When COP27 was coming up, FEE invited all Eco-Schools around the world to participate in a baton relay to get the message that was being delivered to COP27 in Sharm-El-Sheikh Egypt from COP26 in Glasgow Scotland.

The purpose of this was to bring attention to the issues of the world and grab the attention of the world leaders so they can make the changes necessary for our future.

Eco-Schools got together and created an event for the whole school in which we would do a baton relay with everyone. We started the day on the field and gave an opening speech. I introduced Senaya and Chathill who then gave an introduction to the baton relay and why we were doing this relay. They then turned the conversation towards how we can leave hand prints (positive impacts) instead of carbon footprints and let the school come up with some ideas. I then merged myself into the crowd and gave the mic to students so they could give their ideas.

We then moved over to Drrithi and Sswaha in primary who wrote some poems for the event. They really captured the attention of both the youngest and the oldest students.

Then Millan gave a briefing of how the event would work. We were to get into our fire drill buddies (grade 12 and preschool, grade 11 and kindergarten, grade 10 with grade 1 etc.) They would then line up behind the cones and get split into 2 groups by the PE department who would take the second group to the cone opposite the first one. We had 7 lines of people waiting to run with the baton. The partners would hold the baton and run to the other side and hand it on to the next group of partners until everyone had run.

To keep in accordance with the wishes of FEE to have the baton be made from ecologically considerate materials to minimise our impact we created the batons out of bamboo. We did this so that we had a hollow tube for the message to sit in, it could go through some falls and drops and would biodegrade after we finished using them.

Figures 5, 6, and 7; some students running with the batons (Photo Credit: OSC School Photographers)

After everyone had run we collected at the front of the field and Astrid (primary) and I read the message:

We are Running Out of Time.

Climate education is essential if we are to give people of all ages and in all places the knowledge and skills necessary to build a future in which all can thrive.

Young people need to be recognized as leaders, placed at the forefront of the conversation about climate change and empowered through education.

We are calling on the world’s leaders to provide us with the skills and training to build a sustainable world.

Our world is warning and to keep the increase to 1.5 degrees we need forward thinking, consistent policies and funding to help us reach Net Zero Emissions.

We are committed to help build a future that is inclusive and sustainable for all.

Show by your actions, not just words, that you are too.

I know how daunting this can sound but we must remember that we are not alone and are all together in this time of need.

Look around you at the trees, the flowers, listen to the birds, the monkeys and think of how much beauty they bring. Let them be a reminder to what we are fighting for.

Look at the people beside you and see how they are with you in this moment.

Like they will be in this fight for the earth.

After this we all headed back to our classes except for me. I went to film a video for the school Facebook page which we would use to tell the rest of our community about this important message.

I’m really happy that we were able to bring this important message across. I saw how the younger students were more excited about saving the planet by their reactions as we did the event as well as their incite-full suggestions of what we could do at school to take care of our planet. Because that’s what it is. Our planet. We share it with the older generations and the new and it is our duty as its occupants to preserve it for generations to come. As the Eco-Schools leader this is a great success for us and I hope it will inspire more people to join our service.

(Featured Image Photo Credit: OSC School Photographers)