While world leaders debated the future of the planet at the COP26 summit, children in Scone prepared their message to them.
Pupils at Robert Douglas Memorial Primary School have been learning first-hand about the impact of climate change from children in Argentina, Morocco and Norway.
And the P7 class decided to share what they have learned, in the hope that it will inspire action.
They invited The Courier to help highlight their concerns – and here’s the video we made with them, published as delegates try to finalise a deal at the conference in Glasgow.
Watch: Message to COP 26 leaders
We spoke to Eoin Robertson, Maddison King, Callum Turner, Emily Hunter-Bell, Andrew Foley, Lily Stirling and Christopher Dack, all aged 10 and 11.
Maddison’s challenge to world leaders was: “Could we do something better to stop people putting plastic in the ocean?”
Lily reckons it is vital young people are listened to on climate change, stating: “We are going to be on the earth for a long time and it would be better if our voices are heard over time so we can get different opinions from different people, not just adults.”
Robert Douglas Memorial Primary School has a partnership with a school in Norway, and has been communicating with others in Argentina and Morocco.
Children there told how Norway is encouraging transport sharing – co-transporting – and electric vehicle use and of a hail storm in Morocco which destroyed crops and washed away sheep.
Spreading the word
Teacher Fraser Boyd said the first-hand testimonies really drove home the importance of protecting the environment to his class.
He said: “They said it was so much better than just Googling and looking up facts; actually hearing from real people made it much more interesting.”
The class discussed how to share what they had learned with others, which resulted in them sending a press release to The Courier and speaking with their MSP.
Mr Boyd said: “They asked whether they could tell their MSP about it so we had a conference with John Swinney and they wanted to get something in the newspaper.
“They also did a school assembly on Teams for the rest of the children and are going to put posters around the town to spread the word.”