The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Developing the future generation
Rotarians never under-estimate the passion, stamina and vision of young people; 17-yearold Swedish environmentalist campaigner Greta Thunberg being a shining example.
Rotary Great Britain and Ireland recently announced the winners of the 2020 Rotary Young Environmentalist competition. The aim of the competition is to encourage participants to explore and increase their awareness of issues the world is facing and think about ways they can help to overcome them. This is just one of many competitions where Rotary is involved in developing skills of the future generation.
Rotary Young Environmentalist 2020 was proudly sponsored by Veolia.
Local Rotary groups are encouraging young people between the ages of seven and 17 to get involved in protecting the environment in and around Peterborough. We are looking for creative children to submit poems, songs, stories, photographs, videos and paintings to enter our local competition.
Certificates and prizes will be awarded in the various age groups. Whilst the competition is a lot of fun it aims to encourage young people to think and hopefully learn about the environment and how we can sustain and protect it, helping to make the world a better place to live.
To give you some ideas, here is a summary of the winning entries in the national Junior Category (seven- 10 years old). 1st place was awarded to Cragside Primary School in Newcastle where Year 4 pupils created a ‘Climate Club’. They started a campaign called
“Ditch the car, it’s not far” encouraging people to walk or get public transport to school. This ran for a week and resulted in less students arriving at school in a car than before. With the success of this campaign the ‘Climate Club’ rebranded as the ‘Eco-Club’ with Year 5 pupils joining them to help the environment. After noticing a lot of rubbish, pupils gained a £150 grant to purchase equipment to litter pick in their area.
Second place, nearer to home, was awarded to Delapre Primary School, Northampton. Here a group of students were inspired to collect crisp packets after discovering that this waste frequently ends up in the world’s oceans.
Crisp packets don’t decompose in landfill. Packets are sent to Terracycle (which recycles items some recycling centres cannot) where the materials are used to make new items. This allows the group to earn money for their school and helps fund more play equipment.
Third place went to Holy Trinity Primary School in Derbyshire where four pupils set up a scheme to help recycle batteries. They have been in contact with their council suggesting more recycling bins are needed for card, paper and other materials.
• More ideas and entry details next week.