News

Teens share their plans for tackling climate crisis

22 Mar 2021

On 16th March a group of teens in East Sussex discussed their ideas for climate action in the region during a Google meeting with Eastbourne & Willingdon MP, Caroline Ansell.

Sharing their passion

The group, who are working together as part of their NCS Local Action Group in East Sussex, have been planning a beach clean. The group discussed with Caroline why they chose to prioritise protecting the local environment and spoke about the local community groups they have worked with, including Plastic Free Eastbourne. The Eastbourne MP quizzed them on other local social action projects they had spearheaded including the creation of blankets for the homeless from recycled crisp packets, a sponsored walk to raise money for local homeless shelters and environmental groundworks in Gildredge Park. The group in return took the opportunity to ask Caroline about her priorities for helping Eastbourne and Willingdon recover from the pandemic.

Creating change

The group came together after a call to action from NCS (National Citizen Service) who were looking for young people across the country to get together to create real, positive change as well as tackling issues important to young people in their local communities.

Catch 22, a social business who support the delivery of NCS in the local area, have been supporting the young people to formulate their plans ahead of the national Action Day on April 17th when the young people will have the chance to turn their ideas into action.

Brightening the week's of others

Commenting on the meeting, Caroline Ansell MP said: “Speaking to these committed and intelligent young people was one of the highlights of my week and I thank them for taking the time to meet with me.

“I was very pleased to hear about their passion to tackle climate change, to do things for their communities and to answer questions about politics and why I became an MP. Many have said that young people are the lost generation of the pandemic but it’s clear that's totally wrong and that these teenagers just want to get on with their lives and help others."

“I am a massive fan of the NCS. It does a great deal to bring young people together with a common purpose to help their communities and understand others. I will be joining this NCS Action Group in April to take part in a beach clean in Eastbourne.”

A spokesperson from Catch 22 added, "NCS is a fantastic way of giving young people some key life skills while contributing to the local community.  More than 40,000 young people have delivered over 1 million hours of social action through Catch22's NCS programmes since it was first piloted in 2009, resulting in some transformative local projects that have made a real difference to people’s lives."