Plant-for-the-Planet Academy Edinburgh, 12. march 2012

On the 12th of March 2012, during the UK climate week, Davidson’s Mains Primary School hosted the first Plant-for-the-Planet Academy in Scotland. Thirty-seven children from eight local schools learned about the climate crisis and discussed about things they can do against it.

For this event, children from as far South as Hertfortshire have come up to Scotland. The first Climate Justice Ambassadors in the UK had received their training at an Academy in Letchworth last year. They were very happy to have the chance to share their knowledge to other UK students. Despite some nervousness before their first speech on an Academy, and their second one in general, they really enjoyed it and looking forward to train many more Ambassadors in the UK.

After the initial speech on climate change and Felix’s vision, the children were divided in the three groups “Whales”, “Cows” and “Chicken” to play the World Game. In this game, they actively learn about global justice and how unfairly wealth or emissions are distributed between the people of the earth.  

A well-deserved lunch break was followed by probably the most exciting part of the event. Together with our partners Earth Calling and the Woodland Trust, the first Scottish “Climate Justice Ambassadors” planted more than sixty trees. Gus Egan, from Earth Calling explained them: “If the trees you just planted are taken care of in the first years, they will live much longer than most of us, sometimes up to 1000 years!” Impressed by this, many children decided to plan many more trees in the future – especially if this also helps to fight climate change.

Even though our motto is “Stop Talking. Start Planting” sometimes a little talking is necessary to convince other people. That’s why Climate Justice Ambassadors also have  to learn how to present their ideas. This happened in a workshop on rhetoric and presentation. Some of the kids volunteered to hold a speech in front of their parents at the end of the day.

While they stayed together to rehearse for the evening, the rest of the children gathered to think about what they could actually do in the future. The participating schools pledged to plant trees every month or at least a hundred before the summer break. They will also think about other events they can organise in order to get more children and adults involved with Plant-for-the-Planet and against the climate crisis.

After an inspiring and interesting day, all of the children were officially named “Climate Justice Ambassadors” in front of their parents and teachers. Plant-for-the-Planet says thank you to the Woodland Trust for the trees, to Earth Calling for helping to organise and during the event and to Davidson’s Mains Primary School for hosting it. And of course a very big thank you to all the children and teachers participating! Here you can see the event pictures: