{"id":190,"date":"2021-09-16T16:47:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T16:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/?p=190"},"modified":"2022-09-02T10:20:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T10:20:48","slug":"inspiring-student-climate-action-through-cop26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/2021\/09\/16\/inspiring-student-climate-action-through-cop26\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring student climate action through COP26"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"A<\/span>In the run up to Lancaster University’s ‘COP26 at Lancaster Festival’, Jaya Patel investigates how we can use the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) to encourage students to be part of sustainable change at their universities.<\/span><\/h5>\n

The 26th Convention of Parties (COP26)<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0approaching,\u00a0and it is crucial that young people are involved in climate action.\u00a0So, how can COP26 be used to encourage student engagement with climate change and sustainability?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the focus of a recent EAUC Scotland<\/a> webinar I attended, featuring some brilliant speakers from\u00a0different\u00a0institutions.\u00a0Participants\u00a0were asked what\u00a0prevents\u00a0student engagement in these\u00a0issues.\u00a0Some interesting points were raised; perhaps students don\u2019t know how they can be involved in change,\u00a0lack\u00a0knowledge\u00a0of the situation, or\u00a0feel hopeless due to insufficient global action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lacking\u00a0faith in COP26\u00a0is understandable, however there are ways to\u00a0participate\u00a0as a student\u00a0and help push for change.\u00a0Nick Cullen, from\u00a0campaign group\u00a0Stop Climate Chaos Scotland<\/a>, spoke about the importance of activism in\u00a0amplifying marginalised voices and\u00a0pressuring decisions\u00a0even\u00a0from outside of the COP26 space.\u00a0Volunteers can help support\u00a0them in doing this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The youth constituency of the UNFCCC, YOUNGO, provides\u00a0more\u00a0direct ways for students to\u00a0participate in COP26. Two members\u00a0spoke about the\u00a0youth\u00a0conference\u00a0(COY)<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0gives\u00a0youth voices the chance to\u00a0be heard in\u00a0COP26,\u00a0and the\u00a0opportunities for people to apply as delegates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0is also\u00a0vital\u00a0to have\u00a0accessible\u00a0spaces within\u00a0universities\u00a0for students to engage with climate action.\u00a0Firstly,\u00a0sustainability\u00a0must be included\u00a0in\u00a0curriculums\u00a0to develop\u00a0a greater understanding\u00a0of why we need to address these issues, and how.\u00a0Secondly, it means\u00a0providing\u00a0ways\u00a0for students to help promote sustainability.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the\u00a0University of Leeds\u00a0has\u00a0a\u00a0COP26 task force<\/a>\u00a0and student ambassador team, as Kate Lock described it. This allows\u00a0students across departments to collaborate on\u00a0sustainability\u00a0projects\u00a0within the university and alongside youth climate organisations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond COP26, there\u00a0must\u00a0still be\u00a0opportunities for student engagement. Darren Axe of Green Lancaster<\/a> talked about the\u00a0long-term\u00a0sustainability\u00a0projects here\u00a0at Lancaster University, like\u00a0ECOhub<\/a>,\u00a0which students can have active roles in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After watching this\u00a0webinar\u00a0has shown me how COP26\u00a0can be a\u00a0useful starting point for encouraging student engagement,\u00a0especially\u00a0alongside opportunities for students to be part of sustainable change in their universities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Lancaster University’s week-long COP26@ Lancaster University Festival<\/a> (20-27 October) will have events for the public, schools, staff and students including seminars, workshops, guided walks and discussions. It <\/span>will demonstrate the University’s commitment to accelerating action on climate change from local impact to global impact and highlight the depth and breadth of our research, knowledge and other activities from across the University and those we work with.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the run up to Lancaster University’s ‘COP26 at Lancaster Festival’, Jaya Patel investigates how we can use the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) to encourage … Continue reading “Inspiring student climate action through COP26”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/lec-sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}