Due to Covid 19, our school went online in the early months of 2020 and stayed online until the end of the school year. This unfortunately cut my in person CAS experiences short as we were unable to return to school until the start of grade 12. Right before we went online, the team at LEAP had just completed our ‘Foundation Video,’ which I have written about previously. The video had the purpose of showcasing all the sustainable initiatives at our school in order to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability and our service group. Although we weren’t in school to see it be displayed around school, it was sent out to classes to be watched.
I think that this video was one of the most important things LEAP undertook last year because I personally feel that awareness and the understanding of global issues such as sustainability is the most important step in motivating people to work towards it. Acting sustainability is undoubtably challenging because our everyday lives center on using these non-sustainable things like transport, electronics and materials like plastic. It is difficult for anyone to be sustainable, but I realised from personal experience that the more I learn about the global impacts humans have on the environment, the more motivated I am to try and act sustainably.
Through my Global Politics class, I have studied numerous governments who have prioritised economic growth over the protection of the environment. This disregard for the environment is so prevalent around the world, such as the US’s venture into Fracking, giant energy company Adani’s extraction of minerals in the Great Barrier Reed of Australia, and Russia’s mining of gas and oil in the Arctic. This is why I believe that it is so important for schools to educate younger generations about environmental protection and sustainability, and why I think that this video was so important for our service team.
The video would not of been produced without the collaborative efforts of everyone on our team. I personally worked closely with Tallula and Hemal to craft scripts and showcase places such as the Composting centre, Recycling centre and the solar panels on the roof of our school. We were able to use Tallula’s skills in film production, as an IB film student, and Hemal’s extensive knowledge of the Solar panels, as leader of that initiative, to produce an insightful and educating piece of the video on our specific sustainable initiatives. Being a member of the LEAP service group was extremely eye opening to me and I have left so much more aware of the importance of my actions. I have been very inspired by my time with LEAP and hope to pay the learnings I have had forward to inspire others to act sustainably and with care for our environment.
