Following on from our successful Sea Story Inter Disciplinary Learning (IDL) event, some enthusiastic S2 Kirkcaldy High School students were invited to attend Fife Climate Youth Festival 2025, held in Glenrothes.

The day started in the Council Chambers for Fife Council. We were gifted a reuseable water bottle and led into a plush suite with comfy chairs. Some brave students from Bell Baxter High School stood up in from of everybody and introduced us to the running order of the day. There were students in attendance from every high school in Fife, so it can’t have been easy talking in front of everybody!

We were given short talks by guest speakers about various projects they are actively taking part in to help stop climate change. Laura Young (Less Waste Laura) was first up and showed us shocking statistics on how much we throw away in Scotland every year. She showed us the massive amount of single use plastic from milk bottles that the average family throws away every year, and told us 388 million single use coffee cups get thrown away every year in Scotland. She also told us about her campaign to ban disposable vapes.

Jack Baker told us all about his passion for saving endangered animal species. He has made a successful, national podcast about the ways we can all help. He was also very inspirational, telling us to enjoy our passions, and hold on to them, for that’s what keeps you going.

Mary Beth Graham told us her story, and reminded us there is no right or wrong path to getting into the career you want. She said she had tried many jobs but kept going to work out what it was she wanted to do. She eventually found her love for sustainable fashion, and told us some eye-opening statistics about the “Fast Fashion” industry. We should all be more mindful about where we shop, and should recycle, reuse and repair when we can.

Dr Anitha Karthik spoke about her role in promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the climate change field. Her work involves fixing up old homes with renewable materials to make them greener, but said that in the industry, for every 98 men there are only 2 women. It’s a career she is looking to encourage more women to getting involved in, and spoke about her background in engineering as she did so.

After a Question and Answer session, we headed for a networking lunch at the Rothes Halls. During this time, we split our group into subteams so we could work together more effectively. There were many local businesses displaying what they are doing to promote greener living, and to help stop climate change, including Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, SP Energy Networks, Scottish Forestry, and many more. We engaged with the workers and they told us lots of things we could be doing to help. Did you know that only 42% of Scottish High School students actively travel to school? We were shown the benefits of growing our vegetables locally, and were even given some pumpkins to take home with us!

Whilst some of us were walking around the exhibits, the rest of us manned the KHS stall. We were displaying all the good work we did at the Sea Story IDL event. Our “pledge fish” were on display, which brought art, maths and morals together. Our “sea scrolls” were there, which encompassed literacy and drama skills. Our stall was very popular with teachers from other high schools across the authority.

In the afternoon, we were allowed to sign up to some practical sessions. We headed into different event rooms at the Rothes Halls for various workshops. Some of us were building Lego structures that could be used to help stop climate change, like electric cars and windmills. In other workshop, we transformed old bedsheets into new fashion items, like skirts.

All in all, we had a fantastic day out and came back to school brimming with ideas to help save our planet. We would like to thank the organisers of the event, as well as all of the sponsors for making it so successful. Thanks to Bell Baxter’s Global Goals Team for showing us what changes we can make as young people. And thank you to our teachers for allowing us out of school for the day to attend this wonderful event.