A team of St Andrews University students plan to send a petition to world leaders at next month’s G20 Summit in Seoul over “irresponsible living.”
The four announced their intention after being named UK finalists in the npower Future Leaders Challenge, which asks undergraduates to devise green projects to help people live more sustainably.
The team named “We Care” are targeting youths to sign a petition to be sent to G20 members and the World Economic Forum sitting in January.
Meantime the Fife group will go head-to-head with seven others from the UK in a bid to win the Future Leaders Challenge.
To make it to the finals, each group had to produce a film describing their plans for a environmentally friendly project in and around their university and wider community. Finalists will spend two months bringing their ideas to life.
For the winners, a trip of a lifetime awaits with an expedition to the Arctic Circle but only two teams judged to have made the most impact in their universities will make the trip.
Dog sledding over 200 km from a base camp into the wilds of northern Norway, the teams will experience the effects of global warming first-hand.
Recently the finalists spent three days in the Lake District on a gruelling outdoor activity course, specifically designed to help develop team building, leadership skills and environmental knowledge enabling them to deliver their green projects and take them a step closer to winning the ultimate prize.
The experience will also give them key employability skills when making future job applications.
Leading the We Care team is Graham Dickson, a sustainable development student, who said they are delighted to be short-listed for the competition.
“It’s also made me realise how small actions and projects can add up to make a real impact on the environment,” he said.
Clare McDougall, head of education at npower, said, “We aim to find the next generation of forward thinking leaders.”
To find out more on the petition go to www.whocares-doyou.com