Here's a little article about the amazing things that one of our friends from Ystrad Mynach Church is getting up to. Doing Wales proud, and leading the way in all things sustainable.
Whether it's an eco-friendly hairdryer, recycling mobile phones, digging up the lawn to plant vegetables, or getting baptised, 16-year-old Anna Surridge is passionate about the environment and climate change.
Living in South Wales she is one of six "Climate Change Champions" appointed by the Welsh Assembly to "help people change small things in their life to help the environment."
During 2009 she is traveling to various events highlighting the need to care for the environment. As well as visiting schools she has met with Welsh Assembly ministers and visited the EU in Brussels. This month she was one of the speakers at a "Countdown to Copenhagen" conference where she was able to share ideas with over 380 young people alongside the likes of Ben Saunders, the polar explorer. She encouraged the young people to leave messages on a 'graffiti wall' or to record a video message for the environment ministers to take to the upcoming Copenhagen Summit.
Anna lives a busy life. She has just finished her GCSE exams and attended her prom (in eco-friendly dress and by public transport), but she is equally passionate about her church. During her year as "Climate Change Champion" she also chose to get baptised. Not for her the warmth of a heated baptistery in her home church of Ystrad Mynach. Anna chose the outdoors and the River Usk for her special day. In a full page spread in the South Wales Echo she stated that she, "worked out that the electricity needed to raise the temperature of a baptistery to a comfortable temperature could be equivalent to making a thousand cups of tea."
During the year Anna has become quite media savvy appearing on TV, meeting with government ministers and celebrities, and being reported in various newspapers and newsletters several times. However, the report in the South Wales Echo was the highlight for her. "I'm just delighted to get my two favourite causes, environment and church, into one story," she said. "I'm passionate about climate change because it's happening here and now and if we don't do something about it, the consequences on us and our environment are only going to get worse. I'm passionate about my faith because I love God and have such a loving church family."
Anna runs her own website about the environment and is keen to spread the simple message that making small changes to your lifestyle can make a big difference to the wonderful world God has created for us to live in.
[Victor Hulbert]
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