Pupils at Bembridge Primary School have been taking part in the ‘Climate Change Message in a Bottle’ project.
The project, funded by the Scottish government, has been set up to bring schoolchildren closer to the forthcoming COP26 by engaging them in climate science and clean energy.
With rising sea levels, increased storm surges and coastal erosion, islands are at the forefront of the climate crisis. With that in mind, Year 5 students have been thinking creatively about how climate change is unfolding and how they can put pressure on delegates and policymakers at COP26 to recentre often-marginalised island worldviews in global climate change discussions.
Following a workshop at Bembridge Primary School on Friday, pupils wrote messages to COP26 delegates and filmed themselves reading aloud their messages. This content will be made into a short documentary by UistFilm, to be showcased at COP26 events, by Glasgow Science Centre and by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre on the Isle of North Uist.
So far there are 25 island schools worldwide participating in the project. The local workshop was delivered by Pauline Stirling, an Island Innovation ambassador based on the Isle of Wight.
Pauline said:
“I am pleased to be able to involve pupils at Bembridge Primary School in the ‘Climate Change Message in a Bottle’ project and am impressed by pupils’ knowledge of climate change and clean energy, and by their enthusiasm for getting their own messages to world leaders”.
