Earlier this year, TEREZA (FEE member in Czech Republic) held their annual Eco-Schools Conference with 100 young people joining in person and even more following online. The conference targeted key shortcomings of traditional education and its approach to climate education.
Six young people each had 8 minutes to explain the things they are doing for the climate, how are they dealing with frustrations, and how they overcome obstacles. This was followed by a interactive panel discussion and participants had lots of opportunity to talk to the speakers and each other during long breaks.
Reflecting on the importance of these kind of youth events, the team at TEREZA highlight that:
“Talking directly to young generations about climate change is valuable: it allows us to transfer respect, validation and information we want to give them. That is why we focused our conference directly on young audiences aged 12–19 instead of teachers. Very soon we realised that this will be done best if young people participate in the organisation as well. Who else will more authentically speak the language of a 19-year-old and be more credible to them, than another teenager?”
