Today’s children are tomorrows decision makers yet if you believe the media then the future is bleak as young peoples literacy levels are low and behavior problems and violence is on the increase.

However let’s resist that negative view of the future and instead of reporting about the bad young people, let’s reward and encourage the good young people.

Award winning young environmentalists

For example a dedicated team of young environmentalists from Waunfawr in North Wales (some as young as 8!) have recently won a top award from the Wildlife Trust. The team which form the Waunfawr Watch Club managed to shine out from over 300 other Wildlife Watch clubs in the UK to be crowned ‘Watch Group of the Year’.

The group formed in 2004 and during this time they have embarked on an exciting programme of wildlife action and environmental activism. For example in 2007 they organisied and participated in a beach clean where they filled 22 bin bags of rubbish, apparently one boy in the group said “but we can’t stop now, we haven’t done the whole beach!” . The young people also grew food, considered food miles, and signed a petition asking the government to introduce the Marine Bill.

If you would like more information about  Wildlife Watch Groups please click here

The future is green

Wow, what inspirational young people carrying out simple actions but making a big difference. With young people like this, the future is definitely green!

So moving forward as a society lets reward good behavior and let’s encourage the media to report positive and inspirational stories that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning and say “The world is great and together we can make it an even better place”