Alleyn's alumni at COP26

In addition to Head, Jane Lunnon speaking on a panel at COP26, Alleyn’s alumni have a strong presence at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) including, Anjali Ramen Middleton (Roper’s 2022), Rosemary Harris (Dutton’s 2014), Alexander Whyte (Brown’s 2012) and Patrick Holden (1964).

Anjali Raman Middleton is co-founder of Choked-Up, a clean air teenage campaign group, set up following the death of her friend, 9 year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham.  Ella was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death following a fatal asthma attack in a landmark ruling at her inquest. At COP26 Anjali will be speaking at a New York Times climate hub panel on the same day and also hosting a workshop Youth Climate Organising in London on Sunday 7 November as part of the @COP26 Coalition at the Glasgow Film Centre, exploring how young people in London can use creative actions and political strategy to make a difference in their community. You can register for the event here https://cop26coalition.org/peoples-summit/youth-climate-organising-in-london-3/

Patrick Holden is  the former CEO of the Soil Association and founder of the Sustainable Food Trust, an organisation addressing climate change through advocating a switch to more sustainable farming, from chemical to biological food production, taking carbon back into the soils, while at the same time producing nutrient dense healthy food and increasing biodiversity. The Sustainable Food Trust is involved in a thoughtful and wide-ranging programme of talks and events at COP26. Having already addressed an audience on how to get governments, businesses, suppliers and customers to net zero, Patrick also speaks at the following:

7 November – 'Financing the Future: What’s next for philanthropy in the climate emergency?’, 17:15 – 18:15, (register online – here);

8 November - ‘Using Investment and True Cost Accounting as Levers for Food Systems Change’, 12:30 – 13:30. (register online - here)

9 November - 'A Different Approach to Meat’, (register online - here)

Rosemary Harris, former political campaigner for Friends of the Earth and now North Sea Just Transition Campaigner at Platform is at the conference raising awareness about the proposed new Cambo oilfield which lies north-west of the Shetland Islands off the shore of the UK. Of the continuing sourcing of oil from the North Sea, Rosemary has said, “there should be no new investment in oil and gas. Any new oil and gas production is continuing to support a declining industry. There’s a lot of talk about it being important for jobs, but they should be creating pathways for workers outside oil and gas”. Rosemary featured in an in-depth article about the environment and climate change in the Spring 2020 edition of the EAC, along with Dr Rhian Salmon (Spurgeon’s 1992), Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington. To read the article click here.

Alexander Whyte, is a Senior Consultant at Agendi, who develop and implement climate and sustainability programs.

"Climate change is largely the result of one big prisoners dilemma: due to our current economic and policy structures, individual decision-makers (e.g. corporate CO2 emitters) mostly still have an incentive to choose in a way that creates a less than optimal outcome for the individuals as a group."

If you are inspired to reduce your own carbon footprint and would like an easy, free online tool to help you, try Giki Zero, set up by Jo Hand (Tulley’s 1992). “We can all play a crucial role to preserve the environment on which we all depend. Giki Zero is a step-by-step guide to a lighter footprint on the planet which helps people understand, track and reduce their carbon footprint with personalised steps to help plan your path to Net Zero”.