Our young people taking a stand on global issues

All it takes is one match to light the fire of inspiration in some people.

For 10-year-old Patterdale Primary School pupil George, the match was the words he heard at the Youth Climate Question Time.

He was so shaken and inspired by the statements being made by other young people, and people in power, that he decided to take a stand.

The Penrith area resident filmed a video asking other local children to write to their councillor and ask them to vote yes in the Eden District Council debate on declaring a climate emergency.

George said: “It was meant to inspire other children to spread the word of climate change.

“I thought to myself ‘Well, I’ll go home and I’ll make a video and I’ll try and do what I can to help save the planet’.”

There were a number of moments from the event that stood out to him, but the one that truly stuck was a remark made by one of the young panel members.

“She said that all of the older people are probably going to die of old age but us kids are going to die of climate change,” said George. “That actually shocked the adults quite a bit.”

George’s mum Lucy decided to take him to the event after learning of his interest in the subject.

She said: “I knew that there were going to be lots of really interesting people who were in positions to make a difference, like politicians, so I thought it would be really good for George to hear from them what they’re doing.”

George and his mum emailed his video to other schools in the area and heard back from at least three which had taken George’s message on board.

Some people may say that, at 10 years old, George is too young to be talking about these kinds of things. But George disagrees.

“I’m not too young at all,” he remarked. “We’ve learnt a lot about it. You need to start listening to children and thinking of what you can do.

“I hope I don’t have to write down an ‘I told you so’ list and say ‘I told you so that climate change would happen’, because then it will be too late.”

Eden District Council did declare a climate emergency - meaning it will be more conscious of how decisions being made affect the community - which George was happy to hear.

He said: “I was quite excited about what happened there. I was also shocked that I was one of those children who helped to make a difference in the world.”

As many point out, there is still a long way to go.

The approval of the coal mine off the coast of Whitehaven and the recent take-off of commercial flights from Carlisle Lake District Airport are both an example of this.

At the climate question time, Helen Davison, councillor for Belah and Kingmoor, spoke candidly about the importance of hope.

She said: “We need to be recognising the challenges we face, turning and facing the grief of what we’re doing to the world.

“It’s in turning to face that grief, in a supported way, that we can then find the capacity and energy to do something about it.”

Equally, Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, told the audience that young people had achieved more in nine months than he has in 30 years.

The proof is in the number of young people taking action into their own hands in Cumbria.

Most recently, Energy Coast UTC declared a climate emergency after the student-led eco-council made their case to the governing body.

They were worried that not enough was being done within the school to be environmentally friendly.

In Carlisle, 13-year-old Ada Wood has mobilised fellow students to protest outside the offices of Cumbria County Council.

This is in solidarity with Greta Thunberg, the Swedish activist, who began striking outside Swedish parliament over the country’s climate policies.

Down in Cockermouth, 14-year-old Claire Rodger and Isabella Bridgman have set up the Cumbria branch of the UK Student Climate Network.

As George’s mum Lucy points out about Greta: “Although she has come under some criticism from adults, it hasn’t really stuck because she’s a child and it’s very hard to argue with a child when they’re right.”