PRIMARY school pupils in the city are calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to tackle the ongoing global climate crisis. 

Pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School took to the Radcliffe Camera on Tuesday (13/07) holding a banner to remind the Government that the ‘eyes of the world’ are watching, ahead of the UK hosting the UN climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow this November. 

One pupil, who got involved in the campaign run by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, said: “We are part of this campaign because we want world leaders to know that taking care of our planet is important - because we only have one earth. 

“If our planet gets ruined, we won’t have anywhere else to go.”
The ‘eyes of the world’ banner made its first appearance during the first day of the G7 summit which took place in Cornwall this June.

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Over the next five months, the banner will travel to 15 landmarks across the UK.

This includes the Houses of Parliament, the Senedd, and Blackpool Tower, before reaching its final destination in Glasgow.

Dan Davis James, an associate teacher at St Joseph’s Primary School, said: “If children believe they are listened to and their ideas matter, then it gives them a stake in becoming responsible leaders of tomorrow.

“We want this campaign to help children to imagine a more sustainable future. The more children involved, the greater the awareness and drive to change- which in turn, empowers them to demand positive action from world leaders.”

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CAFOD hopes its banner campaign will encourage more young people to get involved in tackling the climate crisis.

Sinead Callaghan, CAFOD’s young leadership coordinator, added:  “We would like to say a huge thank you to the pupils of St Joseph’s and to every young person who has already taken part in the eyes of the world campaign - your actions will make a huge difference to those living with poverty and injustice.  

“We know that young people really care about reaching out to people around the world. They are the ones demanding change and we need to give them a stage to raise their voices.  

“In the run-up to COP26, I hope that the UK Government does listen to the voices of young people and the Catholic community and takes seriously their duty to look out for global communities already impacted by the climate emergency.”  

Over 12,000 young people have now joined CAFOD’s campaign which urges world leaders, like Mr Johnson, to take action on issues like the climate crisis.