Hallam: Environmental issues in my school

Sheffield's Youth Climate Strike

The following talk was given at day in Sheffield on 6 April, organised by Hallam Justice and Peace, looking at developing a Diocesan Environmental Policy.

Hi, I'm Eleanor; I'm 13 years old and I go to St Mary's Catholic High School Chesterfield. Now, I'm going to tell you about the environmental issues in my school. Our school has created a team we have called the "Green Team". This is a group of 12 to 13 year olds, including me, that campaign for the environment in school.

We have successfully campaigned for recycling bins in school! We just need to get people to use them properly now. We're doing assemblies to raise awareness of plastic usage. We're also hoping to get our local MP Toby Perkins involved. We gave pupils the opportunity to write a message to Toby Perkins about climate change on green hearts. We got just over 200 hearts with messages on them. We have invited Toby into our school to receive them and to talk to him about this staggeringly important issue. Toby has replied saying he would be happy to come in. We are now just waiting for confirmation of a date from the school.

A member of the Green Team started a petition earlier this year to ban single use plastic water bottles. This petition got over 200 signatures! The school catering company has responded well and is changing slowly. The bottles haven't been banned yet, but single use plastic is reduced. I have been told that by 2022 one use plastic will be banned from schools which is great news! We think this new rule made by the government may have been made at least partly because of the strikes I'm going to talk about next.

My sister Anna and I attended a school strike in Sheffield to prevent worsening climate change. We took a poster about an elephant in the room, meant to represent that climate change is something most people don't want to acknowledge but is an elephant-sized issue. One of the reasons I went on the strike is that I believe we cannot afford to let people forget about this issue, or worse, brush it under the carpet.

Thankfully, the strike was a huge success! Hundreds, near to a thousand I'd say, were striking in Sheffield and that is only one place in one of the many countries involved. We are planning to go again this Friday. The strike wasn't authorised by the school but we haven't been punished…yet.

Schools still have a long way to go. Ours is changing, but very slowly. Young people need to be educated about the world. I have spoken to students in school. Some ask "what can we do?" others say "we have time". I find it strange that the living generation that are affected the most know the littlest about this, or don't seem to care. We need the diocese to help young people to understand the significance of climate change. More action is definitely needed in our schools. The more support the diocese can give the better. Young people need the diocese's help to fight climate change and to save all our futures.