Speaking 4 the Planet

Paddy Pallin is proud to be once again supporting Speaking 4 the Planet in 2016. Ever since Paddy Pallin was founded in 1930, we have had a strong commitment to positive environmental action. This commitment was started by the founder Paddy Pallin during his long life and today by his family, Robert, Nancy and Tim Pallin. Paddy Pallin is excited to help inspire today’s youth and our future leaders to appreciate the environment.

Speaking 4 the Planet (S4P) is a public speaking and drama competition for high schools students. S4P is held in conjunction with World Environment Day (WED), which is celebrated each year on 5 June. This is an internationally recognised day endorsed and supported by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It is designed to raise global awareness of the need to take positive environmental action.

For the S4P events, students are required to speak and perform on subjects linked to the WED theme. They are also asked to make their presentations quirky! S4P is shaped by the view that, if we are to achieve sustainable communities, we will need people to be able to think creatively – often away from the mainstream – and express and support novel ideas in public arenas. We will need people who can persuade decision-makers and community members to take the sustainability options and directions.

S4P is an idea of 4Sustainability Education Consultancy. The inaugural S4P event, supported by Sutherland Shire Environment Centre (SSEC), was held at The Jannali High School on 5 June 2013. Seven schools and 35 students participated in that first S4P competition. In total, 20 high schools and 220 students have participated in Speaking 4 the Planet since it began in 2013.

Three elements of the most recent S4P 2015 stand out. Keep Australia Beautiful National Association (KABNA) provided judges and support for each event and encouraged connection with the international Eco-Schools program, which it manages in Australia. Further support came from Toastmasters groups in each of the three regions where the event was run. This connection created opportunities for students to speak in front of these local groups; it also opened conversations about the conduct of the well-regarded Speech Craft training for students. Finally, an innovation for the 2015 events was the involvement of the Food Technology students at participating schools. S4P provided support for these students to cater with low-environmental-impact, plant based foods.

In 2016 Speaking 4 the Planet continues to grow, now with 5 events being promoted (strongly!) to the high schools in the areas:

• The Hills – 2 June
• Sutherland – 3 June
• Liverpool – 10 June
• Campbelltown – 27 July
• Armidale – 16 September

For more details on Speaking 4 the Planet head here.

To get inspired below are 2 stand outs from 2015 including Julious Verara’s winning speech.

Dreams for the Future

Josh Warren 

How many dreams = a nightmare? … Answer: 7.3 billion?

I’ve got a dream. Last week I was told the Iphone 7 will have a wraparound flexible screen and wireless charging. My dream is to have enough savings, and generous parents, to replace my Iphone 5 next year with the irresistible Iphone 7.

Who else in this room has opened a little black Apple box, with brand new white earphones and a seductive beautiful apple product, rubbing your fingerprints off every 5 minutes. There’s nothing better than a brand new Iphone.

Now there’s nothing wrong with my dream. But 7.3 billion Iphone 7’s is a nightmare. Did you know 55% of Apple’s servers are powered by coal. Did you know Apple’s disgusting practices have turned rivers into milky-white, destroyed hundreds of acres of Indonesian tropical forests and decimated beautiful coral reefs.

I’ve got another dream. Last week I got my P’s. And I’m dreaming of driving down the South Coast for surf trips every Weekend. Don’t you love summer road trips, the aircon pumping, the windows down.

Now there’s nothing wrong with my dream … But 7.3 billion road trips is a nightmare. In 40 years there will be no petrol. As for aircon usage, the US alone uses more energy on cooling than the whole African continent! As our cars destroy the ozone layer, there will be no sunscreen strong enough to protect our skin at the beach, before long, will there be a beach?

Our biggest problem today is that our dreams consume our planet.

We are Individualistic, easy to “sell to” and hard to please. We act as if our dreams are a human right!

But 7 billion dreams are unsustainable, unless we’re hiding another two planets.

Is there a solution? … We need a Copernican Shift.

Rather than starting with our dreams … and then thinking about our planet. We need to start with our planet … and then think about our dreams.

The planet does not revolve around our dreams.

Our dreams should revolve around the planet.

It’s the only way we can be sustainable.

Can we think smarter? How can we harness rapidly changing technology to care for our planet? Imagine if the new Iphone 7 had an app that could track our carbon footprint and the wireless charging was powered by clean energy. Imagine if the new apple watch clocked our sustainability points, and the government rewarded us for it.

Could our schools become leaders in climate change action plans. Something beyond the humble veggie patch and the environmental club. Something beyond NAPLAN. Imagine all students celebrating World Environment day -learning how to heal our world rather than rote-learning essays…

Without a Copernican shift, our dreams will slip away and the nightmare will set in.

Am I willing to stay with my Iphone 5 instead of upgrading?

Am I willing to catch the train instead of driving?

Am I willing to only use the air con on really hot days?

Are we prepared to do this?

Or does Darryl’s wisdom from the Castle ring true: “Tell him he’s dreaming.”

Julious Vergara’s, Liverpool Boys HS winning speech

Let’s break the silence and take action. 7 billion dreams, one planet, consume with care. Look, some time ago I was babysitting two kids. The younger one came up to me and said “You know I have $500 dollars and I’m going to buy a PS4 since my dad doesn’t buy me any gadgets or consoles for me.” With his snotty nose and an iPad on his hand. I asked “Do you know what most money is made out of?” He replied “No, but I don’t care at all.” What an ugly reply. That wasn’t music to my ears at all because he doesn’t know what most money is made out of. I feel bad and sad for the future generation since they’ve been unfamiliar with this world we live in that all I could say is ‘sorry’. Sorry for my future generation, sorry to my kids and to my grandchildren. I’m sorry we left you with this mess of a planet. I’m sorry we gave you a planet that is hard to breathe, that we didn’t conceive and will never be easy to retrieve.

The future generation won’t know why we burn trees and cut them down; my answer is simply because of this. *** And it wouldn’t make me so sad if there were many of pictures of leaves on it. You know when I was a child, like 5 years old I dreamed that my kids and the future generation to have a safe environment around them like I did, which today brings me great misery because most of us don’t care about the tragedy. To be honest I care, love and have passion for the environment but the future people will only care about the fashion of advertisement. In this world we put profit above people, greed above need, and the rule of gold above the golden rule. We’re using Mother Nature as a credit card with no spending limit, driving animals away from their homes and leading them to extinction never again to see their own uniqueness.

Our children and grandchildren will soon ask why they can’t swim in the ocean and we will be there blank-eyed, stifle a sigh, think for a second then tell them we poison it. We need to change our way of thinking since we have the guts and nerve to say this destruction is ‘progress’. See what I’m saying right now you can ignore it but the thing about truth is it can be rejected not avoided. I’m so regretful that our footsteps turned into a sinkhole not a beautiful garden. However I had a vision and that was to create a mission for the future generation. We focused too much on ISIS and forget that ‘ICE IS’ melting in a rapid rate down in the arctic. I’m sorry we doomed you and didn’t have enough time to find another planet to move to. I am so sor-. You know what, I ain’t sorry. This future I can’t be bound to accept it because an error doesn’t become a mistake until you decline to correct it. We can alter this ‘progress’ of ours.

How? Let’s go ‘MAD’ for the environment. What do I mean by ‘MAD’? Make a difference. Let’s do it ‘NOW’! What do I mean by ‘NOW’? No opportunities wasted. As of right now we must globally warm our hearts, change the climate of our souls and stop polluting our own bodies since we know to betray nature is to betray us and to save nature is to save us. A man named Ronald Reagan said
“The preservation of our environment isn’t a liberal or conservative challenge. It’s just common sense.” We need to have that kind of mindset. Therefore all I’m asking you is if we just put aside our dignity, importance and rights to work together to save this planet, we have a chance to do it ‘NOW’ and go ‘MAD’ for it. However we must always remember that we have to look at the root and not the branches of government because we are the root. We are the base of this saving this planet. I don’t live being a faker about nature, I live being a tree hugger. I don’t live knowing there’s chemical pollution, I live where there’s endless fresh consumption. Helping and contribution are just words until you give it meaning. We are the foundation of life’s creation so let’s take action for the future generation that we will believe to be a game-changing innovation.