Norwich School Blog

"If humans can cause climate change we can also reverse it": Alexander Illing on the Norfolk Youth Summit

The Norfolk Youth Summit is now in its second year and brings together pupils in M5 and L6 from schools across the county for a series of talks and discussions on important issues. Here, Norwich School Green Group member and NYS Chair Alex Illing (L6) talks about our most recent meeting. 

On 24th March, we saw Norwich School host a session of the Norfolk Youth Summit 2022. The discussion was about environment and climate change with pupils and teachers coming from 8 schools from around Norfolk coming to listen to some wonderful guest speakers: Dr Warren, Professor of Global Change and Environmental Biology, and Dr Jeff Price, Associate Professor for Biodiversity.

Dr Warren led by giving an interesting presentation on what the problem of climate change is and how we, the pupils, can help solve it. It was fascinating but also scary to hear all the effects climate change will have on our planet, such as species lost, but also on our lives with crop yields declining and increased extreme weather. Dr Warren explained that if temperatures exceed just slightly over 1.5˚C there would be severe and potentially irreversible impacts and will result in great losses. But action to change has been increasing but it is uneven round the world, and we are not adapting fast enough. The current policies and action taking place in the real world will lead to +2.7˚C above pre-industrial temperatures and even in an optimistic scenario, it will lead to +1.8˚C.

But Dr Warren also explained the solutions to the problem, with the world needing to act together to achieve climate resilient and sustainable development. Nature still offers untapped potential to help reduce climate change and also to improve people’s livelihoods. But to stop incredible losses and horror, faster, stronger action is required to cut green house gases and adapt to the heating climate. But pupils themselves can help by trying to avoid fast fashion and reduce the use of cars and planes with public transport or even as simple as planting a bee friendly flower to help biodiversity. So, it is still possible to achieve a greener more sustainable world that isn’t under the effects of climate change.

Dr Price discussed extinction and how that came hand in hand with climate change. Currently we are in the 6th mass extinction on earth, the Anthropocene, and it is ongoing due to us, humans, because of habitat loss, over exploitation, invasive species, and climate change. Climate change has been predicted to affect bug populations, especially bees who are key in our survival as one of the major pollinators, but all living things are at risk which threatens food chains and biodiversity as a whole. But if humans can cause the next mass extinction, we can also reverse it, but it will take a global effort to elevate nature to what it once was.

All this was supported by wonderful questions from the pupils that enhanced the experience and allowed the talks to be more engaging and personal to people’s lives and experiences. Even though there is a long way to go, this talk has helped shape the path towards a greener future.