Eastbourne students raise awareness of climate change

Birds2BHeard, a project set up by Antonia Lucas and hereditary peer Ralph Lucas, requested students to send in their paper birds to demonstrate the desire of young people to take urgent action to curb the effects of climate change. They received an overwhelming response from 20 schools as more than 5,000 young people, all aged between four and 19, sent in their creations.

The paper birds have been taken to Glasgow to attend the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to demonstrate the need for action as world leaders meet to decide how to confront the issue.

They will be taken to a school in Glasgow that has supported the cause and will also be prominently shown at two marches in the city.

A selection will then be distributed and discussed at the conference itself, at the COP26 Presidency Programme’s Youth and Public Empowerment Day on 5th November 5.

Paper birds were chosen as the symbol of the protest to celebrate the migratory birds that visit Eastbourne each year and to highlight the sharp decline in bird arrivals and departures since 2000, caused by loss of habitat, competition for food resources and climate change.

Awareness is also being raised throughout COP26 on social media using hashtag #Birds2BHeard and Glasgow schools hashtag #OurDearGreenPlace.

Birds2BHeard will also be displayed widely in Eastbourne, and on the climate rally on November 6.

This is not the first time Making Natural History, the organisation behind Birds2BHeard, has arranged projects to raise awareness for climate change.

Last year it hosted an online festival celebrating 25 years since Eastbourne hosted the first United Nations international children’s conference on the environment.