Green warriors of the future
By Rachel Shaw
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
Sometimes I worry that I watch to much news.
I like to keep informed about current affairs and global events but it’s easy for the despair to set in when faced with a seemingly constant feed of negative news.
Positive, inspirational stories seem to gain little air-time compared the impacts of the changing climate and loss of biodiversity, the rise of AI, and the human toll of wars. It leads you to wonder what hope there is for the future.
We’ve all watched the apocalyptic movies but what used to be a far-fetched science fiction can seem to be just around the corner. Like I said, I may be watching too much. Perhaps I’m too prone to doomscrolling.
As a complete contrast to this, every year I have the pleasure of attending the finals of the Lincolnshire Young Environmentalist Awards. The awards are organised by the Rotary Club of Lindum, Lincoln, and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and sponsored by FCC Environment.
The finals are held at Whisby Nature Park in late May. Listening to the presentations of the children at the finals what struck me was that these children have understood that a problem exists and they’ve taken action to make a positive difference. In their actions they are making the world a better place.
This year, we heard from five-and-a-half-year-old Teddy (as he explained to us, the half is important) who was representing his entire school – St Peter in Eastgate. After asking his mum about what happens to animals when they get trapped in litter, Teddy realised there was a problem. His grandma helped out by giving him a litter picker for his birthday and he now picks litter every day on his way to school.
That in itself is remarkable, but he has also inspired his entire school. The reception class are now responsible for picking litter around the school and he’s enthusiastic about creating a bug hotel and nature areas in the school grounds.
Eleven-year-old Brody, has also had an impact on his local community including in nearby new build housing. He’s distributed bird boxes and hedgehog homes and encouraged home owners to cut small holes in their fences so hedgehogs can move from garden to garden, and put up signs to inform drivers that hedgehogs and other wildlife might be crossing the roads.
We heard from children who are planting orchards and wildflowers in their school grounds. Who understand the importance of bare ground for invertebrates and so there’s mud for swallows to make nests. Who appreciate the calming power of spending time outdoors in a garden surrounded by nature. Who care about bees and other pollinators and hold seed sales so everyone in the community can plant pollinator-friendly plants and create bee corridors.
We learnt about schools that hold used clothes sales every term, make jam from berries collected around the school grounds and use scrap wood to build hedgehog homes.
From all of this and more, the judges had to make a decision about who were the winners. It’s incredibly difficult because they are all winners and they are inspiring others to make a positive change. I’ll skip watching the news this evening, because with children like the ones I met today, we are all winners.
The winners of the Lincolnshire Young Environmentalist Award 2025 are Potterhanworth Church of England Primary (school or group) and 11-year-old Brody Carter (individual). The runners-up this year were Manor Leas Junior Academy, St Peter in Eastgate Church of England Infant School and individual finalists Paige and Dominic.
