This week's Prefect Talk was delivered by Mia M and Charlie A to our pupils during assembly.
As we all know, the environment is an important issue that affects all of us and our futures. Every day, we see the impact of climate change and the damage it causes to our planet. However, we can make a difference by starting with our own communities and RHS is a great place to start.
Our school can take on its own version of sustainability and environmental responsibility through each of you taking small steps that can have a big impact for all our futures.
One way in which we can do this is by reducing fast fashion habits and focusing on slow fashion options. The fast fashion industry has many negative outcomes. For example, on average 92 million tonnes of textile waste are produced each year. Furthermore, one cotton t-shirt can require up to 2700 litres of water to produce, which is enough water for the average person to drink for 2 and a half years. These figures demonstrate just how much wastage we could prevent by changing our habits even a little bit.
At the start of the year, Mrs Williamson and the business department put on a thrift store which many of you got involved with and supported. More habits like this will help us to make clothes last longer and make us a more sustainable community.
But - you do not have to wait for Mrs Williamson's thrift store - you can also buy from online stores such as Depop, Vinted and even RHS’s very own second-hand shop, which is how we challenge you to buy your next clothing items.
Please remember that it is not like these clothes come with a label blatantly saying, ‘second hand’ - so don’t be afraid to buy them!
I know that our suggestions may seem very farfetched, and you're all thinking that in the grand scheme of things, what you do won't matter at all in the future. However, when thinking like this, we would like you to consider that if everyone thought how you did, then no improvements would be made to worldwide efforts towards sustainability. Remember, every penny counts.