This is how teenagers want to make Blackpool a greener place to live

Alice Tarpey, 13, leads Blackpool Youth Climate Group - and she’s determined to give young people across the Fylde coast the chance to have their voices heard.

Along with Josh Brayshaw, who is the chairman of Blackpool Sixth Eco Action, Alice was joined by more than 100 students from local schools at the Fylde Youth Climate Conference.

The conference gave young people the opportunity to set out their plans for a greener future for the area.

A key aim was to share ideas and come up with actions to help tackle climate change at a local, national and international level.

It comes as the government's advisers on climate change said in a new report that England is not ready for the unavoidable impacts of global warming.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made clear there is very little chance of keeping the world from warming by more than 1.5C - a threshold governments had previously agreed to act to avoid.

The world has already warmed by 1.1C and experts say it is likely to breach 1.5C in the 2030s.

Organised by Blackpool Sixth’s student-led Eco Action group in partnership with the Blackpool Youth Climate Group, which is supported by Blackpool Council, the Fylde Youth Climate Conference was held at The Blackpool Sixth Form College on Saturday, March 25.

The event included an Activity Zone run by local organisations where the young people could discover more about the skills needed for working in the rapidly developing sustainability and environmental sector.

A prize draw and fundraising games at the event raised money for the youth-led charity Reserva: Youth Land Trust which is involved in restoring areas of rainforest around the world.

Alice, who chaired the conference alongside Josh, said: “I enjoyed all of the conference but I think the Activity Zone was a really good idea. It helped the young people really engage with the conference and got them finding out about different companies and businesses and what they are doing about climate change. It also helped the young people find out about new careers they might have never heard of before linked to the environment.”

The following schools and youth groups attended: St Bede's Catholic High School in Lytham; Baines School in Poulton; Garstang Community Academy; Armfield Academy in South Shore; St Mary's Catholic Academy in Blackpool; Boathouse Youth; and Wyre Youth Council.

Conference delegates took part in roundtable discussions on topics such as living more sustainably in financially challenging times, protecting wildlife and ecosystems, influencing decision-makers and making the fashion industry more environmentally-friendly.

One of the top priorities was influencing politicians to move more quickly towards building a green and sustainable future for all.

The young people also agreed that they want to develop 'eco clubs' in all schools and youth organisations, plant more trees, and reduce the use of plastics.

In response to the IPCC report, a government spokesperson said: “[The IPCC] report makes clear that nations around the world must work towards far more ambitious climate commitments ahead of Cop28. The UK is a world leader in working towards net zero, but we need to go further and faster. That is why we are committing to building more wind, solar and nuclear capacity.”