Earth Day 2021 - A topic all our students care about
The environment has been an issue that students have tackled time and again in our programme. Young people are leading the way in raising awareness and driving action to tackle climate change and improve our connection with nature and the environment. That’s why this Earth Day we are celebrating just some of the students’ apps that have addressed this topic.
Over the years we have seen young people come up with solutions to help preserve and appreciate the natural environment and tackle climate change in a huge amount of creative ways. Their products have included apps to:
- Get us to cycle more instead of driving
- Pick up litter in local communities
- Clean up local beaches
- Find routes with the safest air quality in cities
Here are two more products in detail that we love:
Envirocache - Wick High School, 2015
Created by Ellora and Mari-Ann from Wick High School. The pair wanted to reconnect young people with the world around them. The mobile app allows people to upload walking routes with tagged interesting plants/wildlife/landmarks and facts about them. Others can then walk the routes, seeing what they can spot and learn along the way; almost like a nature treasure hunt. There are unlockable virtual medals and badges, as well as competitive local leaderboards as an incentive to get children outside and learning more about the world around them.
OceanForce - The St Marylebone CE School, 2018
In 2018 alongside Salesforce, we ran an App-in-a-Day workshop with students from Elstree UTC, St Marylebone School and Sutton Grammar School to raise awareness of plastic pollution in our oceans. Each team worked with Salesforce volunteers to come up with app ideas, and the overall winners were supported by volunteers to launch their product on the market.
The winning team, Oceanforce, was created by five students from St Marylebone School to help younger generations gain awareness of their plastic footprint and help build a greener future. Users gain points for each item they record as recycled, which are shared on a leaderboard to compete against friends and family. The app also aims to educate its users on the scale of ocean plastics and the global initiatives working to combat the problem.
The weight is on our shoulders as a generation and I think we needed the workshop [to focus on the environment] because we’re going to have to change the world.”
Zadie, Student & Co-creator, Oceanforce
If you want to know more about our courses and be amongst the first to hear our news, then sign up for our newsletter.