School Matters 36

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TRILLION TREES TALK Saskia Jenkins from the Eco Committee warmly welcomed Mrs Melissa Annetts, Media and Communications Officer for the charity Trillion Trees. She explained that Trillion Trees is the united force of BirdLife International, Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF which together have the shared aim to protect and restore forests all over the world, for the benefit of people, nature, and the climate.

Mrs Annetts spoke about these recent encouraging commitments and the vital need to achieve the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, especially with regards to the preservation of intact forests. She explained in detail the multiple strategies of Trillion Trees in tackling the complex challenges of restoring and conserving trees globally. These include directing funds to crucial forest conservation projects across the world, supporting research into forest protection and actively advocating for policy changes that value and prioritise forests and help end the drivers of deforestation. We are hugely grateful to Mrs Annetts for

Trees are our planet’s natural air purifiers and the single most effective “device” we have to pull carbon out of the atmosphere. Tragically, we are losing trees at the very moment we need them most. Every six seconds, our planet loses a football pitch worth of tropical rainforest to deforestation. Forests in colder regions are losing millions of acres to drought, pests and wildfire worsened by climate change, and our growing cities are losing the natural cooling of trees. Forests were front and centre throughout the COP26 climate summit. Among the most significant announcements was the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, in which 137 countries

committed collectively to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.”

her time and expertise. Mrs Aleid Farnum-Ford

WHO MADE MY CLOTHES? “We may not be interested in Fashion, but we can’t avoid getting dressed, which means that every time we gaze into our wardrobe wondering what to wear, we could be making a choice that has a positive or a negative impact.” Orsola de Castro, Loved Clothes Last , 2021

Orsola de Castro visited IPS to speak to the Sixth Form about her career, campaign work and ethical consumerism. De Castro is the co-founder and creative director of Fashion Revolution, an organisation which works towards a sustainable fashion industry. At Fashion Revolution she has partnered with luminaries including Lily Cole, Stella McCartney, Lauren Laverne and Emma Watson. She is also an

Martins and a keynote speaker on fashion and sustainability. As part of the event, Orsola talked about her new book, Loved Clothes Last: How the Joy of Re-wearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act , which was published earlier this year. The book is a guide to becoming a more conscious consumer in the world of the fashion industry. Following Orsola’s talk and hearing her practical tips and skills, we hope our Sixth Form can now have

the knowledge to make a more positive environmental choice and live on a healthier planet. We thank Orsola for inspiring us and for making everyone more aware of the variety of ways to repair, repurpose,

Associate Lecturer at University of the Arts London, Visiting Fellow at Central Saint ECO COMMITTEE WRAPS UP CPP

reclaim and re-wear clothes. Mrs Ilaria Harris, Teacher of Art

The Eco Committee led a green initiative that saw pupils gathering a mountain of clean and shiny crisp packets. These were bundled up and bundled off to the Crisp Packet Project Headquarters in St Leonards where CPP Founder Pen Huston and her team of dedicated volunteers will turn them into insulating sleeping bags for those sleeping on the streets or struggling to cover heating costs in their homes. The Eco Committee was thrilled by the way pupils across

the School contributed collectively to the project. Tutor Group Brearley P collected a whopping 246 bags, over half of our grand total of 482! Mr Lam’s crisp munching stars were rewarded with a box of delicious crisps from the innovative Two Farmers crisps company. (Two Farmers crisps come in packaging that is 100% compostable). Thank you all for your contributions and we look forward to rolling out our next green initiative soon. Mrs Aleid Farnum-Ford

Brearley P