Act for change: Stow Disrupters

The aim of The Disrupters Borders Act for Change was to educate and deepen children’s understanding of renewable energy. Focusing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, the Disrupters took part in a variety of sessions, all focusing on renewable energy with different community partners. Starting with an interactive workshop with Borders College the group made wind turbines, explored wind power and learnt about hydro and solar power. The next session saw the group visit and explore wind turbines within their community, this session incorporated a talk from the local landowner who explained the history of the turbines as well as detailing how the turbines worked and the positives and negatives to them. For the final session the Disrupters completed a renewable energy hunt around their village to identify examples of renewable energy being used locally. Throughout this session the group consolidated their learning and shared their understanding of renewable energy with the volunteers. From this plenary it was evident that the young activists had a good understanding of renewable energy and could use their knowledge and understanding confidently to challenge those currently making energy use/ choices in their lives. We envisage that this learning will help the young people make informed choices as they grow up and have responsibility for their own energy providers and consumption. 12 Disrupters took part in project aging, from 6 to 10. These sessions not only had a positive impact on the group who experienced them first hand but also on the wider community, which was evidenced by the feedback and engagement we experienced via our social media platforms after the weekly learning was shared. In partnership with Green Stow and Bright Green Nature the next block of learning for the Disrupters focuses on Sustainable Development Goal 15 – Life on Land and will involve learning about the need for rewilding and what it involves along with biodiversity and interdependence. Planning is well underway for the session between April and June where our focus will be on the following Sustainable Development Goals – Good Health and Wellbeing, Reduced Inequalities, Gender Equality and Climate Action.

We are so impressed with all the work Stow Disrupters have done as part of Act for Change and beyond! You can see more about their work on their facebook page here!