Children and young people in Coventry & Warwickshire are being invited to submit their ideas on what it means to be a climate change hero as part of the Young Green Shoots competition.
Run by Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council, Young Green Shoots is open to any young person aged from 4 through to 19 who are in full-time education and live or go to school within the region. Following on from the COP26 conference in Glasgow last year, it is an opportunity for children and young people in the region to become advocates in fighting the climate crisis.
One winner from each of the four age categories will receive £2,500 in funding from Warwickshire County Council’s Green Shoots Community Fund for their school or college to spend on climate change related projects. These could be planting trees or establishing wildflower gardens to increase biodiversity, encouraging their pupils to switch to walking or cycling to school, installing renewable energy options in their buildings or even installing electrical vehicle charging points.
The winners and runners-up in each category will also have their work showcased at the forthcoming Coventry & Warwickshire Climate Change Summit, to be held at the University of Warwick in March. This event will bring together the key public sector organisations from across Coventry & Warwickshire, alongside representatives from the private, voluntary and community sectors, to declare a united commitment to fight climate change and to further develop and align the plans to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner.
Young Green Shoots is a way for children and young people to learn more about climate change through creativity, and for their contributions on climate change to be heard so they themselves are heroes for future positive change. They can enter either by submitting a short piece of writing or a drawing by the deadline of 27 February.
Heather Timms, Portfolio holder for Environment, Heritage and Culture at Warwickshire County Council, said “Anyone can be a climate change hero, whether they are doing big things that impact the whole world, or smaller things that make a difference to just one home. We know that children and young people can have fantastic imaginations, so we want to hear their ideas! The Young Green Shoots competition is a way for young people to learn about climate change through creativity, to contribute to discussions about the environment and become advocates for positive change.
“We’re offering the £2,500 from our Green Shoots Community Fund to the winners’ schools because we believe that our communities have a vital role to play in making sure Coventry & Warwickshire reduce carbon emissions. This is part of our commitment to creating a Child Friendly Warwickshire, so we want to inspire children and young people to take action, supported by their schools, parents, carers and communities of course, and create lasting and positive change for their futures”.
Councillor Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change at Coventry City Council said: explains: “In many ways young people are leading the way when it comes to climate change. They are pressing for action and they are invested in creating a greener future. We want to tap into that and make sure we have ways that young people can make a real difference.
“Coventry and Warwickshire are leading the way in the green industrial revolution – Coventry will be the UK’s all-electric bus city, we are creating a new Very Light Rail system and we have plans for a Gigafactory right here. There will be jobs in this new sector, and we want to inspire young people to know that they can be involved. I look forward to seeing all of the ideas – I’m sure there will be many.”
For more details, including how to enter, please visit https://www.childfriendlywarwickshire.co.uk/. The deadline for entries is 27 February.