Our Sale West Big Local set to host its first Schools Climate Crisis Conference

On Thursday, 30th June, an exciting conference is set to take place at the youth centre on the Sale West Estate.

Six local schools will join students from Trafford College (Altrincham Campus) to give presentations, participate in workshops and plan their next steps towards a sustainable future. 

They will be joined by a number of environmental organisations including the Environment Agency, Sow the City, City of Trees, the Centre for Sustainable Energy, Recycle4GM, Trafford Council Officers and Manchester Environmental Education Network, who all hope to support and help students in their ongoing journey towards carbon neutrality.

The conference will see students taking part in a banner parade, eventually arriving at the youth centre, where the Mayor of Trafford will greet the pupils. Student representatives from each school will then give a series of short presentations on climate issues of their choice. The remainder of the conference will be made up of a series of engaging workshop activities,  covering a range of issues including air pollution, waste and recycling, biodiversity and food production.

Every attendee on the day will write a ‘pledge’ to be placed on a special tree, as a commitment to the future. A follow-up event will be held within the year to measure progress and encourage continuing cooperation between the schools.

The conference has been organised by Our Sale West Big Local, a community group based on the Sale West estate, which received £1m of National Lottery funding in 2015 to be used over 10 years to make the area a better place to live. The programme is resident-led and has already made an enormous impact on the local area and beyond. 

The conference runs from 9.30am – 3.45pm on Thursday 30th June.