Mayo school children in climate action initiative

Over the past six weeks, the sixth class students in St. Angela’s NS, Castlebar, have been taking part in a global climate action project involving 2.7 million students and teachers.

The project culminated in an online Climate Action Day event, which was live streamed in the main area at COP26 in Glasgow.

The event included speakers such as HRH Prince William, Richard David from NASA, Juan Garcia from the UN Environment Programme, scientists, experts, climate activists and many others.

Over the course of the project, the students learned about the causes and effects of climate change. Most importantly, they learned about the solutions.

They decided to take action by writing 'letters for the future of the world' to important people such as the President, the Taoiseach, government ministers, TDs, Castlebar councillors, local supermarket managers, parents and the school board of management.

In these letters they expressed their ideas for tackling climate change.

Some ideas included making it easier to walk or cycle to school, planting more trees in Castlebar and in schools across Ireland, switching our school electricity to a 100% renewable energy provider, making it easier for schools to fit solar pv panels and asking supermarkets to reduce the amount of throwaway packaging on goods.

To finish off the project, the students are in the process of creating a movie using green screen technology to teach the rest of the students in their school about climate change and what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint.

If you are interested in reducing your carbon footprint, here are the students’ top tips: plant a tree, reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse single use items (coffee cups), try vegetarian meals, eat organic, choose local, grow your own food, turn off lights and devices, cycle or walk, don’t leave cars idling and share your knowledge with others.