UNICEF launched a competition called the Big Climate Callout a few months ago – giving four young people, aged 14-17, the chance to go to the Children’s Climate Forumin Copenhagen this winter. The forum is being organised by UNICEF and will happen the week before COP15. Young people from around the world will unite together and voice our generation’s concerns on the climate crisis.

I still can’t believe that I was chosen out of around 200 applicants to attend the forum. I’m not ashamed to say that I cried when I found at!

We had our first training session in London over the weekend, and it was great to meet the rest of the team and get to know them better. I can’t wait to spend time with them over the next few months – they’re all lovely, including the UNICEF staff. The meeting was quite overwhelming at times, whilst we were discussing meeting Ed Milliband (The Secretary of State for Climate Change and Energy) and Douglas Alexander  (Secretary of State for Inernational Development). We were also given a vague outline about what to expect in the Forum at Copenhagen, and by the sounds of it we are going to be very tired and busy! I am so excited though, and we all seemed to have similar ideas and goals for Copenhagen.

We will be blogging on Tagd – the UNICEF young people’s website – soon, so keep an eye out for updates on our activites: www.tagd.org.uk.

We are also hoping to get involved in campaigns to get Gordon Brown to COP15, and are looking at getting lots of young people’s names on a petition. I’ll keep you posted on our progress

And lucky, lucky me, I’m going on holiday tomorrow However, then it means school time once again…And that means A Levels…and univeristy applications…and…the list goes on…

Happy holidays x

What is leadership? Enabling others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty

The National Trust You Me & The Climate Project brings young people from across the country to act on climate change. The project aims to develop young people’s leadership skills, so they can become climate ambassadors within their local community. Have a look at www.youmeandtheclimate.org.

I joined about 6 months ago, and I am now a fully fledged ‘Climateer’, along with another 20 or so people from across the country. We had our induction residential at the National Trust HQ, ‘Heelis’, in Swindon last winter and everyone was so easy-going and relaxed that we all became great friends overnight.

A couple of weeks ago, we had our second residential up in Newcastle, in one of the National Trust’s beautiful properties – called Gibside. We stopped in a stable block all week and our days were jam-packed with workshops, presentations and group activites. It was a great laugh, particularly in the kitchen trying to cook for another 30 people!

A couple of the communication guys gave a really useful final list of campaigning tips, which I would like to share with you:

8 Things We Can Do

1. Recognise what the other side have done right, and where the environmentalists have missed the boat
2. Remember – ‘don’t think of an elephant’ (It’s all about how you frame what you say, so people don’t switch off)
3. The truth alone will not set you free
4. Speak from a moral perspective at all times
5. Understand where they’re coming from
6. Remember that decisions are based on identity and values, not always self-interest
7. Think strategically – across issue areas
8. Be proactive, no reactive

Enjoying the summer sun. ecodaisy x

The hive is an environmental youth volunteering projct, based at Worcester Volunteer Centre. It aims to:

• Recruit young people into environmental volunteering placements
• Raise awareness in the local area about environmental issues
• Build an awesome earthship in Worcester

www.thehiveworcester.co.uk

I am a member of the steering group, affectionately named The Wombles, who are led by our amazing project co-ordinator Tash. Over the past year or so we have attended local green events, created and disributed information packs, recruited over 100 young people into volunteering opportunities, got our very own allotment and have eaten lots of biscuits with buckets full of tea.

The most exciting opoprtunity within the hive is the ‘earthship’ project. An earthship is a totally self-sustainable building, designed to work in harmony with nature and have minimal impact on the local environment. It encompasses all aspects of sustainable living, and has proven to be a source of inspiration for Brighton for the past few years.

Have a look at the eathship concept and the details of the Brighton earthship at www.lowcarbon.co.uk

The hive would love to have an earthship in the centre of Worcester to serve as the offices for the city’s young volunteers. It would also be open to the community and have space outside for an allotment and camping site. All of us wombles are very excited because next week we are viewing possible sites around the city and could gain the support of a major national business.

I’ll keep you posted

Big love. ecodaisy

It takes ordinary people, using our extraordinary gifts of passion and purpose to make things happen.

A change activist doesn’t need to have supernatural strength, or be outstandingly beautiful, or have an IQ off the wall. They simply need to be someone who is willing to take action outside his or her comfort zone. And that can be you.

A year or so ago, I was your typical shy and insecure teenage girl. I could hardly answer the phone without getting hot and flustered. Oh, how things have changed!

Last summer I was bored out of mind and needed something to distract myself from work and exam results. So I went to my local volunteer centre and was lucky enough to get on the steering group of a newly set up environmental youth volunteering project. Getting thrown into the deep end as the PR officer, I hardly had time for cowardice or fear, as I was too busy writing press releases, creating publicity material and chairing our weekly meetings.

A few months later, and with the encouragement of my project co-ordinator, I applied to become a ‘Climateer’ for the National Trust’s You Me and The Climate (YOMAC) project, which brings young people from across Britain to act together on CO2. Attending week long residentials with inspiring people I had never met before made me realise that I had found my place in the world, and I was hungry for more!

In Spring 2009, I became a member of the UK Young Climate Coalition (UKYCC), which unites young people for a just and clean future. My role within their Outreach Team is to get people talking about the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December and to recruit people for their various teams.

As if this wasn’t all enough, I then applied to UNICEF’s Big Climate Callout – a competition for 14 to 17 year olds to become delegates at the Children’s Climate Forum in Copenhagen – and was successful.

Now, I know it seems like I’m just showing off but I’m not, I promise. All I wanted to prove to you is that a small action can have the biggest impact on your life. Little did I know 12 months ago, when I was walking into the dingy volunteer centre that I would be representing Britain’s children at an international climate conference. So seize every opportunity and don’t be scared.

‘Ask what matters in your heart. Point that passionate purpose at the icy walls of fear in your life and I promise, they’ll melt away.’

Satchmo Paige

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting some more information on the campaigns that I’m involved in and some tips I’ve learnt from some old (and young) owls.

Smiles and daisies x