St Edmund’s College: Ipswich’s next generation of climate leaders

As Ipswich’s Year 12 students near the end of high school, they reflect on the legacy they want to leave behind and the changes they want to effect in the climate arena. FULL STORY:

St Edmund's house captains Kobie Low and Dan Fordham.

Student leaders in the Ipswich region are taking steps to better understand the impacts of climate change and to reduce the city’s environmental footprint.

St Edmund’s College house captains Hayden Bacon, Kobie Low, and Dan Fordham said it was crucial every person did their bit to create a better tomorrow.

“(Climate change is) going to directly affect our lives going forward, so it’s something that we all need to be conscious of as young adults going out into the world next year,” Mr Low, 17, said.

“Everyone should do their piece to reduce emissions and create a more climate-neutral world.”

Mr Fordham, 17, said decisions that may seem small in the grand scheme of things could change the world in time.

“Lots of small things can equate to a big thing,” he said.

“In a number of years we could look back and say ‘I’m glad we did those things because we would not be in the place that we are now (if we hadn’t)’.”

One key way St Edmund’s College is looking to make a difference in the climate future is with its recycling project.

Mr Bacon, 18, said all students at the school were involved with a local not-for-profit organisation founded by an ex-student, Down to Earth.

The charity aims to turn ‘trash into treasure’, taking donations of 10c cans and bottles to fund food and other necessities for people who are homeless.

“We’ve got bins set up around the school and the boys just chuck their empty bottles into the bins, and then we go through them in the afternoon and take the lids off and clean the bottles out,” Mr Bacon said.

All of the recyclables are then donated to the organisation.

“We want to reduce as much waste as possible because that’s a key source of climate change,” Mr Low said.

“Especially when plastic waste is incinerated.

“Just reducing those emissions, especially through the recycling program, not only aids climate change (action), but it helps a lot of the community at the same time. It’s a twofold benefit.”

Mr Bacon said he and other Year 12 students at St Edmund’s College were now in talks with the incoming class of 2022 to make sure they continue to effect positive change.