Say It Loud - London's young people act to save the planet
Over 300 young people from schools across London attended the
'Say it Loud' London Young People's Sustainability Summit on 28th
November at the Royal Geographical Society. The event promoted better
education on sustainable development and gave London's young people
a chance to show off their own projects. The popular Children's
BBC presenter Adrian Dickson, who reported on the World Summit for
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg for BBC Newsround, chaired
the Summit.
Laura, Harley, Caroline and their teacher from Valley Primary
School, Bromley
The event was funded by the Government Office
for London and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
and organised by the London Environmental Coordinators Forum
and Global to Local.
Each school provided a display or presentation of their own
sustainable development project. These varied from schemes
on recycling to sustainable transport and habitat creation
in school grounds. Camden's 'Envision' young people's group
showed a video on their experiences at the Summit in Johannesburg
and children from Brent provided entertainment in the form
of Indian dancing.
Harley Chapman, aged 10, said "my favourite presentation
was the one about school improvements at a secondary school
where they asked all the pupils for their views. I would like
to do something similar at our school"
Question Time with Michael Meacher
A 'Question Time' session on sustainable development gave
the young people chance to question Environment Minister Michael
Meacher, a member of the Greater London Assembly and experts
from the Science Museum and Department for International Development.
The panelists were faced with questions ranging from 'do you
think industrialised countries are complacent about energy
saving?' to 'why are poor countries in debt to rich countries
when there is no way they can pay it back without help?'
In the afternoon, the children were treated to a showing
at the Science Museum's IMAX cinema of the 3D environmental
film 'SOS Planet'.
Marvell's Lane primary school from Lewisham show off their proud
creations
Caroline Eele, aged 10, said "We had a great day, everyone
was very friendly and everyone was doing really good work,
it gave us lots of ideas for our own school"
As well as being a fun and educational day for some of London's
young people, the organisers will be producing a CD-Rom of
the day and providing recommendations for improving sustainable
development education.
