Epic eco-summit for local schools

Primary school children from 10 local schools took part in workshops at Crawley College recently.

Around 80 pupils attended the event, which was organised by The E.Y.E Project, a community education partnership that educates young people to become more sustainable.

The special ‘eco-summit’ was designed to educate children and young people about the effects of climate change and how it can better sustain our planet.

The event started with MP Tim Loughton speaking to the pupils collectively, before EYE Project YEAH! team member, Chloe Peskett gave a talk on protecting green spaces, awareness on sustainability and engaging more young people to get involved.

Tim said: “Children and young people are the biggest influences on what’s going to happen to our planet and these are the ones that are going to inherit the consequences on our planet.

“What we’ve found since we set up the E.Y.E Project is that it’s the younger kids that are most enthusiastic about the environment.”

Pupils then took part in four workshops, which included making seed bombs with Sussex Wildlife Trust, learning about waste and recycling with Gatwick Airport and learning about a positive future with Sussex Green Living.

The college also showcased the new Green Village, where pupils had the opportunity to destroy rubbish in a coral reef in an immersive and interactive space, try virtual reality headsets and see how an electric car engine works.

Chloe said: “I’ve been doing this for four years. It blows my mind when people aren’t passionate about the climate because it’s the biggest issue facing our generation. If we don’t sort it out then we’re not going to have a planet to live on.

“My goal is for all the governments around the world to come together and find a solution. It’s really ambitious but if we work together there is something that we can achieve.”

Carly Rhodes, Project Manager at the Eye Project said: “We are so grateful to Gatwick for sponsoring this event and giving us the opportunity to inspire so many young people.

“We also would like to thank Crawley College for hosting the event and the children particularly enjoyed exploring the Green Village. The aim of the day was to leave the young people feeling inspired and empowered to make a change in their own communities.“One child’s words as they walked through the school doors were ‘that was the best trip ever.’”