Strathaven pupils take stance over climate change emergency
A group of Strathaven locals and school children are striking to raise awareness on climate change.
Friday, November 29, marked the fourth strike by Climate Action Strathaven since the group came together around September.
The group aim to get local people involved in the conversation about climate change by showing that the bigger issues also affect you locally.
Tom Barbour, who is a member of Climate Action Strathaven and organised the event, said: “We are a group of Strathaven residents who are very concerned about the way climate change is going
“We believe we can make an impact in Strathaven by holding events like the strikes. One of the big aims of the group is getting people to realise that the issues that affect the world also affect people in Strathaven.
“We need people to go and contact their MSP and MP and tell them that they want to see change.
“This is the fourth one we have done now. We started off in September time with these events and they keep growing. It kicked-off with a hustings event and a talk from NFU Scotland about the importance of buying local.”
Similar to other climate strikes that happen across the country, there was a big emphasis on getting school children involved.
The school eco committee work along with Climate Action Strathaven to get pupils along to the strikes.
“If it wasn’t for the eco-committee we wouldn’t be able to get any of the pupils have an that involved,” Tom said.
That committee is run by John Mcgarrie, who is a teacher at Strathaven Academy. They meet once a week on Thursdays to try and make the school a more eco-friendly environment.
John said: “Environmental awareness and climate action has always been a major part of student development at Strathaven Academy – through our PSE programmes, S3 and S6 skills electives, as well as sustainability awareness relating to local, national and international issues via extra-curricular groups.
“We have strong eco links to our feeder schools through STEM as well as numerous local partnerships with Climate Action Strathaven (CAS), Strathaven Town Mill, local community councils and Strathaven Park (Green Flag), to name a few. “Students can, with parental consent, attend these climate action strikes in the local community and show their support for the work of CAS as they promote a greener and cleaner Strathaven and Scotland.
“Students who want to express their views democratically, in a safe and controlled environment like the strike locations near Strathaven Castle, can do so in order to participate in issues they feel passionate about.
“Pupil voices are very important to us in all we do – be it through the curriculum, extra-curriculum, whole school life or public events like Climate Strikes.”
Lauren, an S4 pupil at the school, said: “We do a lot of good work in our community to help make Strathaven a safer and cleaner place to live.
“We can also attend local action protests to help bring awareness about our climate problems, but we often do not have the power to make change ourselves.
“This affects us all so everyone needs to work together towards finding solutions that will bring about changes to climate awareness.”
You can keep up to date with what Climate Action Strathaven are up to via their Facebook page.