Children Around the World Give Their Verdict on the Earth’s Future

Children around the world give their verdict on the Earth’s future
We asked children from around the world to draw ‘the Earth in 50 years’ – here’s what they did…

London, UK, 2021-Dec-16 — /EPR Network/ — Young people across the globe have been asked to draw how they think the Earth will look in 50 years time. The interactive study, conducted by Educational Resource Publisher, Twinkl, has shown how well aware younger generations are of the climate crisis. Deforestation, pollution and litter were common features.

It is often understood how much adults are aware of global warming. However, younger generations will inherit the greater effect of climate change. In order to assess their knowledge and facilitate discussions about climate change in the classroom, Twinkl asked thousands of school-age learners to colour and draw how they believed the world will look in 2071.

Over 3000 children took part in the international drawing challenge, which took place from 31st October to 12th November 2021 in line with the COP 26 Climate Change Conference. The young participants were from the UK, and other countries around the world.



Across all countries, littering emerged as the most commonly drawn issue with 25% of all drawings featuring overflowing rubbish bins and waste on the streets.

In the UK, littering and air pollution stood out as the most concerning issues from the perspective of children. Littering and air pollution made up 50% of all drawings (25% each), of which there were over 1000.

In India, however, 76% of all drawings featured either drought or deforestation.

Almost half of children in Greece, a country with one of the longest coastlines in the world, had water pollution at the forefront of their concerns with 48% of drawings featuring a polluted ocean.

 

Jonathan Seaton, Twinkl’s CEO said of the project: “Children really are the future, and they are going to face a lot of upcoming situations related to global warming. As Twinkl has a direct line to young learners around the world through our network of inspiring educators, this initiative was a fantastic opportunity to see what their perspectives are surrounding the climate crisis”.

 

The most apparent consensus was that the vast majority of children, regardless of location, perceived the Earth to be in a greatly worse position than at present. This shows a surprisingly aware understanding of the problems we are facing. For many, this could help them to see why action is required, in order for this to not become reality.

Despite fears for the future, however, drawings also showed a hope for a better planet, with sustainable energy choices, planting new trees and walking or biking instead of travelling by car or plane populating drawings and themes like ‘being in nature’ and ‘living with animals’ or even just enjoying time ‘on a beautiful beach’.



Children are not naïve to the climate crisis and are already thinking about the world they want to see. “A world with snow, ice skating, unlimited food and rainbows” or “a world that is happy and dancing” may be attainable after all if we start making real, impactful change now. 

All images used in this press release and more can be found in this Dropbox.
For more information, email drawuponearth@twinkl.co.uk or read our blog (https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/draw-upon-earth-cop-26-drawing-project)

 

About Twinkl: 

  Twinkl was founded in 2010 in Sheffield by husband and wife Jonathan and Susie Seaton, with a     mission ‘to help those who teach’. 

The company provides high quality, online learning materials and services, which are all teacher-created and checked. 

Twinkl offers over 810,000 resources, with new content added daily. This ranges from schemes of work and assessments to augmented reality games and much more. 

Twinkl is used and trusted by schools and educators in over 200 countries and regions, including primary and secondary school teachers, nursery workers and parents.

Twinkl has over 1200 team members based in its two Sheffield offices and remotely around the globe. 

More information can be found at twinkl.co.uk 

 

Our story:

The idea for Twinkl came to Jonathan and Susie Seaton when Susie was working as an Early Years teacher and couldn’t find the materials she needed for her lessons online. As a result, Susie was working evenings and weekends to make resources from scratch. 

Speaking to colleagues and friends, the couple found that Susie was not alone in her situation. So, to help other teachers, they began creating and publishing educational resources online from their spare bedroom.  

The business grew quickly and organically as educators embraced the high-quality materials. The team grew quickly too, with current and former teachers, as well as experts in content and design soon joining Jonathan and Susie in their mission ‘to help those who teach.’ 

Jonathan and Susie are delighted that Twinkl is now taking this mission across the world, returning time and energy to educators that is better spent in the classroom with their pupils or on themselves at home.