The newly formed Comox Youth Climate Council (CYCC) is hosting an online event to celebrate World Water Day on Saturday, March 20.
The CYCC was founded in October of 2020, and the World Water Day event marks the organization’s first community-at-large event.
“We did have our annual general meeting back in January… so this is technically our second event, but definitely more open to the community,” said CYCC chair Kalea Richardson. “We have about 30-40 members right now. We’ve just been growing and expanding our platform since (October).”
The World Water Day event, “From The Glacier To The Sea: A dialogue on climate solutions for a resilient watershed,” will run online from 4-5:30 p.m.
“Through guest speaker presentations and youth-led discussions, this event aims to generate hope and offer concrete solutions to protect our watershed,” reads the event synopsis.
Guest speakers include Meaghan Cursons of the Cumberland Community Forest Society, and others, yet to be confirmed.
Richardson said the event will serve as an educational tool for anyone interested in addressing climate change in the community.
“I think it’s really important to learn about climate change and how it is affecting the world, as well as how it is affecting our community… and how in our own town we can develop better ways to live in a more environmentally-friendly (manner),” she said. “I think it’s really important to learn what is going on close to us.”
The event is free. Go to https://bit.ly/3tfTqYl to register.
Richardson said the event will be highly interactive.
“There will be an intro about the CYCC, then we will have a quick Q&A about what water means to the participants, and how it affects us in our community,” she said. “From there we will break into four ‘breakout’ groups - upper watershed; middle watershed; developed areas; and shorelines and coastlines. We have facilitators for each of those groups, and some guiding questions for each group.
“It will be quite interactive and we are hoping all participants get to contribute.”
The CYCC targets environmentalists aged 13-25 “but we do have adult allies who are welcome to join any of our community events, and be as involved with the group as they like,” said Richardson.
The CYCC’s mission statement is “to do our part fighting the climate crisis; to safeguard the future of our planet and its inhabitants.”
Other planned events include ‘March Meatless Mondays Campaign’ (a new plant-based recipe posted on the CYCC Facebook page every week) and a round-table in conjunction with the Cumberland Community Forest Society’s Earth Week events.
For more information on the CYCC, visit https://comoxyouthclimatec.wixsite.com/cycc