Grade 11 students from Windermere Secondary School are hard at work putting together the sixth annual Climate Change Conference (C3), Fracktured. 

C3 will take place this year on Friday, November 28th from 9am-3pm at Windermere Secondary School (3155 E 27th Ave). High school students from all over the Lower Mainland will gather together for this district-wide for-youth, by-youth conference. Throughout the day, attendees will be educated and engaged on topics of climate change and social justice. 

This year, the theme will be on fracking (aka hydraulic fracturing) in BC and will feature workshops such as "Economics of Fracking", and "Fracking: Green Energy or Greenwash".  The program will also offer a wide variety of other workshops including "Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda): 1 Year Later" and Stifling Dissent: Spying, Censorship and Scanda.

The conference keynote panel lineup will include Sean Devlin, a comedian, filmmaker, climate justice advocate and Executive Director of SHD along with Aliya Dossa, co-founder of Youth 4 Tap, TEDxKids@BC presenter and was voted in 2011 as one of the Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 in the Starfish Projects annual list.

"We're aware of the fact that there are lots of schools really interested in sustainability initiatives and even more students passionate about making a difference in their community. We want to take part in creating something that connects and empowers students who are interested in the same things," says one of the student coordinators.

In addition to this year's conference, a teacher-only afternoon workshop will be offered to launch the final Climate Justice curriculum project developed collaboratively by the CPPA, the BCTF and Ryan Cho. 

C3 events have attracted up to 300 students from across the lower mainland, from as far as Kelowna. Keynote speakers of the past include Seth Klein of the CCPA, Andrew Weaver, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work as a climate scientist, and Jim Hoggan, Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation. Students and staff alike can agree on the event as an inspirational day with many attendees expected to return this year.

C3 will be a zero-waste event and Windermere students hope to see as many attendees as possible. Registration for this event is now open at c3vancity.com. For any questions regarding the conference, please email c3vancity@gmail.com. 

Story contributed by a Windermere student.