Young Climate Champion Rallies Climate SE AGM
Sixteen year-old Patrick Kennedy challenged delegates at the Climate South AGM to use their power to help the most vulnerable people on earth and to protect our fellow species by standing up to climate change.
“Climate change...could drive a quarter of all the species we have on Earth to extinction. It could cause desperately tragic wars in some of the most shattered places on the planet. It could take world poverty onto a level we’ve never seen before, and it could force 200 million people to become refugees. Every moment that the South East persists in burning fossil fuels, we assume more and more responsibility for the fate of this planet. When we drive to the shops, we’re saying that my convenience is more important than the survival of millions, across species. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.”
A native of Dorking, Patrick was selected by Defra to be 2008 Young Climate Change Champion for the South East. He is one of nine regional teenage champions chosen to spread the word and inspire their local communities to take action on climate change.
On an optimistic note, Patrick called the problem of climate change “a war we can win” and urged innovative thinking and decisive action:
“…we need to be asking the difficult questions. From now on, human actions must no longer be judged just by economic sense, but by ecological sense.”
“When one individual objects to driving, flying, switches off the lights, refuses standby, cuts down on meat and gets on a bike, they are part of a worldwide war effort. And yes, I do think we’re at war. And it’s a war we can win...We’ve achieved the kind of communal effort necessary before. Take the mere five years in which we changed for the Second World War. And as if this wasn’t encouragement enough, this time, the sacrifices we’re being asked to made look tiny and simple compared to the sacrifices made by those in the ‘40s. This is a crisis we know we can challenge.”
The full text of his speech is here.
For more information about Young Climate Change Champions, see their website.
The Climate South East AGM is a valuable networking opportunity as well as a chance for partners to come together to review progress, discuss the partnership’s priorities for the coming year, and meet new partners who have joined in the past year. This year, partners were asked for their views and insight about three new upcoming projects:
- The development of online adaptation support for SMEs: a simple online tool that can be integrated into existing business support.
- A Q&A website to support local authorities and others in monitoring and reporting on greenhouse gas emissions.
- Expansion of the Resilient Organisations project, which analyses organisational performance on climate change with clear pointers to next steps.
If you would like more information about any of these projects, please contact .
