Helping young people to tackle climate change
Young would-be climate change champions can take advantage of an updated area of our website. From how to build a bug hotel to recycling old stuff and writing a climate change blog, these are just a few ideas, hints and tips included in a recently developed section of our
Sustainable page
The Young Sustainability Champions web section is split into different subject areas:
Get Involved
Ideas on what young people can do to get involved in activities that can help tackle climate change and help towards living more sustainably. These include hosting a plastic-free lunch, planting a wildflower area, walking or cycling to school and learning more about recycling.
Learning Resources
This section hosts a wide range of links to external resources that schools can use to help them get youngsters involved in thinking about climate change and what they can do to tackle the issues.
Activities to do at home
Creating a bug or bee hotel, making fat balls for wild birds or creating a mini pond area in a garden, are amongst the ideas for things that young people can do at home to make a difference.
What you’ve been up to
This section gives young people, local youth groups and schools the chance to tell everyone what they’ve been doing to help tackle climate change. St. George’s Academy in Middleton St. George blagged the first blog spot with their plans to use school grounds to grow food and plants and encourage wildlife.
Recycling/reselling sites
Young people grow out of clothes and toys in no time at all. This section details selling sites and recycling sites and options that offer alternatives to putting usable items in the bin. This can help to recycle and reuse valuable resources, save and even make money and prevent useful items from heading to landfill.
Councillor Jon Clarke cabinet member for Children and Young People said:
“This online resource gives our young people, schools and youth groups the ideas and tools they need to learn more about climate change and how they can get involved, take action and help to make a difference.
“It is a one- stop shop for information and ideas and also offers a platform for young people and youth groups to shout about what they are doing to help tackle climate change and live more sustainably.”
Councillor Jamie Bartch, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for Economy, added:
“It’s vital that everyone of any age learns more about the impacts of climate change and, more importantly, what they can do to make a difference. We’re not talking about grand gestures, just one or two simple changes to how we choose to live that can help make a difference.
“As a council we’ve committed to become carbon neutral by 2050. We’ve already started to make changes to how we do things, and we continue to make progress towards this target. I urge everyone, young and old, businesses and individuals, schools and community groups, to get involved, act locally to make a difference globally.”
The young sustainability champions section can be found at: sustainable