On the 2nd of November 2022, we organized a Susty schools event at Metropolitan College and Isolo Senior Secondary school, this was done in collaboration with CNN to celebrate the call to Earth Day.
The Call to Earth Day was established as a result of CNN’s commitment to raising awareness concerning the Earth’s environmental issues, spotlighting solutions that exist or are being designed to solve these problems. The ultimate goal being to drive education and action for people to pay more attention to the environment and work towards protecting it.
This year, the call to earth day was joined by thousands of schools, individuals and environment-focused organizations across the globe to make positive change in the world. The stories from this year’s celebration will be broadcasted to 370 million households across 200 countries.
The Susty schools events are organized as part of SustyVibes’ goals to make the message on sustainability more actionable, relatable, practical and fun for young Africans. By taking the message of sustainability to schools, we’re working to ensure that we make young people partners for sustainable development and get them actively involved in creating remarkable change, especially as regards the environment and climate action.
A cross-section of Metropolitan College and Isolo high school students
EVENTS
The events for the day were ordered in two parts, the first was conversation and interaction with the students, and then we had a practical session on a creative solution to help the environment.
PART A:
For the segment of the conversation and interaction, we had a SustyViber – Jonathan Godwin, a 19-year-old student of the African Leadership University, majoring in Planetary health, speak to the students on the importance of being a part of the fight to save the earth, as we truly do not have an Earth B or a plan B for life if life here on earth fails. He spoke to them on their power as young people to bring about the needed change regardless of their skills or strengths, emphasising that little actions can and will help bring about the Earth’s sustainability. He cited examples of Greta Thunberg and other young people actively taking part in actions for the earth in their different spaces and diverse sets of skills.
Cross-section of images from the first segment
During the conversation, the floor was open to the students to talk about their favorite things about the earth and how they’d like to protect it. They mentioned so many exciting things like vegetation, rainfall, the atmosphere and how it protects us, and how perfectly the earth is set up to protect life. They also shared various ambitions for being a part of climate actions.
Some students engaging in the conversation
Then the conversation segment was rounded up with a deeper dive into actionable ways the students could start to be a part of the movement to protect the earth. Starting from getting a better education, understanding of the earth, improving their personal consciousness of the effects of their actions on the earth and volunteering with environmentally focused organizations like SustyVibes.
Students listening to the conversation
PART B
The second segment focused on creative solutions that could be implemented to also keep the earth safe. It was put in place to help the students see actionable ways they can get involved, helping them realize that the only limits to how they can be a part of making change for the earth are that which they put on themselves.
This part was led by Zainab Abike Kadiri-Lawal, who is the team lead of Zannytecture Recycling Company Limited. An upcycling company that converts tyre and PET bottles into furniture and other creative objects.
Zainab speaking to the students at the event
She led the students on the journey of creative solutions using upcycling as an exemplary point, working together with the students, they used waste materials to make an upholstered footstool.
The materials used were PET bottles, glue, half-inch foam, a piece of scrap Ankara material, an Indomie noodles cartoon and circular cake boards. All these random waste materials were brought together to become a very beautiful and highly functional piece of furniture. Cutting and screwing instruments were also used.
During the practical session
Zainab walked the students through the step-by-step process of making the stool, explaining why each material was chosen and not another material of the same make, like using PET bottles for their strength and durability instead of water bottles. The excitement was evident on the face of the students as they took down notes quickly and asked so many questions to better understand the process. They also actively took part in measuring materials, holding parts for Zainab, applying the glue and anything else they could do.
At the end product, the students were surprised at how well the output turned out, from the waste materials they saw lined up on the table. They felt accomplished and empowered, being a part of creating such a masterpiece.
The students engage the team during and at the end of the practical session
IMPACT
We had 60 students and 3 teachers in attendance from both schools. The event’s impact on the students was evident from the quality of questions they had at the end of both segments of the event. This showed a better-improved knowledge base and thought process towards sustainability than when we first started conversing with them.
Many of the students were interested in ways they could actively begin taking part in the fight to protect the earth, sources to get information to build up their knowledge and gain better information on the subject matter, how they could volunteer and be supported, and a few shared some great ideas they had already on getting started with being a part of creating positive change, to protect the environment.
Students with SDGs placards during the event
They were also very impacted by the fact that they had very young SustyVibers interacting with them, which gave them a sense of belonging in the big picture of saving the Earth and removed the idea that change-making is an abstract concept to be tackled by only much older people.
Asking them what new things they had learned, some very important things stood out, including sustainability, climate action, activism, change-making, solution-oriented, the importance of their power as young people for the earth and many other vital points.
The students noting and talking about some of the things they’ve learnt
CONCLUSION
The Susty Schools special edition of the CNN Call to Earth Day was a great success. The impact on the students should be felt by even more students, as the topic of sustainability should be an integral part of learning curriculums because the world is evolving. The resources on earth are depleting really quickly. We are at risk of great peril unless sustainable actions are taken, and more young people are involved in these actions.
The team with some students after the practical session