Meet Anushka & Freddie: “I learnt what Climate Change is”
environment:tales is our multi-artform project that gives a voice to neurodivergent children. We are currently delivering it in Leeds, London and Manchester. The project explores the theme of “the environment”, inspired by the speeches featured in Greta Thunberg’s 2019 book “No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference”.
Here you can hear from two participants who took part in the project.
Meet Anushka
In September and October 2022, students from West Lodge Primary School in Pinner, North West London, worked with Create ceramicist Sam Haynes and Nurturing Talent artist Alisa Ruzavina to make sculptures and other artwork inspired by Thunberg’s speeches.
Anushka (8) took part in the project.
“We have made models out of clay. I learnt what climate change is and how the Earth is getting hotter when people are doing pollution and cutting down trees.
“I enjoyed shaping the clay and painting it. It made me feel calm. It felt really nice working with Sam and Alisa because they were very friendly. It was very nice working with the rest of the group because I got to make new friends.”
Meet Freddie
In September and October 2022, students from Ashgate Specialist Support Primary in Manchester worked with Create drama artist Ben Mellor to write and perform a drama inspired by Thunberg’s work.
Freddie (7) took part in the project.
“In the first week we read The Lorax [by Dr Seuss]. It was good. The next week we started to think about the rainforest and under the sea. We chose the theme ‘Under the Sea’ for our story.
“We learnt that the plastic in the ocean goes to a big garbage patch, the Great Atlantic Garbage Patch. The ones that get recycled go to the tip, with the cardboard and metal.
“In the story we made we met Greta. She’s famous for going to America to have a meeting with all the world leaders about the environment. In our story, she tells the sea creatures to ‘stop blaming each other’ for the litter in the ocean. She told us it was the humans’ fault.
“It was good to make a play with my classmates. I think I’d like to make a video game of the underwater story, for Xbox and PlayStation.”
environment:tales is funded by the Aesop Foundation and Kusuma Trust.
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