RSS Press releases

In May of this year NWCC was selected to represent the South of Scotland at the 1.5 Max Summit in advance of Cop 26.

This was a huge opportunity for the staff and young people to become involved in some way with COP 26 activities. The summit allowed some of our young people to be represented at a high profile event and to have their views listened to regarding climate change.   This has been an ambitious project from start to finish and has been a fantastic opportunity for our young people to make a significant difference in initiating a conversation on climate change and long term to embed climate change education into the curriculum at North West Community Campus.

Some of our learners participated in the three day summit at the bridge in Dumfries. Other participants from other Scottish schools as well as schools in Nepal, Mozambique and Malawi.  Their first task was to identify a problem statement of climate change that effects Dumfries and Galloway. Flooding was identified and this was also a problem identified by some of the partners we were working with.  The group then found out more about progress made by different countries towards climate change as discussed at the Paris Cop in 2015.

During the 3 days the group members also listened to keynote speakers including:

Dr Maarten van Aalst – Director of Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre

Carmen Munhequete principal consultant at Resource Management based in Maputo, Mozambique

The keynote speakers gave a first-hand account of how climate change has an effect on communities.

There were also video stories to watch and discuss on how our behaviour is again impacting others around the world. The group members were shocked to see the impact of our behaviour regarding waste management and using single use plastic has on communities around the world. They saw first-hand what our global neighbours are experiencing; and this provided lots of food for thought about how we move forward as a school and a community.

The main task of the summit was for our group members to come up with a product based on our problem statement of flooding to help protect the local environment and combat climate change.  The group developed an action plan of changes that can be taken forward in NWCC to help educate members of our community about climate change and to encourage us to change our behaviour in school in order to protect the planet.

It was a very busy, exciting and challenging 3 days and some of the pupils commented on why they joined the group and wanted to be involved in the summit and what they have taken from the summit:

“I wanted to know more about climate change and I joined to help better school and the environment”

“I joined to try to make a difference and have my voice heard”

“I learned about how badly our actions can affect countries especially poorer developing countries”

“I learned how much we can do to change the way we live”

“I learned about how bigger countries are having a big effect on climate change and the poorer countries are experiencing the consequences of that”

The schools involved with 1.5 Max are still meeting regularly and are motivated more than ever in giving Learning for Sustainability a high profile in school. The group has also been promoted to HRH the Prince of Wales and he is now aware of the existence and the activities of the group.

NWCC is now moving forward with their 1.5 Max group and will be hoping to use their action plan from the summit to educate the school community on climate change and how we can change our behaviour and actions in order to protect the planet. This is an exciting and ambitious project that the group members are keen to take forward.