By Andrei (Y7)
Introduction
In my opinion, the Holme Grange Cop was a very exciting time for me because it was my first time ever taking part in something this big. One of the reasons I really liked the HG COP was because I really care about the environment and I am trying to help it as much as I possibly can by reducing my family’s Carbon Footprint.
What was the most interesting thing you discovered?
I was very lucky to be presenting the Kingdom of Bhutan. Throughout the day, I learnt many things such as Bhutan was the first country to go Carbon Negative, which makes it a very green country (the greenest country in the world, due to King Jigme Singye Wangchuk).
How did your country come along in the discussion?
Bhutan (the country we were representing) did really well in the discussions because we formed an Alliance with many large countries such as:China, India, Canada and many more. The reason why we were able to team up with such big countries is because Bhutan is in the mountains, therefore we could offer a lot of leverage by providing countries with wind power and wind turbines in exchange for money. This helped Bhutan because it is one of the poorest countries in the world.
What did you think about the structure of the day?
I really liked it because we had times where we had to listen and learn, then after that, we could discuss what we learned during the sessions. My most favourite part of the day was when we got to form alliances with other countries and when we explained what our country needs and what we can give in return.
What was it like working with children across the school?
I enjoyed it quite a lot because it gave us a chance to talk with people we never thought we were going to talk to. It also made me feel important when I talked or provided an answer to a question because everyone was looking and focusing on what they had to say. This experience also helped me improve my confidence in talking, communication skills and my abilities to debate a topic with other people,
How could we improve it next time?
Next time, we could improve it by including people from other schools because we could make new friends and we could learn more about each other and the different counties we will represent in the future COPs. Also, leveraging a broader pool of opinions may help us discover potential solutions to the environmental issues our generations are faced with.