MORE than 100 young people gathered on Saturday (December 9) in Bangor to hold a climate event to mark COP28, the annual meeting of world leader to address climate change, being held in Dubai.

As part of a global day of action, the Bangor event was organised by North Wales Climate Action, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, and Extinction Rebellion Bangor.

The young people made placards and Christmas cards to MPs, followed by a march around Bangor with lively chants of “we rise together for our future”.

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Carolyn Thomas MS joined and will deliver cards from the event to the Senedd with messages about young people’s calls for climate action.

At the Bangor event, speakers from primary school children to university students read out their concerns and wishes about climate change, and the North Wales Africa Society speaker spoke about climate-related extreme weather abroad as well as at home.

The impact of climate change and extreme weather events are already being felt in North Wales, as sea levels are expected to rise by 1.1m in the next century.

A total of 23,244 Gwynedd residents live within a flood risk area, and flooding already costs the Welsh economy £200million per year.

Heather Bolton, a counsellor from Penygroes, said: “It’s very moving to listen to the speakers from the younger generation read out their thoughts, and hopes for the future. 

“The corporations most responsible for the climate crisis keep posting record profits, paid for by us through our extortionate bills.

“Countries claiming to be ‘climate leaders’, including the UK, sign off plans to expand drilling for new oil and gas – damaging the climate and doing nothing to reduce the cost of living.”

Helen McGreary, a dance teacher from Menai Bridge, added: “While profits for fossil fuel companies continue to rise, normal people’s energy also bills rise.

“Meanwhile the poor countries of the world who did the least to cause climate change are bearing the worse of extreme weather.

“Oil companies profit while normal people at home and abroad pay the price. Temperatures are rising. Corporate profits are rising. Now, we’re rising.”