With rising sea levels, increased storm surges, and coastal erosion, islands are at the forefront of the climate crisis. However, they are often also pioneering centres of innovation, grassroots campaigning, and renewable energy solutions.
The ‘Climate Change Message in a Bottle’ project, funded by the Scottish government and aimed at bringing island schoolchildren around the world closer to the forthcoming COP26 in Glasgow by engaging them in climate science and clean energy, has been launched this week and Year 5 pupils at Bembridge Primary School were excited to take part!
‘Climate Change Message in a Bottle’ aims to get young islanders around the world thinking creatively about how climate change is unfolding on their island, 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 today, pupils wrote messages to COP26 delegates and filmed themselves reading their messages out loud. 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 workshop was delivered by Pauline Stirling, an Island Innovation ambassador, based on the Isle of Wight. Island Innovation is a social enterprise which aims to promote and facilitate sustainability projects on islands. “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”, said Pauline Stirling.