Climate change features in pioneering north Dorset event for young people.

Young people’s ideas on climate change and the environment as well as social injustice, digital innovation, and wellbeing are the focus of a unique international event coming to the north Dorset area on 24th November 2022.

Organised by Sherborne Area Schools Trust (SAST) group of schools, the day-long ‘Louder Than Words’ event is both by and for young people and focusses exclusively on young people and the future. Some 16 speakers mostly aged between 13 and 19 from six countries, including America, Canada and India as well as the UK, with six from Shaftesbury School and The Gryphon School in Sherborne, will present a series of short talks at Shaftesbury Arts Centre on 24 November. Subjects include titles such as ‘We can’t solve the climate crisis without cows’, ‘Is humanity doomed by its own creation?’, ‘Bodies are like biscuits’, and ‘Youth rebellion and Capitalism’.

Talks cover almost every topic, from science and business to global issues such as climate change, and are in more than 100 languages. TEDx events are local offshoots run independently.

Local lead organiser Alex More, assistant head teacher of Shaftesbury School and short-listed for the UK’s Teacher of the Year 2022 award, said: ‘This is a first for the area and it’s unique and special because it’s by and aimed entirely at young people.

“A TEDx youth event is an event created for youth and by youth with the help of adult mentors. The audience is half young people and half adults so it’s a platform for our youth to speak up about prevailing issues in a public arena. Giving a TED talk is career-defining for everyone involved.” He said the event will be videoed and transferred to the global TED talk platform so hopes this “will shine a light on our little corner of the world and give our speakers a resonant voice on an international stage.”

The event, sponsored by Swiss company GF Piping Systems, consists of four 90-minute sessions or ‘chapters’ of four talks. Tickets, on sale via Shaftesbury Arts Centre, cost from £3 per chapter or £12 for the whole event.

For more details see www.tedxyouthshaftesburyschool.com, Instagram @tedxshaftesburyschool or https://shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk/events/tedxyouth-shaftesbury-school.