Campaigning for world leaders to act on climate change since she was 15 years old.
One day, when tucking into his weekly Friday packed lunch, 7-year-old Callum realised that all the plastic bottles in children’s’ packed lunches got thrown away. Callum felt this was wasteful and he wanted to investigate the problem further. He read that many plastics, such as plastic bottles, eventually end up in the sea, harming sea-animals and humans who eat the fish too!
Callum used his favourite subject, maths, to work out how many plastic bottles were being thrown away each year at his school. He worked out that since there were 180 students receiving school packed lunches each Friday and children attend school for 40 weeks a year, more than 7,000 plastic bottles were being thrown away each year. And that was just at Callum’s school. He couldn’t even imagine how many plastic bottles were being thrown away as a result of packed lunches at schools throughout the country or even the world!
Armed with this knowledge, Callum decided to do something about the problem. He spoke to his mum and asked if he could go to Nicola Sturgeon’s (the Scottish First Minister) house but his mum said it was not allowed. So together they looked online to work out what else they could do to make a change. Callum decided to start a petition to ask parliament to buy re-usable metal bottles for all schoolchildren in Scotland.
But Callum did not want to just sit and wait for his petition to collect signatures, he felt something needed to be done sooner. Callum set himself the challenge of walking 134 miles in stages to raise money so that his primary school could buy metal bottles for all children. Callum’s fundraising efforts were a huge success and he raised a magnificent £1,400 for his primary school to get bottles. In fact, he raised so much that they were able to fix their broken water taps and buy bottles for some adults too!
By then, Callum’s petition and fundraising efforts had made so much noise, that Callum’s initial dream of meeting Nicola Sturgeon came true! Callum was invited to meet Nicola Sturgeon to discuss his idea and the Scottish Government is now reviewing his petition to see what they can do to help.
Callum spotted a problem, researched what he could do to help and went above and beyond to do that. Even though initially he wasn’t able to meet Nicola Sturgeon, he continued to persevere and eventually his hard work paid off. When asked what it would feel like to know that he had provided re-usable water bottles to all primary school children in Scotland, Callum said – ‘It would feel like I won a World Cup in football’.
Campaigning for access to clean water for Canada’s indigenous communities since she was 8 years old.
Raising awareness of the effects of the Syrian civil war and calling for peace since she was 6 years old.
Challenging the representation of girls and women in society since she was 11 years old.
Running a marathon in 10 days to raise money for homeless people when he was 7 years old.
Fundraising for the farmers whose incomes have been affected by drought in Australia since he was 11 years old.
Inspiring girls to learn about and aspire to work in science and technology subjects since she was 16 years old.
Creating and growing a bank that helps children save money by recycling since he was 12 years old.
Designing technology to supply electricity and water without emitting greenhouse gases since he was 15 years old.
Campaigning for the banning of plastic bags in Bali since they were 10 and 12 years old.
Designing a solar powered ironing cart to reduce charcoal burning in India since she was 12 years old.
Campaigning for people and businesses to stop using single-use plastics since they were 10 and 12 years old.
Set up organisations supporting cancer patients, people in poverty, and promoting golf in young black girls, since she was 10 years old.
Saving the lives of hundreds of hedgehogs in the UK since they were 9 years old.
Campaigning to promote proper battery disposal and recycling since he was 10 years old.
Campaigning for people and businesses to stop using single-use plastics since they were 10 and 12 years old.
The world’s youngest sustainability advocate – working to make the world a better place since she was 3 years old.
Solving the problem of water contamination using science and technology since she was 11 years old.
