Changing our future

By Meghan,

11

I went to The Future Is Now event at the Queen’s Hall in Hexham. There were stalls for environmental charities and projects, and also three films shown.

The first film was called ‘Balancing the Scales’ and it was about beavers as people have started releasing some back into the wild. Beavers help to restore rivers, letting the water rise in areas where it has fallen, by building their dams and slowing the river flow. In some rivers, the water was flowing too fast for beavers to build new dams, so workers from The Beaver Trust started off new dams themselves, by drilling logs and screwing them together to keep them in place. Then the beavers came back and built on what had been started.

I noticed how in many of the interviews in the film, the people would say how they worried about how beaver dams would affect salmon migration routes up and down the river, but they forget that beavers and salmon coexisted before we hunted the beavers and polluted the rivers. Just because the beavers needed a helping hand to overcome problems that we caused, it doesn’t mean that they have forgotten how to work the rivers and will cause more harm than good.

The second film was called ‘People’s Emergency Briefing’ (PEB). In the film Chris Packham brought in random members of the public to watch a video. The video was of professors and doctors speaking about the different problems that climate change is causing. The professors and doctors spoke of how changes made by the Government, are the only solutions to climate change, and yet a small group of people, The Beavers Trust, personally made the decision to help reintroduce beavers, which has improved water flow, increased flood plains, irrigated dry land and helped with salmon migration. This was achieved by individual people.

Someone in the Government must know that we have the solutions and people we need to sort climate change and yet they do nothing. The Government might start helping more if individuals or groups of people start acting first, as they will see that people want to stop climate change, but waiting for the Government to act first will do nothing for our situation now. Younger people also need to learn and speak up about climate change as the Government might start acting if they know that the younger generation cares.

It was decided not to put the PEB film on YouTube as the makers were worried that people would find it too depressing and scary if watched alone, and that they might think suicidal thoughts.

The third film. ‘The Cost of Growth’, talked about how the public can make a difference and that we should only be making what we actually need and not what the rich and powerful want to make. This is almost the opposite of Chris Packham’s film. The members of the public who were interviewed were surprised at some of the effects that climate change has on health, farming and food supplies, weather and natural disasters.

I was the youngest in the audience, but I already knew about most of the issues that were raised. I think that adults don’t realise how much some children already know without being specifically told. If the film makers were worried about the effect on adults, maybe children are already scared. If a child thinks that they have no control about climate change because the Government and older generation are not doing anything, then they might also think that the world will be too ruined to live in, so why bother at school? Maybe behaviour is getting worse because some children can’t see the point in trying. If the Government and older generation are not doing anything, they may see their lives and future as unimportant.

I think that these films should be shown together in schools and discussed more openly along with possible solutions. The films are scary, but they also have a positive side by showing that anyone can make a difference, now. We can make easy changes as individuals like stop buying fast fashion as it is not designed to last, which means that people must find a way to dispose of it. The production of fast fashion is also very harmful to the environment by polluting rivers with toxic dyes and chemicals and wasting resources and energy. Also, stop dropping litter. This may sound small and insignificant, but it can make a big difference to the environment and the animals that live in it.

When class representatives are voted for in school, they win because they either have the most friends or they say that they will try and stop homework. These students get the chance to talk to the local MP. This is a wasted opportunity as I, for example, would want to talk about climate change and the things that matter. I have some good friends, but not enough to be voted in. I would ask for more education on environmental issues including simple things like the Countryside Code and the Marine and Coastal Wildlife Code, and how simply following these would make a big difference. Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), focuses on drugs, vaping, pros and cons of e-scooters; all negative and depressing. This makes me feel unhappy so this could also explain bad behaviour by making other children feel as though that is all that really matters.

I feel more emotional when watching films about the effects that climate change and humans have on animals and nature than I do about films like the PEB that talk about the effects that climate change has on us. We should learn the truth about the environment, but also how to make a positive difference.

We can start learning in school about how to care for the environment and how to make a difference now. I help hedgehogs in my garden with a food box and hedgehog house. I started helping them as I know that once there were over 30 million hedgehogs in the UK, but now there are fewer than 1 million left. I know this from watching David Attenborough documentaries and being a member o f the Wildlife Trust. It costs money to join the Wildlife Trust, which not everyone can afford, so I believe that all of this should be taught in lessons instead of just extracurricular clubs so that everyone hears and learns about it.

The world is everyone’s responsibility to care for and if educated about it, we can learn to help look after our environment and can continue to call this world our home.

Banner photo: ID 62616385 © Chase Dekker | Dreamstime.com

Summary

Meghan, age 11, writes with striking passion about The Future Is Now event in Hexham, where three films on rewilding beavers, the climate crisis, and overconsumption left her convinced that adults badly underestimate how much children already know — and how deeply they worry. Her message is urgent and hopeful: teach climate and nature to every child in school, not just in paid-for clubs, because once young people learn that anyone can act now — saving hedgehogs, ditching fast fashion — they have every reason to care.

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