Regional development work
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‘Heat is On’: an environmental project for post-16 citizenship
Led by the Aylesbury Development Education Centre (ADEC) this project, developed over several months involved a wide range of young people from Aylesbury College, Aylesbury Youth Action and Aylesbury High School.
The projects aims have been to:
- address the attitudes of a group of young people and their families, raising awareness of environmental citizenship
- To bring about reduction in waste produced by the households of the participants themselves, and through their influence to impact on the wider community of their family and friends and local businesses.
- To take young people’s presentations to local businesses and other places of influence in the form of a media advert, presentations and an exhibition.
Altogether 120 young people from the participating organisations took part in the activities of the project – initially building up their knowledge and understanding of global environmental issues through a variety of workshops, tasks and games suited to their varying interests, learning levels and needs. These included an environmental word puzzle, keeping an eating diary as part of an environmental week and a carbon footprint exercise.
Subsequently learners were involved in a range of actions designed to raise awareness more widely and influence decisions in their communities about waste reduction and re-cycling. One group came up with measurable ways to reduce their own household waste while another carried out a business survey of supermarkets, looking at how they supermarkets address any Global issues and how environmentally friendly the different supermarkets are. Young people at Aylesbury College organised a display of recycling as part of a general art exhibition at the college.
All the project material and outcomes were displayed, and presentations given by young people, at a community event organised at Aylesbury High School on 12 July 2007. A wide range of local and regional organisations were represented including Aylesbury Town Council, Aylesbury Vale District Council and Buckinghamshire County Council. This was a high profile occasion with considerable media interest resulting in
local news coverage in the The Bucks Herald.
As a result of the Community Event the district council plan to meet with the organising committee with a view to establishing a youth panel with a budget which can report to the Council.
Contacts for further information:
Mehtab Hashmi Culling: aylesburydec@btconnect.com
Glen Harvey: gharvey@aylesbury.ac.uk
Simon Garwood: volunteer@aylesburyyouthaction.co.uk
Vicki Brounton: v.brounton@ahs.bucks.sch.uk