Climate change hackathon

Following the climate emergency announcements in October 2021, the British Youth Council launched a survey called ‘Make your Mark’ to give young people a say on the biggest issues they face. As one of the key issues was 'the environment', Reconnect organised the climate change initiative #ReconnectHackathon.

The hackathon allowed young people to share their ideas and collaborate through activities. They then developed creative solutions to further support and engage young people on the climate crisis and global warming.

The event saw the next generation of scientists and business minds connect the dots between their pilot projects and discuss how they've developed their ideas and what they've achieved so far. They even got to meet (a cardboard cut-out of) David Attenborough!

Watch highlights from the event on Vimeo

The students had beaming smiles on their faces all the way back to school. They seemed to get so much from the day and relished the opportunity that the day and competition brought.

The space the hackathon provided encouraged these young minds to embrace connection and teamwork amongst peers. Providing them empowerment gave them the freedom to voice their opinions and smaller initiatives that, if scaled, could then make a more extensive and meaningful impact on the environment.

We saw the young people of Kent step forward and share their ideas and thoughts on how they have tackled climate change so far and what they would like to see within the community in hopes to achieve a greener Kent.

Teams were able to present their initiatives to the panel as part of the competition; prizes included grants of up to £8,000 for the winner, £4,000 for second place, and £2,000 for runners-up.

The winning teams included:

  • Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School for "The Kent schools' online platform for biodiversity and climate action"
  • Palm Bay Primary School for "The Eco-List"
  • Homewood School and Sixth Form for "March for the Future".

We had such a great day and the climate change crisis has really inspired us all to make our plan a reality. Although we weren’t winners on the day, we will definitely be sharing to our project ideas with our leadership group.

There were over 150 ideas for projects and 11 project plans are ready to be taken forward.