Climate Change Conference at Soli House

My trip to Soli was an amazing experience about climate change. It changed my perspective on everyday life.

When we first arrived, we were introduced to the staff members and the other schools. We were given drinks and a little explanation of what our day was going to be like. We were then taken down to the lounge area, where one of the staff members spoke to us about things we could do to make our community and STACS change the world. We then spoke about St Paul II. It was explained to us that he was the first globally orientated Pope  and how he increased the global prestige of the papacy. St Paul II said "the challenge of climate disruption and environmental deterioration will require ethical responses."

When that talk was over, we were split into two groups. The group I was in went upstairs, another staff member spoke to us about a campaign called Live Simply which our school has signed up for. Live Simply is an opportunity for the catholic communtiy, schools, religious orders and parishes to work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us. It was explained to us the things we need to achieve to receive a Live Simply award.

We then had a lunch break, which gave us the opportunity to talk about the things we had learned. After lunch, we went back downstairs to the louge area to talk about the new ways and ideas to make changes to our community and school. We were then split into groups to discuss ideas.

We thought of almost 100 ideas of how we could help our environment. Some examples were:
soup kitchens, culture week, a prayer garden e.t.c. When all the groups joined back together, we had almost 800 ideas.

We then completed our Live Simply sheets / forms. We then took a group photo and had our last talk about all the changes we were planning to make in the future. We said our goodbyes and thank you's, then made our way back to school.

Overall, this was a brilliant experience that has given us ideas on how to make changes. Expect some of these changes in our school very soon.

Sienna Franklin - 9MA