Could we be next? The hands-on approach to reducing global warming

New Orleans was destroyed by the weather. It's time for everyone to do their bit to stop global warming, reports Gráinne Faller

From flying around the world in hot-air balloons to his flamboyant publicity stunts, Richard Branson has never been a typical billionaire. A self-made man, his businesses in the Virgin Group range from a record label to airlines, trains and, potentially, space tourism. Branson is as recognisable as the red-and-white Virgin logo, and he certainly seems to enjoy the attention. When the BBC compiled a list of the 100 greatest Britons of all time, Branson came 85th. Strangely enough, when Channel 4 listed the 100 worst Britons, he featured there, too, coming 86th.

If his recent actions are anything to go by, however, it doesn't look as if Branson will be joining the ranks of the supervillains any time soon. Last month, at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, he pledged that for the next 10 years he would donate his personal profits from his air and rail companies - up to €2.5 billion - to developing environmentally friendly energy sources.

Global warming has come to the fore in a way that environmental issues never have before. Maybe that's because now, after years of often-ignored warnings, the global climate is beginning to change. Hurricane Katrina brought the issue home to many of us. If that kind of catastrophe could happen in the US, it could happen anywhere.

Al Gore, the former US vice-president, has spent the years since his questionable defeat by George W Bush, in 2000, travelling the world to lecture on this very issue. He recently released a film about global warming and climate change, to international acclaim. An Inconvenient Truth does not tell a happy story. We have messed up. Our planet is in dire trouble, and so are we if we don't do something about it. The film is scary, but it is not hopeless. We know how to combat global warming and climate change, according to Gore. All we need now is the belief that we can make a difference.

Year after year, transition-year students make huge changes in their schools. They organise for their classmates and teachers to recycle, for example, or promote energy efficiency or environmental awareness.

The Young Environmentalist Awards are run by Eco-Unesco, an environmental-education and youth organisation. Transition year is a particularly good time to enter a team. Students choose an environmental issue, then formulate a plan that will see them improve the environment in some way.

Elaine Nevin, Eco-Unesco's national director, recognises students' importance. "We have to start tackling our environmental issues, and young people's participation in environmental-action projects is one way of doing this," she says.

As the awards have a number of categories, projects can vary widely. Have a look at the winners on this page.Making a solar panel or a wind turbine may seem ambitious for a transition-year project, but that didn't seem to bother the students at Ennistymon Vocational School, in Co Clare, last year. The college takes part in the Comenius project, which fosters links between schools here and across Europe, so it was decided that students in Ennistymon and at their partner schools in Europe should explore ways to combat global warming.

The students decided that renewable energy was the way to go. They had a pamphlet about how to make a solar-powered water heater, so they decided to give it a try. "It was difficult at first to follow the instructions," says Francis O'Loughlin, one of the students. "But we got into it after a while."

The materials in the water heater were largely recycled from copper cylinders and other objects. "Parts of it were hard to make," says John O'Brien. "We had to make sure that none of the joints in the pipes was leaking . . . It wasn't too bad to fix if they did, but it took a while."

Francis had the difficult job of explaining to this reporter how the heater worked. The pipes were part of a matrix heated by black fins that absorb heat from the sun through a thick plastic sheet. No pump is needed, as the hot water rises to the top of the heater, emerging only when it has reached the desired temperature. It is insulated by tin foil, and the device is protected by a plywood box. "It was great to see the whole thing finished after all the work we put into it," says another team member, Alan Horan.

With some help from Limerick Institute of Technology, the students also started work on a wind turbine for the school. "We made the blades for the turbine," says Alan. "This year's transition years are going to finish it off."

Winning the senior energy category

of the competition was unexpected.

"That was a good old day out," says

John. "We weren't really sure what the standard would be like. It was a big achievement."

Students at Scoil Mhuire in Athy, Co Kildare, decided to keep things local for their winning project in Eco-Unesco's Young Environmentalist Awards. As wetlands are an important feature of the students' surroundings, they decided to

raise awareness of the conservation issues involved.

Lorraine Wyse, one of the students, explains: "Over the past few years we've become very aware of the influence that Dublin has on Co Kildare. Originally we weren't going to focus on peatlands, but we got drawn into it." The students realised that the encroachment of the capital could jeopardise their county's unique ecosystem. "We focused on creating awareness, especially among young people," says Lorraine. "Youths don't want to read loads of stuff about bogs, so we decided to make a video about it instead."

The video was, by all accounts, a lot of fun to make. "That was such a laugh," says Lorraine. "We just grabbed a camcorder and made it." An interview with Dick Warner, the naturalist, added a lot to it, and the students did their best to simplify the more technical information for their audience.

Lorraine and her team-mates went to primary schools to spread the word. They showed their video and handed out bookmarks and leaflets that they had made. They also expanded their own knowledge by visiting areas of bogland and surveying the flora and fauna that they found. "One time we saw a family of kestrels," says Lorraine. "That was unusual. There was a fantastic amount of wildlife."

Having researched the Dutch example of what can happen when a country doesn't preserve its wetlands, the students didn't want to leave it at that. "A peatland is really a unique ecosystem. Holland has none left. They realised their mistake, and they actually have people over here trying to preserve ours," says Lorraine.

Through the Irish Peatland Conservation Council the students raised money and bought an area of peatland to ensure its conservation. "We got most of the money from our group and people we talked to," says Lorraine. "We're still fundraising for it."

It was a great boost to win the senior biodiversity category of Eco-Unesco's Young Environmentalist Awards for their project (which started as a Young Social Innovators entry), and the experience has changed the way Lorraine wants to go in life.

"I was thinking of doing veterinary science," she says, "but now I want to do environmental science and continue this sort of research and work. It's definitely one of the best things we've done in school."

For more details about the awards see www.ecounesco.ie. The deadline for registration of intent is November 24th. Schools interested in becoming more environmentally aware should also see www.eco-schools.org