What does (R)evolution mean to you? Our world is constantly evolving and re-shaping itself; with that, we must share and embrace thought-provoking ideas of change. On November 17^th, over 200 youth arrived at the Ontario Science Center for TEDxYouth@Toronto 2012 to start revolutionizing how we see the world.

Speakers at the 2012 conference included:

Aziza Chaouni, Christopher Olah, Jeremy Friedberg, Marc Garneau, Natalie Panek, Rohit Ramchandani, Ryan Porter, Yu-Ling Cheng, and performers Andrew “Pyro” Chung and Grenville Pinto.

Marc Garneau, the 150th person in space, started off the day discussing space as the next era in a search vessel for addressing changes in the Earth and how space exploration can help us get there. The next generation will have the job of solving the issues of the past, including global warming.

Next was dynamic youth speaker Ryan Porter who encouraged youth to get so sick and tired of something that they decide to make a change. Use your window of opportunity to change for the better.

The next speakers addressed issues regarding water conservation and smarter use of water, third world water contamination, using the private sector to supply for public good, using constructive tactics to influence change, empowering more women to challenge themselves, and revolutionizing education through the use of gaming.

Even through an OSC-led activity, the kids showed great insight into why revolution is significant, instigating change, and working as a group. One of the groups even speculated that every revolution requires the leaders, the followers, and the communication lines between the two, analogous  to leaders being the initial spark, the communicators as the wood that carries the flame, and the followers as the fire that burns furiously in the wake of change.

TEDxYouth@Toronto is only a part of the wider TEDxYouth movement, which challenges youth to start making changes that can influence the foundations of our generation and the next. And to do this, youth must start to and continue to think, speak, and act like leaders.