I'm Back! Part 1 *Featuring Cake, Celebs, Hitting My Head Against A Rather Stubborn Brick Wall*

OK, I'm sorry. I've done something that's very rare for me...kept quiet. But I'm back, and hopefully going to tell all about my latest exploits.(Well, I say latest- but this starts in May and ends in August- so this can only be classed as latest if you can call news from the last 4 months "latest"?! lol

Firstly, there was Sustainability East, a great event designed to celebrate Sustainability East's 10th Anniversary, and their renaming (they were previously known as The Sustainable Development Round Table for The East of England- what a mouthful!). This was my first major speech, and was a pretty good one to start off with, speaking along with the likes of the Head of the Environment Agency, the Minister for the East of England, the Director of RSPB East and many others.As well as delivering my speech on why involving the youth in sustainable planning is important, I also sat on the top table, where I  was asked questions, from how I would target the youth- i.e Internet, schools etc, to my views on a new youth sustainability council.  Just after the conference, we had a photo shoot, involving me, some of the other key speakers, a large cake and a yellow card. The cake was to celebrate the 10 years of the group, and the yellow cad to show the warning that the region's living beyond its means. The only thing was, the cake did seem to disappear after the photos- Someone didn't want to share perhaps?!!  I had a brilliant time, and was lucky enough afterwards to witness the launch of the RSS, basically the region's planning guide, which tackled issues on sustainability, but this did seem a little vague for my liking. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity and chance to meet many of the movers and shakers of the region. Finally, after my speech, it seems that Sustainability East are keen to put a youth representation on climate change for the region in place, and they want me to be the face of this exciting new project- this will probably first hit the youth councils of my area, but hopefully will be a success, getting the youth's views and will be used with other groups!

Next- the celebs. Now, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, but there's always someone who you look up to. Whether it be a family member, school teacher, writer, athlete, actor, these people set an example in your life. It was these kind of people that I wanted to contact in my next project. Thanks to the dedicated research of my Mum, contacts were found of various celebs, authors, actors and other influential people, both introducing the champions and are roles, and asking for their support of Footprint Friends- maybe even getting them to paint their feet. So far, as well as the loads of "I'm sorry...so and so...is busy at the moment, and cannot support your campaign", replies, there's also been a nice amount that say "though ...so and so... is busy at the moment, they wish you all the best with your campaign", which is really nice. But then there are the ones, although only in very small numbers, that actually send a picture, or a letter of support. Off the top of my head I know Matt Lucas sent a signed photo in support- Gethin Jones, the blue peter presenter doing the same, on behalf of the Blue Peter Team, Al Gore  sent a brilliant letter of support-(hopefully get this on the website), and of course Emma Thompson sent a photo of her painted foot, and a personalised letter of support. (something I'm sure you've seen). Actually, at the moment, I'm sending out my 4th batch of letters- to such people as Billy Zane, Alan Titchmarsh, Gok Wan, Nelson Mandela etc. Fingers Crossed for their results- they really do give you a burst of energy and activity- to know they support your work!

 Between Sustainability East and my other speeches, I was fighting a rather difficult war with my school.I say war, but technically they were on my side, just that everything seemed to be too much of an effort for them, if it didn't fit into their agenda. Basically I was trying to arrange my eco event- with the aid of the £1000 prize money from DEFRA. My first idea was to incorporate this into the school business and enterprise day- give it a green theme. But by the time the school sorted out a time for us to have a meeting, we had a bout 2 weeks to organise how my event was to fit in, and the team working on it were too keen on sticking to their ideas, with my event as a minor sideshow. This would normally be fine, but I really feel that a DEFRA sponsored climate event has bags of opportunity, and could generate a lot of press and media, for both the school and climate cause, benefiting all- and so to cut a long story short, I ended up saying NO. I could sense the kind of "You just made our lives a lot harder" attitude in the air, but sometimes the easiest option is not the best in the long term. It seems now that my money will be going towards an eco garden- well, aiding the existing school environment overhaul- with my major bit (if I get my way!), being a big launch evening/afternoon, with eco plays and green themed entertainment. That's if I can persuade them to do this. And get it done in...gulp....4 months!