They’ll take the climate change message across the globe

Thirty students at Dartington’s Schumacher College have pledged to fight climate change after a three-week course had opened their eyes to the problem.

The students, whose ages ranged from 25 to 80, and whose homes vary from Devon to Nepal, have each promised to reduce their carbon footprint by one ton over the next 12 months.

They plan to take personal as well as community action as they take what they have learned out into the wider world.

Eighty-year-old Peter Ryan said he had come on the course as a birthday present from his family. He said: ‘I have learned so much, and now I know that we all have the opportunity to make positive changes in our lifestyle, I am more optimistic.’

Laxman Belbase, from Nepal, said ‘People in my country are already dying from the impact of climate change as the glaciers are melting. So it is now an alert to all the people in this world to act.’

Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, one of the course tutors, said: ‘We really need action now at every level, including the individual as well as real effective political leadership.’

Reported on p.2, Totnes Times, Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.