Young people should have a say on the issues affecting our lives. As the Youth Council, we want to empower other young people to take action for the natural world and their communities.
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The RSPB Youth Council is an active group of young people, aged 16-24, with a strong passion for nature. Our aim is to ensure that young people are given a seat at the table within the RSPB and beyond.
We all have the drive and the power to change the world. Young people will play the most critical role in the fight for our future, our people and our world - we have the most to lose, but will not give up easily. Through media engagement, policy design and much more, we bring a vibrant, innovative voice to the RSPB and the wider environmentalist movement. This creativity and optimism is what keeps us motivated and ready to make change.
If you want to get involved with the RSPB Youth Council and stay updated about future opportunities, email us at youthcouncil@rspb.org.uk.
Together, we discuss ideas, help shape the RSPB’s work, attend events and ensure that young people are represented in everything we do. Here we share what we're passionate about and explain what it's like to be a part of the Youth Council.
The Youth Council has had many successes over the years, and they just keep getting better! Here are a few of our proudest moments:
After the monumental documentary ’Wild Isles’, a group called ‘Young Voices for Nature’ was formed: a collaboration between the RSPB, WWF and National Trust. Through this, a film project was proposed to create a youth-led, youth-made film, about nature and wildlife in the UK with the goal of inspiring young people who felt disconnected from nature and young naturalists alike to make change.
Young people from across the organisations came together to make workshops to teach people how to tell an effective story and eventually to create the fantastic film 'Our Beautiful Wild' which you can watch here. We also created brilliant resources for storytelling and hosting film screenings which can be found here.
Together, we have inspired hundreds of people to take action for nature and have created a platform to share the voices of young people who are passionate about our environment.
Working with BTO’s Youth Advisory Panel and WWF-UK’s Youth Ambassadors, members of our Youth Council created the ‘Youth in Nature Summit’. This was an event shaped by young people for young people and aimed to inspire, empower and unite young people and leaders from across the environmental sector. Find out more information about the event here.
After building our profile internally, we've now been given the opportunity to represent young people on the RSPB Committees! Youth Council members now sit on various committees within the organisation. This means we now have an even better way to push for change and make sure young people's voices are heard.
Although we have had many successes, it is also important that we celebrate the unsung hero of activism: community! Being on the Youth Council has given us the opportunity to create a fantastic network of inspiring young naturalists. Being an activist is hard, and often leads to feeling very overwhelmed and burnt out. But being a part of the Youth Council allows us to support each other, and reminds us of what we're fighting for.
Our residential trips are the perfect opportunity for us to connect to each other face to face, come up with creative ideas to make change and have fun while doing it! We've had the opportunity to visit beautiful areas like the Cairngorms and Knepp Estate, learn all about the different kinds of conservation work going on across the UK and get some practical experience while we're there.
The Youth Council is supported by the Youth Mobilisation team. For any questions or comments, please get in touch with the team at youth@rspb.org.uk. If you want to get involved with the Youth Council, contact us at youthcouncil@rspb.org.uk.
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