Grammar student organises Future Generations conference
DEPUTIES will join young people and representatives from the finance sector to talk about the more selfish reasons behind sustainability at the first Future Generations conference – Future Generations: Environment and Sustainability.
Designed by Grammar School student Pieter Durman, 18, to be a TED-X style event, the afternoon of talks and panel discussions interspersed with live jazz music has been organised by a group of peers from across the schools and will be held at St James on 17 March.
‘Climate change and green issues in general are often promoted as involving some sort of self-sacrifice, what we’d like to talk about are the economical and health benefits of living more sustainably,’ said Mr Durman, who is hoping to study natural-sciences at Cambridge this year.
‘Guernsey seems to have a coffee culture where going for coffee with one person can blossom into a real important discussion and lead on to other meetings.
‘We want to replicate that here so in between the talks there will be a chance for people to network in the Dorey Room.
‘Quite a lot of change has been caused by young people of late, from rejecting the use of plastic straws to even campaigning for gun control in the US.
‘I have invited all the deputies to attend and expect a good turn-out,’ he said.
Speakers will include representatives from Carey Olsen, The International Stock Exchange, Guernsey Water, the private-sector and civil servants.
Deputy Lindsay De Saumarez has also been instrumental in the organisation of the event alongside the students.
Mr Durman said: ‘There are some really interesting developments in sustainable investments and some interesting things that the financial sector can do as certain things like fossil fuels will become un-investable.
‘We need to make massive changes in the economy to hit the climate target of a two-degree drop.
‘There will be a panel discussion where they will take questions from the audience, we want to encourage a broad spectrum of people to attend.
‘The two main outcomes we’re hoping to achieve is to engage young people and to make the Future Generations brand a model for young people to host similar events in the future.'
n The conference will take place between 1-4pm on 17 March at St James and admission is free.
