Schools are the best place for education and action on climate change, say young people on the HeadsUp forum

The young people on the HeadsUp forum discussing climate change felt that schools are the best places for them to have an impact and a voice on environmental matters. Some had already encouraged teachers to switch lights and computers off, increase recycling in the classroom or set up committees to look at how the school could reduce its environmental impact.

HeadsUp is the Hansard Society's innovative web forum, where 11-18 year-olds debate political issues with legislators and policy-makers. This three week forum, in partnership with the Department of Energy and Climate Change, looked at the issue of climate change in the run up to the UN Summit in Copenhagen. It involved legislators such as Joan Ruddock MP (Minister of State, DECC), Jo Swinson MP (Member, Environmental Audit Committee) and Caroline Lucas MEP (Leader, Green Party). The full report is available to read here, some of the comments included:

Starting a club at school would be a good idea.

At school council, I got the head to make the caretakers turn off computers which had been running overnight, over week end, and so on.

My A Level Citizenship class is involved in the Comenius project; where we are working with students from around Europe to combat climate change...Our task is to create a booklet on what the effects are of climate change in our countries - England, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Norway and France.

However, the young people felt that adults need further education on climate change, as they have more power to affect change. Most of the young people taking part in the forum were very aware of their impact on the environment, but some were unsure about how much adults knew regarding climate change:

It seems to me that children know way more about climate change than adults do, because they learn about it at school. The problem is that there is lots more that adults can do than children can. Maybe a special "Adult school" should be set up, so that adults know about it too

Joan Ruddock MP, Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, played an active part in the forum and will ensure that the young people's views are fed back to her Government colleagues that will be attending the Copenhagen summit. Ms Ruddock MP commented on the forum:

"Wow - what a fantastic debate. It's great to see so many of you so passionate about climate change and what we can do to stop it. Lots of you are talking about saving energy, and this is very important because generating electricity is the single biggest cause of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK...Tunay12 has made a good point about encouraging parents to save energy, because concerned young people like you can make such a difference, encouraging your friends, family and communities to make the small changes that will make a big difference to our greenhouse gas emissions and at the Copenhagen conference in December."

Beccy Allen, HeadsUp Project Manager said about the forum:

 

"The enthusiasm of the young people involved in this forum just goes to show how relevant and necessary a project like HeadsUp is for getting the voices of an under-represented group out into the open. These young people are the ones that will be dealing with the problems that the generations before them have created - and they know this. They are ready to act but they expect adults, particularly politicians, to meet them half way"

For more information contact Kate Egglestone at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1210 or mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk