As an international aid worker for over twenty years, Salford resident, Alice Searle, has witnessed climate change at first hand...
"My first awareness of it was when I was working in the South Pacific" she recalls "I was based in Fiji and responsible for going to islands, and one group of islands was Tuvulu right in the middle of the Pacific. Those islands had started disappearing because of the rise in the sea levels as a consequence of the melting of the Arctic ice caps. The whole population is already planning to move to New Zealand. So I saw the situation as I paddled through the sea in the middle of their high street.
"After that I went to the Maldives" she adds "People think of it as just a lovely holiday place but I can assure them it will not exist in the future because they are coral islands and are also planning what to do. They will make a lot of fuss at the Climate Change Conference about to start in Paris."
Today, thousands of people will be marching through London on the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, urging world leaders to act before it is too late. Back in Salford climate change will affect issues around flood plains, while Salford Council is piloting the three week collection of black bins to force more people to recycle.
"Everything we do now will affect our future" says Alice "To me climate change is an important issue - for older people it will affect their children and grandchildren, and for young people because it is going to affect their life. They should know about it, understand it and see what they can do."
To help raise awareness, Alice is fronting a climate change pin selling project that links Salford to Zululand, where she was also based as an aid worker, helping children who had been orphaned by the African AIDS horror.
"The main craft activity in that area is very beautiful, complex beadwork that goes back right through their history" she explains "In order to get funding for the children I organised for the older ones who survived the AIDS pandemic to make some pins based on a Zulu love letter. They sold 22,000 around the world which helped with food parcels and education. Now those children are in their top teens, some are in their twenties, and they know about climate change because Africa knows about it. Parts are under drought and so they know it's affecting their livelihoods.
"Those youngsters who have learnt beadwork are now making a pin to sell in the developed world to say `I care about green issues', whether it's the air, the trees or the sea" she says "And I'm selling those to raise awareness but the money goes back to these youngsters to help with their further and higher education."
Alice will be at The Home of Honest Coffee next Friday, 4th December, between 11:30am and 2:30pm selling the pins for £2 each. People can also get hold of the pins by emailing aosearle@gmail.com
Climate Change Pin Sale
Friday 4th December 11:30am-2:30pm
Home of Honest Coffee
77-79 Chapel Street M3 5BZ
For more details on the Home of Honest Coffee - click here
For more details on the Zululand bead project see www.zuluqueen.co.uk
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