CREDITON Youth Service and Queen Elizabeth’s School co-hosted the first Devon school screening of the National Emergency Briefing on Monday, September 28. The event attracted 54 attendees, with over 30 young people from QE sixth form and Exeter College.

Zeph Corthorn (QE sixth form) instigated the screening, after watching the film with Crediton Youth Voice.

He said: "I saw this briefing in Crediton earlier this year and I thought it was so important that I decided to try and get my school to screen it. This film needs to be seen by as many people as possible because it is so eye-opening and informative. "

The short film creates a shared understanding of the scale and implications of climate and nature breakdown and encourages discussion about shared climate action through community conversation.

Following the screening, Crediton Town Council Peer Educators, Zeph and Izzy, shared their reactions. Zeph said:

"This is the least extreme weather we are going to experience in our lifetimes, and the National Emergency Briefing sets out the important information on the nature and timescale of the threats to this country, and how we can approach dealing with them".

Zeph went on to talk about biodiversity in Crediton and the Youth Service’s work, such as the micro-forest project; Izzy shared opportunities for young people to get involved and make their voices heard; Tamlyn Fraiquin shared information on a wide range of student-led QE projects.

Sir Mel Stride had been invited to the screening, and the audience was encouraged to write to him. 12 messages were collected asking for a range of climate actions. Perhaps the most impactful, was one young person's simple appeal to Sir Mel: "Lock in bro, we need u".

A community discussion explored how Queen Elizabeth’s School and the wider Crediton area could become more sustainable. Students were encouraged to join local climate-action activities, including QE Gardening Club and Crediton Youth Council.

For more information about projects for young people contact [email protected].

Imogen Cunningham

Crediton Youth Service