Following The Great Exhibition Road Festival and Earthfest, the Grantham Institute’s new events and outreach intern, Mia Hard af Segerstad-Smith, reflects on a week of climate outreach and shows you how to get involved!
Connecting young people to the Grantham Institute’s climate and environmental research is crucial. Engaging youth in conversations about sustainability can empower them with knowledge to take action, both now and later in life. We can also learn a lot from young people’s creative ideas about what a sustainable future may look like.
Outreach events
Last week, the Grantham Institute led a collection of outreach events involving students, scientists, artists and families. It followed the announcement of the 2025 Grantham Art Prize winners, where young people were invited to submit artworks envisioning a more sustainable future, driven by the theme “From Grey to Green”.
1. Sustainable cities
EarthFest is London’s festival of sustainability, and this year it kicked off with a School’s Day on June 5th. Students aged 10-16 were invited from schools across London to attend a day of immersive sustainability education, with topics ranging from bugs, to eco-friendly baking, to buildings.
The Grantham Institute partnered with mural artist Michelle Meola to lead one particularly creative event: a collaborative art workshop for students to design a sustainable city. Each school group was tasked with designing different building blocks of urban life, such as transport, buildings and nature, which were then expertly assembled to produce a creative vision of a vibrant sustainable city.
Whereas policymakers and businesses take months and years to design urban sustainability plans, each group of students were only given 30 minutes. During this time, students brainstormed ideas and brought their imaginations to life by drawing, painting, cutting and sticking.
The results were inspiring and hopeful. As shown in the picture below, the city included: accessible vegetable gardens, hydrogen-powered trains, pocket parks, green roofs and hanging flower boxes.
The sustainable city collage created at Earthfest.
Through the process of imagining better and cleaner urban futures, students engaged in insightful discussions about how to make cities more sustainable, and who should be responsible for making greener, more accessible cities. These bigger questions of sustainability, justice and accountability were then translated into practical steps in a presentation by Elsy Milan, Grantham PhD student. Elsy outlined 9 things you can do to about climate change, such as cutting waste and reducing meat and dairy intake or walking, cycling and scooting more than driving.
2. Biodiversity and banquets
Fast-forward to the weekend, and the Great Exhibition Road Festival was in full swing, engaging the public in a celebration of the arts and sciences.
In the ‘Natural World Zone’, the Grantham Institute led a climate art stall helping young people to work together to produce a piece of art depicting a biodiverse wildlife garden (see below). Turtles, hedgehogs, dragonflies, bats and snakes were brought to life by young people (aged 4-25) using coloured pens and card, as they chatted to scientists about nature and biodiversity.
The wildlife garden at the Grantham Art Prize stall at The Great Exhibition Road Festival.
On Sunday, wildlife was swapped out for snacks, as artists, young people and scientists came together to produce a vision of a multi-cultural plant-based banquet. Plant-based foods tend to be more sustainable than animal-based foods, as they result in lower greenhouse gas emissions, and they use less water, land and energy. So, this event encouraged young people to think about the role that food systems play in climate change and biodiversity loss. However, the colourful and varied banquet showed that plant-based options are equally as exciting, diverse and tasty!
The climate-friendly banquet at the Grantham Art Prize stall.
3. Eco Pawprints
Food contributes to our individual environmental footprints, but did you know pets have environmental pawprints too?
Over in the ‘Family Fun Zone’ at Great Exhibition Road Festival, scientists from Imperial College London’s PREPP team (Producing Rational Evidence for Parasiticide Prescription) explored the environmental impacts of pet treatments for fleas and ticks.
These treatments include toxic chemicals which can be harmful to rivers and ponds. Raising awareness of our furry friends’ eco pawprints can encourage switches to more environmentally-friendly alternatives. Scientists and young people worked together to test water samples for these toxic chemicals, using Thames River water collected earlier in the day, and rainwater collected during the festival downpour!
How you can get involved
If you have been inspired by the artworks mentioned in this blog, you can visit the Grantham Climate Art Prize murals in person across Imperial College London’s campus. The winning design by Plaifah Chaisen, titled ‘Viridescent Window’, is currently displayed on Dalby Court, and the four runner-up designs are displayed across campus on BigBelly recycling bins.
To explore the incredible world of bugs, birds and beasts which live on our planet, join us at Silwood Park Campus on the 29 July for a free day of hands-on activities! Silwood is home to 100 hectares of thriving grassland and woodland habitats, making it the perfect place for pond dipping, insect hunting and song-bird spotting led by ecological scientists and students.
Overall, the past week has demonstrated the creativity of young people to design sustainable futures and think about alternatives to toxic products. These events show the importance of bringing together the arts and sciences, to connect young and old, in a broader mission to move “From Grey to Green”. We look forward to seeing many people at our upcoming events and mural displays!
