The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Kew Gardens in London to participate in Generation Earthshot with children on Earthshot ideas to save the planet from climate change. The Duke of Cambridge’s ambitious project Earthshot was launched last year and is set for the first prize night on October 17 this year.
The Duchess of Cambridge will be presenting one award on the big night.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan; explorer, naturalist Steve Backshall, Olympian Helen Glover; and students from The Heathland School to take part in a series of fun, engaging and thought-provoking activities developed as part of Generation Earthshot.
The Generation Earthshot event, which takes place ahead of the inaugural Earthshot Prize awards on Sunday, was designed to encourage children to ‘generate big, bold ideas to repair the planet’. The Earthshot Prize is a new global prize for the environment, designed to incentivise change and help to repair our planet over the next ten years.
Taking inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot which united millions of people around an organizing goal to put a man on the moon and catalyzed the development of new technology in the 1960s, The Earthshot Prize is centred around five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals for our planet which, if achieved by 2030, will improve life for us all, for generations to come. These five solutions will have the potential to respond to the biggest environmental challenges facing our planet and will each receive £1 million to help them scale up. The award ceremony will be broadcasted to a global audience via the BBC and Discovery+ on Sunday night.
‘Education is such an important part of protecting our planet. We must inspire in the next generation the optimism, confidence, and enthusiasm to chase those solutions and to continue building a more sustainable future” – Prince William
About the Generation Earthshot event, PrinceWilliam said, “We know that young children already identify the climate as one of their biggest worries, and Generation Earthshot aims to educate and encourage them that together we can find the answers. Children can be uniquely creative and I can’t wait to see some of the ideas that are shared with us.“
To keep things interesting for the school children, Prince William and Catherine used super toys. William chose an Ant-Man with him to encourage the children to use a superhero power to help save the planet. Ant-Man has the ability to shrink to the size of an ant while The Duchess had Invisible Woman for the brainstorming ‘Generation Earthshot’ event. From Daily Mail’s report,
Each sat down with a group of 12-year-olds and were told to come up with as ‘wild and wacky’ ideas as possible using their character’s super power.
‘We just need Ant Man here to help us find some answers,’ the prince said, adjusting the toy’s arm. Kate appeared very enthusiastic about the Invisible Woman, saying: ‘Maybe she could make an invisible bubble that no-one can see to protect the planet so no-one can cut down any trees?’
There were given tables, each one named after an Earthshot Prize, with William sitting at ‘Build a Waste Free World’ and Kate at ‘Protect and Restore Nature’.
They were also left with a number of items – in William’s case a pack of playing cards, an apple and a drumstick and Kate a mobile phone, a key and an orange – and asked how they would use them to solve environmental problems.
‘I’m just trying to work out how playing cards come into this,’ puzzled the prince. ‘And the drumstick, that’s quite hard to work out too.’
About today’s visit Palace said, “Recent findings from The Children’s Commissioner’s Big Ask shows that young people are concerned about the future of the planet, with 39 per cent of children asked in the UK identifying the environment as one of their main worries about the future.” Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza commissioned her Big Ask survey of young people which published their responses last month with worries about the environment raised by youngsters.
Four in 10 children said the environment is one of their main priorities and concerns for the future, with the second most common worry being reported was whether they will grow up to benefit from a healthy planet.
Generation Earth shot informs that interest and encourages students and their teachers around the world to generate ideas to solve the world’s greatest environmental challenges. It aims to unlock the potential of the next generation of inventors, innovators, and leaders who will inherit our world and inspire in them the enthusiasm to develop new solutions and protect our planet.“
Continuing from Daily Mail,
One boy suggested taking the pips from the apple, planting them and growing trees to make the drumsticks. He added: ‘You guys are coming up with some really practical solutions. Mine feel a bit pie in the sky.’
The couple also laughed and giggled as the children were encouraged to throw a large inflatable globe between their tables, designed to show how all their different ideas can link up.
Chatting with the children afterwards, William chuckled loudly when one youngster asked him about his ‘designer clothes’. ‘I wear very boring clothes. My wife wears nice colours,’ he said, gesturing at the duchess’s bright green coat and jumper.
Speaking to Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, Kate said: ‘They are buzzing about it, they had such great ideas.’
William added: ‘They were asked to come up with some really crazy ideas, think out of the box. But actually some of the things they said are already been worked on by scientists, which shows how bright they are and are thinking on the right track.’
Explorer and present Steve Backshall said: ‘They were fantastic. Encouraging the children to throw out every idea possible. It’s the kind of attitude our leaders need if we are to have any chance of making an impact on our climate’s problems.’
Sadiq Khan said he found the royal couple enthusiastic and engaging: ‘I hope William and Catherine never decide to run for mayor, because they are really good people. What’s lovely is that they gave the kids so much confidence. They weren’t patronising. ‘The kids were just fizzing. They will remember this day for the rest of their lives. They realise that this generation will not forgive us if our generation doesn’t solve these problems.’
Between November 01 to 05th, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will join The Queen, The Prince of Wales, and The Duchess of Cornwall in Scotland when the UK will host COP26 in Glasgow from October 31st to November 12th. The climate talks will bring together heads of state, climate experts, and campaigners to agree to coordinated action to tackle climate change. These actions include increasing the focus on climate and environmental education within school curriculums across the world.
For the day, The Duchess of Cambridge brought back her Erdem Allie Coat. We first saw the coat during the New Zealand tour 2014.
The 100% wool-crepe coat features a peter-pan collar, zipped front closure, and zipped cuffs with the tabbed waistline.
The Duchess was wearing a green Zara Basic short-sleeved sweater (Thanks to innominate on Twitter) and black trousers underneath the coat.
Catherine paired the outfit with her Patrick Mavros Pangolin Haka Earrings
and her Cartier watch.
It seems the Duchess was wearing her black Gianvito Rossi Piper suede pumps.
