ISLAND Christians invited environmentalist, theologian and author Ruth Valerio to speak to schoolchildren and churchgoers.

Ruth, who also spoke at our last Diocesan Conference, met students at the Bay CofE School in connection with their Flourish project, last month. She also spoke to worshippers in a session held at Newport Methodist Church. She had been invited by the island group Creation Matters!

On the secondary site, pupils who study Geography from Years 9 and 10 attended an insightful talk by Ruth. She shared information about climate change and the real world impact of this on the poorest people, using an example from Tanzania. She highlighted how not having enough crops to sell, families go without money, children go hungry, parents cannot afford school fees and may even sell their daughters for marriage, because they simply cannot afford to feed the whole family.

On the primary site, Ruth met with the Eco-Champions, a group of Year 6 pupils who aim to help the environment through activities at school such as picking up litter, recycling paper, and turning lights off. They recently held an assembly for all pupils in the school to encourage them to look after the environment. Ruth asked the group about all of the initiatives they do and was impressed with the way they use their role to inspire others. All pupils in Years 5 and 6 listened to Ruth share the importance of looking after our beautiful planet and the reason why it is so important.