Making change starts with the youth of the world.
So, under the name Te Wai Pounamu (Wonders of the South), Hamish Darling (John McGlashan), Tim Shiels (John McGlashan), Timothy Marshall (John McGlashan), Louis Lepper (Logan Park High School), Rebecca Vella-King (Logan Park High School), Aimee Manson (Kaikorai Valley College) and Sarita Aldred (Kaikorai Valley College) will share their research on Otago's changing environment with 2000 other pupils from 150 schools throughout Australia and New Zealand at the 2009 Murray Darling Basin Authority International River Health Conference in Canberra next week.
Hamish (12) said the group would try to educate other children with a 40-minute presentation which included a puppet show, a quiz and a power point presentation about the effects of global warming on New Zealand and its wildlife, and how those effects could be reversed.
"It's not only an opportunity for us to share what we've learned with other kids, it's an opportunity for us to learn about what other kids at the conference have learned," he said.
The seven were given the opportunity to participate in the conference by the Enviroschools Foundation in recognition of the strengthening presence of Enviroschools in the city.
The pupils will also participate in a day of environmental action, quiz senior Australian politicians, celebrities and activists on climate change, and enjoy Questacon - the National Science and Technology Centre.
The pupils practised their presentation in front of pupils at Logan Park High School and John McGlashan College on Tuesday in preparation for the "real deal" in Canberra.
