Act for change: Borders Additional Needs Group
BANG have been very busy as part of Borders Act for Change!
We delivered two Climate Change sessions in February 2025, one at our Branching In (age 11-15 years) youth group, and the other at our Branching Out Group (age 16-24 years) social group. We delivered these sessions to get young people talking about the Climate Emergency and inspire them to begin thinking about what we can do as a group to do our bit for the environment, and what they can do themselves. At both sessions we discussed that Climate Change describes a change in the typical weather for a region, such temperature changes and amount of rainfall measured, which usually happens over a long period of time. Young people learned that scientists have observed that planet Earth is becoming warner, and as the planet warms, the ice melts and flows into the oceans, and this makes sea levels higher. We went on to discuss why more water in the oceans might be an issue? Young people were able to link rising water levels to recent flooding within the Scottish Borders, particularly in Hawick, and the impact this had on many people within the community. We learned in many parts of the world, houses are built on areas at risk from rising sea levels which is caused by climate change. The rising sea levels also impacts on the areas where we grow crops. We had 9 young people from Branching In who took on the challenge of working as a team to build a house that would last both dry and flooded land. They had a range of materials to select from (paper, card, string, wood, beeswax wraps, clay etc) and had to decide on which materials would be best, and which design methods would work to protect the house when flooding arrived.
We had a group of 28 young people from our older group learn about the importance of climate action, and 10 who took on the challenge to work as a team to create a solution to growing crops in flooded areas. They had a range of materials to select from (soil, seeds, reusable containers, string, mini greenhouse etc) and had to work as a team to create their own mini garden, choose a location in the community centre garden, and take on the responsibility of looking after their own crops.
The younger group learned that building floating houses is a hugely difficult task. Their first house sunk thanks to a tsunami (a young person enthusiastically shook the bucket). They also recognised that it wouldn’t be possible to adapt all the houses in the world in order for them to float, and realised that what is needed instead is everyone doing their bit to protect the planet. The older group realised fairly quickly that building lots of floating gardens could be quite problematic due to logistical reasons, and that while we could build lots of flood defences to protect crops, they advised this is just one line of defence, and that a second line of defence is to reduce waste! This starts with our very own herb garden. We have all been inspired by the growth of little cress seedlings, and we are eager to see the remaining herbs thrive over the next few weeks - Which we are eager to put to good use in our Youth Inclusion Cafe! This project has inspired us to start thinking about future activities that will work towards empowering, equipping and enabling young people to take action.
Read the full report here with pictures!