Better Planet Education (formerly the Young People's Trust for the Environment) is a British charity, founded in 1982 to encourage young people's understanding of the environment. The charity's main goal is to give young people a real awareness of environmental issues such as

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

, endangered flora and fauna, and sustainable development.

Activity

Better Planet Education offers free learning resources via their website to assist teachers in educating young people about the environment and sustainability. Better Planet Education provide free school talks to schools on environmental issues. The trust has given various Parliamentary Receptions at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in London, providing the opportunity for Members of Parliament to meet young people involved in the trust's work. In 2011 the trust launched the ‘Roots to Green Living’ campaign. The scheme provided eight schools in the Bristol/Bath and NE Somerset area with regular support from a YPTE Education Officer, who worked with them over the course of three years to develop environmental education opportunities within the school grounds and help to embed environmental learning into the schools’ curricula.

Awards

Better Planet Education run various awards for schools to enter and compete for prizes.

The Total Green School Awards

The annual Total Green School Awards are an award for excellence in environmental education, open to primary schools in England, Scotland and Wales, and sponsored by Total. It involves over 45,000 children and offers the chance for primary schools to win £5,000. The awards are given to schools that have a created an outstanding educational piece of work about the environment. In 2011, Total Gas & Power won the 'Community Initiative of the Year' award at the Utility Industry Achievement Awards, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, for their involvement in the Total Green School Award. The National Award Ceremony for 2013 was held at the Science Museum in London on 20 June 2013. Normanton on Soar Primary School were named UK champions and were presented with their prize by The Right Honourable

Kenneth Clarke Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham (born 2 July 1940) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative ...

QC MP and BBC celebrity Darregh Mortell.

Winners by year

The Total Green School Awards have been running since 2007. As well as the overall champions (listed below) each year recognises a regional champion from one of the four UK regions and the four winning schools in each region.

Have Your Say on Sustainability

The Have Your Say on Sustainability award, is an Environmental film-making competition. In partnership with

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...

the competition invites 11- to 18-year-olds to create a short video clip sharing their views on the environment. Five winners travel to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

to air their views in front of an audience of MEPs. they also receive vouchers worth £250 for their school to spend on technological equipment. The overall winner wins a three-day stay for four at Disneyland Paris.

BT Young Naturalist of the Year Awards

From 1993 to 1997, as Young People's Trust for the Environment, the organisation ran the Young Naturalist of the Year Awards in conjunction with BT to encourage children aged 8–13 to carry out research on anything from insects to elephants, nature trails to rain forests and acid rain to global warming. Winners received a dolphin trophy and £500 for their school.

Funding

Better Planet Education is largely dependent on funding from corporates and grant-making trusts. Past and present sponsors include: *

* Total Gas & Power * Iona Capital *

Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylised as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. It is considered as the United Kingdom's first and now biggest credit card provider with 5 million accounts. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June ...

* The Millennium Commission *

Garfield Weston Foundation The Garfield Weston Foundation is a grant-giving charity based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1958 by Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), who during his lifetime contributed to numerous humanitarian causes, bo ...

* BT

Notable trustees, patrons, and supporters

Steve Backshall Stephen James Backshall (born 21 April 1973) is a British naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC Television, BBC TV's ''Deadly (franchise), Deadly...'' franchise. His other BBC work includes being part of the expedition ...

John Craven John Raymond Craven (born 16 August 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, best known for presenting the BBC programmes '' Newsround'', '' Countryfile'' and '' Beat the Brain''. Early life Craven was born in Leeds, West Rid ...

Dermot O'Leary Seán Dermot O'Leary (born 24 May 1973) is a British-Irish broadcaster. He presented the television talent show ''The X Factor'' on ITV from 2007 until its final series in 2018, with the exception of 2015. Since 2021, O'Leary has presented ITV' ...

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English academic, botanist, television presenter, author and prominent environmental campaigner in the UK and globally. His distinctive, energetic style of presenting became wel ...

Zoë Wanamaker Zoë Wanamaker (born 13 May 1949) is an American-born British actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Wanamaker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 by Qu ...

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television presenter and newsreader. He hosted programmes such as '' Crackerjack!'', '' Ask Aspel'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', '' This Is Your Life'', '' Strange ...

* Dan Byles MP * Naomi Wilkinson * Jessica Morden MP *

Bob Holness Robert Wentworth John Holness (12 November 1928 – 6 January 2012) was an English-South African radio and television presenter and occasional actor. He presented the British version of '' Blockbusters''. Early life Holness was born in Vryheid, ...

* Cel Spellman

References

External links

Better Planet Education's
Official website
Better Planet School's
Official website
Have Your Say on Sustainability
Official website *{{EW charity, 1153740 Children's charities based in the United Kingdom Education in Somerset Educational foundations based in the United Kingdom Environmental education Environmentalism in the United Kingdom Awards given to schools Organisations based in Somerset Youth in the United Kingdom