Two Donegal students are leading the way in environmental activism with a unique project on carbon footprints.
Erin Ryder and Anna Mitchell are sixteen-year-old Transition Year students from the Abbey Vocational School in Donegal Town who are spreading awareness on all things climate change.
They have recently taken part in ECO-UNESCO’s Environmental Youth Summit ‘The Heat Is On’ which brings together young people from Ireland, Scotland and Spain to learn from other youth communities and climate experts to ultimately influence environmental policy.
Erin and Anna created a project called ‘Carbon Footprint: Eradicating the Stigma’ in which they focus on the detrimental impacts that their collective carbon footprint has on the environment and created a proposal on a ‘Climate Education Scheme’ to educate the nation on what impacts their actions have and offer sustainable alternatives to these. The duo then presented their project to politicians and policymakers like Minister of State Pippa Hackett from the Green Party.
They are planning on continuing talks with local politicians about their scheme and utilizing social media as an outlet for education and as a tool to spread awareness. Erin and Anna both plan on attending more of ECO-UNESCO’s events throughout the year to learn more. ECO-UNESCO is Ireland’s leading environmental education and youth organisation that equips young people with the tools to make a positive environmental change.
