School pupils begin campaign on climate change (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news & views by texting st albans to 80360, or email us
St Albans and Harpenden pupils taken to Oxfam climate change conference
9:34am Friday 30th October 2009 in News By Manisha Mistry
Pupils from Sir John Lawes School at the Oxfam conference.
A HANDFUL of schoolchildren across St Albans and Harpenden were treated to a field trip with a difference last week.
Oxfam arranged a day out for the students to Greenwich where they had the chance to learn and put into practice the charity's unique campaigning methods on the climate change issue.
The pupils, from schools such as Sir John Lawes in Harpenden and Francis Bacon in St Albans, received expert tips on how they can get the message out to the community.
Helen Gosnell, a teacher at Sir John Lawes, said: “As a school we are trying to reduce our contribution to climate change and to provide people with the opportunities to get involved in being an active citizen.
“This is a good opportunity to find out more about the issues and how they can take it forward. I think it is really motivating for them to work with people from Oxfam.”
An Oxfam worker from Malawi, who had travelled to the UK to speak to young people about the impact climate change is having on people's lives in Africa, presented the pupils with real facts and figures.
Elvis Sukali said: “About 90 per cent of the 30 million people in Malawi are subsistence farmers who grow their own crops for food and income.
“If the rainfall is good, they have enough to eat, if it is not good, they do not. They all agree that climate change is having a devastating impact on their livelihoods – the rainfall is not as predictable as it was in the past.”
The pupils left their field trip with a mind full of ideas which inspired them to begin their own campaign and have already started creating posters demanding for action on climate change.
Oxfam held its Global Citizenship Conference on October 22 ahead of the UN climate change negotiations in December. The day was attended by more than 100 school children across the southeast of England and aimed at educating them on the impact climate change is having on the world.
