In June, our Member of Youth Parliament James Lawson attended the Restore Nature Now march in London. James is a huge advocate for the environment and tackling climate change, and is working hard on these topics with his campaign Young People and the Fragile Environment. Below is an account of James’ experiences from the march.

June was such a busy month for me, and I most notably attended the Restore Nature Now march in London on Saturday 22 June. Around 1,00,000 people turned out and the day was extremely interesting. I met so many like-minded people, however, the true highlight was the fact that Chris Packham presented the whole event. Among his speeches he criticized the actions and choices of celebrities such as Taylor Swift for her use of private jets. Although I’m not a fan, I do think it’s quite interesting that people love to criticize her for this, even though they don’t necessarily have any interest in saving the environment or declare what they do to save the planet. I liked that Chris highlighted how it is everyone’s responsibility. He focused on the beauty and benefits of nature, but also expressed the need for politicians to act.

There were so many other truly inspirational speakers, but to me and many other young people Chris is a great role model and an inspiring activist. Overall, the day increased my passion and motivation towards the environment, and my key takeaway is to never give up in the fight to save the environment. The main message that I learned was everyone can help, and I learned loads of creative ways to rewild areas.

More locally, I’ve been designing anti-litter posters and I am confident that they will make a difference when placed around my village for all to see. The posters are part of my new strategy to prevent pollution, which involves targeting the three key areas of society: government, businesses and the people. I’ll be adding updates about this strategy and developments on the website over the coming months.