Youth Speaker entry #37: Tomasz Wiercioch (Canada)

WILDVoices – Youth led spaces through creative collaboration… We are a collective of young professionals in the environmental field creating a positive, inspiring, and powerful message. We are filled with innovative ideas and passion. We are sharing stories globally and inspiring change.

Tomasz WierciochAs the founder of the organization, I believe that young professionals in our field are doing incredible work that needs to be shared with a larger audience. We can make the World Forestry Congress a platform for such stories.

How WILDvoices makes this happen, and the basis for my proposed talk, is creating spaces in which youth collaborate and produce creative multimedia projects. There is an energy that happens when you put engaging young leaders together with a goal of crafting a story that inspires others to action. We’ve experienced this at the 10th World Wilderness Congress (WILD10) and the IUCN World Parks Congress (WPC), and believe that conferences such as these need a collective, youth led presence that increases youth engagement and media outreach.

My project started at WILD10, where I was covering the launch of CoalitionWILD, a global movement of rising leaders, for The Starfish Canada, an environmental blog. I realized that such gatherings have energy to them that young professionals ignite. After speaking to a colleague, it dawned on us that our generation has an ability to navigate technology and media in creative ways that can be applied to conservation efforts. We started WILDvoices as a collective of youth in our field to strengthen and broaden our voice to existing and new audiences.

Since then, our international team attended the WPC in Sydney, Australia, where we produced engaging video and written content. The video above was shown at the closing ceremony of the WPC. The diversity of youth at the congress was captured in the video, and shows how much of a collaborative experience WILDvoices is.

I’ve given talks about WILDvoices and public spaces to students of the Environmental Visual Communications program of the Royal Ontario Museum and Fleming College (Ontario, Canada), and lead a social media workshop at the WPC. Having an opportunity to share my passion with the World Forestry Congress would be an incredible opportunity for the WILDvoices team. I believe that my talk can show how youth from around the world are making a difference, and having the WILDvoices team at the congress can increase your media and youth engagement.

Text, photo and video are submitted by Tomasz Wiercioch (Canada) – twiercioch17@gmail.com

The content, structure and grammar is at the discretion of the author only.

This post is published as an application by the author, to speak as a youth representative at the World Forestry Congress. Have a look at the other entries too!

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24 thoughts on “Youth Speaker entry #37: Tomasz Wiercioch (Canada)”

  2. Sondra Eger says:

    I agree with all of these comments! Tom has inspired me to reach out and collaborate with people I would have never imagined. He is extremely creative, humble and a great speaker. Any crowd will be energized and motivated after listening to Tom!

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  4. Emma Courtine says:

    I met Tomasz quite briefly at the World Parks Congress of Sydney 2014 but it was clear that he had some leading skills in him. He indeed has good speaker qualities and manages to connect people, make them getting together and think, with energy and fun! I have a great memory of the side event he animated on social media that has been really useful.

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  5. Archi Rastogi says:

    I attended the World Forestry Congress 2009, and it seems like Tom would be an excellent choice for a speaker at #Forests 2015. He has a capacity to bring people together, and would be an engaging and inspiring speaker with many great stories.

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  6. Crista Valentino says:

    I’ve been working with Tom for over 2 years, and he has succeeded at every task he has put his mind to – WILDVoices just adding to the list! He would make an incredible speaker, inspiring so many young people into following their passions and making the world a better place. He would be a great addition to the World Forestry Congress!

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  11. Kale Black says:

    Tom has been an incredible friend and Eco-Mentor over the past 5 years. It is so awesome to meet people with a genuine passion for helping the planet – Tomasz for the win! 😀

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  12. Dr. Stephen Svenson says:

    I’ve worked with Tom on a number of projects, the last one being wetland restoration in New Orleans. Not only is Tom a great leader and speaker, he’s also not afraid to get his hands dirty!

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  14. jordivanoort says:

    I’v been working together with Tom on CoalitionWILD together with a whole bunch of other people for some years now, and Tom definititely has that little bit extra that it takes to involve all young professionals. I’m sure he would be great in South Africa and will be an incredible contribution to WFC2015!

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  15. Bruno Monteferri says:

    Tomasz has always been an inspiring colleague and person to work with. In Sydney 2014 he played a key role strengthening the voice of the youth at the World Park Congress. He has a great ability to communicate and network, I strongly believe the World Forestry Congress and the participants will benefit a lot with his presence and what he has to offer. Good luck Tom. Hopefully see you soon in Peru. Bruno Monteferri, Director of Conservamos por Naturaleza (www.conservamospornaturaleza.org)

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  16. Lindsay Little says:

    Tom inspires everyone he meets. He is an asset to any conference, talk, round table, or presentation. His sense of humour compliments his smile, which lights up the room! He will go above and beyond what is required of him.

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  20. EURIDICE LEYEQUIEN says:

    I think Tomasz and his team should be given the opportunity to assist to the World Forestry Congress

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  22. Andrew Reid says:

    I had the great pleasure of meeting and working briefly beside Tomasz at the WPC in Sydney. His commitment, strategic media insight and quality of work left a great impression on me. One of the key features of Tomasz’s work is its capacity to connect young people, around the world, who are already inspired and working for people and planet. As one such inspired young person, I know just how valuable it is to be connected to others: to seed collaboration, share ideas and resources, and drive innovation. Tomasz will leave a major impression on all who meet him at the WFC 2015.

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  23. Dalton Koss HQ says:

    Tomasz was the creative force behind the development and delivery of the Young Peoples Pact at the 2014 World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia. Tomasz has a wonderful ability to engage and empower different audiences through his innovative, dynamic and inclusive approach in delivering key messages creatively.

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    • Michelle Lim says:

      I started writing a comment but then realised that Dalton Koss HQ^ had said it all already…..even down to the words I would use to describe Tom and his approach: innovative, dynamic, inclusive, creative.

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