Young Enviro Champs: Supporting our future green leaders
Landcare came together with a number of environmental groups in Wagga to support kids who are passionate about the environment and sustainability
Capacity building - LEP23_036_RLC1_4
The issue
Many young people are passionate about the environment, and want to take action in their lives to better care for nature and live a more sustainable lifestyle. But it can be hard for children to know what to do or where to start. Often the problems seem too big for a young person to be able to deal with, and it can be hard to know how to take action when adults are in charge of decision-making at home, at school and in the community.
The solution
To support these passionate young people in our community, Murrumbidgee Landcare brought together a team of local environmental organisations to run a school holiday workshop for primary aged kids. The workshop featured two local teens who are already making a big impact in our local community – Lachlan through his work on a petition to parliament regarding plastic use, and Chloe through her volunteer work with an environmental group. Lachlan and Chloe spoke about their passion and motivation, and how their actions have helped create change within our community.
After this, we had a series of small activity stations set up, which children were free to move between as they wished. Activities included nature journalling, water bug hunting, making a worm farm and creating succulent planters from recycled waste.
The impact
The day was a wonderful experience for all involved. We got fabulous feedback from the kids, as well as their parents/carers, all of whom expressed an interest in continuing with more events of this nature. The four partner organisations all worked seamlessly together, sharing knowledge, expertise, ideas and resources. And all the kids got to take home their handmade recycled succulent planters and worm farms, to continue their learning at home. In their words:
- I love listening to nature
- We need to look after all the animals and plants
- Without the environment we wouldn’t have a great and healthy place to live
- I love animals, and I think we can all live in harmony
Key facts
- 2 teen mentors
- 3 partner organisations
- 4 popular activities
- 15 eager new Young Enviro Champs