Ashoka Changemaker Schools Meeting with Howey Ou, Climate Activist from China:
On Monday, seventy young changemakers from seven countries and eleven schools gathered in the virtual world to explore the things that they share in common around climate activism. The event was initiated in the context of our on-going collaboration with fellow Ashoka Changemaker Schools in the UK, and was hosted online by our fellow changemaker school Sands School, Devon.
Our students Lois (Year 8), Eva, Josie, Jasmine, Tohar and Scarlett (all year 7), all members of our Eco Group that was recently founded as part of PASS, met peers from Korea, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Lithuania, South Africa, Wales and England, to join in a few hours of games and conversations, and to kick off a journey of international collaboration between the young changemakers of our schools to make a difference as global citizens and promote climate action.
Upon invitation by our colleagues at Sands School, Howey Ou, a young Chinese climate activist shared her inspirational journey into activism, which started by realising that she did not want other creatures on the planet to suffer from our actions as humans. From deciding to become a vegan, she now has become an integral part of a global movement of young people who want to put an end to environmental pollution and climate injustice.
Following Howey’s story, participants seized the opportunity to share their own with each other, finding out about each other’s schools and thinking about how we can make a difference together in the future. Our students shared their experience with recycling at the School and other initiatives that Sidcot does to keep waste at a minimum. We also shared how Sidcot uses solar panels to increase the use of renewable energy, and how we have joined the www.plasticfreeschools.org.uk campaign, to help the School gradually get rid of all forms of single-use plastic.
From an Ashoka changemaker school in Barcelona, we learnt how students there are taking care to only take what they need for lunch to keep food waste at a minimum, something we felt we could and should do ourselves here. In another fellow Ashoka changemaker school in Wales, we learnt how students and staff meet regularly on Tuesday’s to oversee and promote environmental awareness and action at the school. We loved that idea!
The event concluded with a big global cheer and the joint commitment to keep connected and to help each other in future collaboration so that our communities can learn from each other and turn our young people's ideas into action. As a global community committed to a sustainable future, we believe our exchange and collaboration will be a perfect opportunity for everyone to understand their identity as global citizens and explore all the things we share in common and find ways to convert anxiety into positive action.
Thomas Weidner
Teacher of Languages & Assistant IB - Coordinator