SOAS Team's Cycle May Get Them to Antarctica
(L-R) Sarah King, Bob Athwal (graduate recruitment, npower), Kyla Taylor, Ben Lattimore and James Mummery at the Lake District retreat
12 November 2009
A team of four SOAS students has made it to the final of an environmental competition called the npower Future Leaders Challenge.
Teams from universities across the UK entered the competition by sending in a short film describing their plans for a local green project to serve their university and wider community. The SOAS students aim to build a bike-powered generator which will be used to run an 'eco-gig night'.
The team whose project is judged to have the greatest impact will win a trip to Antarctica, where they will experience effects of global warning first hand.
The four finalists from SOAS joined the other nine teams in October for a weekend of outdoor activities in the Lake District. The course included team-building exercises, environmental education and the teaching of other skills to help them complete their projects.
"I was very excited and a little apprehensive about the weekend; I didn't know quite how physically challenging it would be,” said Ben Lattimore, a first-year undergraduate in Persian. "The feeling of accomplishment was brilliant. I'm really looking forward to cracking on with the project, to raise awareness of renewable energy in a cool and fun way."
The other students on the team are Sarah King, Kyla Taylor and James Mummery.
The weekend was attended by Antarctic adventurer Robert Swan, whose company, 2041, will be taking the winning team to Antarctica. Swan talked to the students about the effect climate change is having on the South Pole and how a series of small actions and projects like this one can make a real impact on the environment.
"The npower Future Leaders Challenge has been developed to find the next generation of Robert Swans: young people with drive and passion, committed to learning about climate change and discovering new solutions to tackle its harmful effects," said Clare McDougall, npower’s head of education programmes.
The university teams will be working on their projects until the end of the year. The winning team will be announced on 18 December.
Source: npowerFor further information, contact:
Kelly Brown
npower press and public relations
+44 (0)19 0534 0760
kelly.brown2@npower.com
