Pupils draft their own climate bill as anxiety grows over lack of guidance for schools

(The Guardian, 11 Feb 2020) Concerns are growing that UK children are not being taught adequately about the emergency

Like many young people, Joe Brindle, 17, is scared for the future because of the climate crisis. He is, he says, “angry about the injustice that is allowing the most vulnerable people in the world to suffer from the actions of the richest and most powerful”. So Brindle, who is preparing for his A-levels in Devizes, Wiltshire, decided to do something. On top of his studies, he founded a campaign group, Teach the Future, which has spent the last few months formulating legislation entitled the climate emergency education bill. The latest version has just arrived in his inbox: it has been written by a professional parliamentary draftsperson, paid for by crowdfunding.

“We didn’t want our demands to be half met, so we thought we’d show them exactly what we want,” says Brindle. Hiring an experienced drafter was a nifty move to quash any notion that young people’s ideas are unworthy of serious consideration. Brindle hopes the bill will be taken forward by the government, “or it could be a private members bill”.

On 26 February Brindle and his fellow campaigners will gather in parliament’s biggest committee room to launch their bill, sponsored by Nadia Whittome, the UK’s youngest MP.

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The Guardian, 11 Feb 2020: Pupils draft their own climate bill as anxiety grows over lack of guidance for schools