidelberg Construction Heidelberg Materials Ready-mixed Concrete Bridgwater | Heidelberg Materials UK, for agreeing to meet in the new year to talk about Somerset Youth Parliament and how we can be mutually helpful
Phil Riste, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Hinkley Point C Employment Affairs Unit For teachers, students and educators | Hinkley Point C | EDF Phil will meet the Youth Parliament in the new year to promote their pathways to employment and work with us to raise awareness about opportunities for local young people
Elaine Cosser, Head of Ditcheat Primary school, who wants to engage with Youth Parliament to create bespoke ‘bite size’ sessions for pupils to learn about our group and include their voices to be heard and added to the climate focus of our work. This could develop into an offer to primary schools next year and we could address any of our campaigns or projects
Steve Mews, Somerset Wildlife Trust and Somerset Climate Action Network, Home | Somerset Wildlife Trust and Somerset CAN – Somerset Climate Action Network who offered to support group meetings and an opportunity to become a young board member to embed youth voice in their planning and priorities
James
Somerset Youth Parliament campaigns
Each Member of Youth Parliament works on a campaign during their term, which is supported by their Deputies and the Advisory Group. It allows us to understand what changes young people want to see in the communities they live in and makes sure that those views are heard by Somerset’s decision makers.
To find out more about our Member of Youth Parliament’s campaigns visit our Campaigns page.
