On the 2nd of May, I was one of the lucky ones to attend the Waitaha Positive Action Conference. Many different schools, from across Ōtautahi went to Rangi Ruru High School for this opportunity. We started with two keynote speakers from the University of Canterbury. They spoke about why you matter when caring for the environment, followed by, how to influence people to take action. After morning tea, everyone split off into different workshops. My first one was about how different cultures, current and ancient, used sustainability to make their community a better place. After that, I attended a climate rights information session and a presentation about practical and political perspectives from Eugenie Sage, an ex-Green MP and Minister of Conservation. Following lunch, we split up into our last workshop. This could be a Q&A with political members from many major environmental positions and the General Manager of the New Zealand WWF, beekeeping, river clean-ups, planting native trees, and much more. All in all, it was a very educational and highly inspiring experience, and everyone left knowing more about what they can do to give back to Papatūānuku.

I would like to thank the organisers of the event Kate Rivers, and Tim Kelly for all the work they put into setting up the day.

Joel Patterson Yr 9