Green Project
Pre-interns have been leading our green revolution here at Lighthouse Futures Trust. They have been exploring jobs in the Green Sector, and have accordingly put projects into action as a response to their findings. Below are a list of our interns’ Green Projects – ranging from proposing and consequently implementing green policies at our college site, starting an eco-gaming business, a creative writing project exploring the environmental effects of the fashion industry, as well as creating an accessible ‘Green Project’ mascot and enterprise. Read more below:
Intern-led Green Policy
One of our Pre-Internship groups has been exploring ways Lighthouse Futures Trust’s college site can be more green. Having researched various green schemes and eco-friendly practices, they have consequently put their findings into action, and have made some impactful changes to the way we recycle. Having proposed these changes, interns have now rolled out their green campaign across Carlton House – resulting in greener practices from staff and students. Here are just some of the recycling schemes they’ve introduced:
- Battery recycling station
- Crisp packet recycling station
- Recycling info-graphics around the building to increase awareness and green-consciousness
This project has made a real impact here at our Headingley college and we continue to see the benefits of this group’s work.
Eco-Games
One Pre-Internship group has developed an enterprise in response to the wasteful overproduction in the gaming industry. In their own words, here’s what our interns (Eco-Games founders) have to say:
“Eco-Games is a brand new company based in Headingley. It is run by interns at Lighthouse Futures Trust. We are a charity which helps young people with special educational needs to get the skills they will need to get jobs. Here we bring in old games from donations and purchases, and sell them on. Any profits go back into our charity. Our aim is to be green, we try to make sure games do not go to landfill or hurt wildlife. We sell the games at great prices. You can be an Eco-Gamer and get discounts on special occasions. So, what are you waiting for? Be an Eco-Gamer!”
We are currently looking to expand our stock of video games in order to cater to a greater customer base. If you have any video games, old or new, in good condition, we would love for you to donate them to us. Get in touch for more information here.
'The Story of a T-Shirt'
Several groups have undertaken an exciting creative writing project, rooted in the harmful practices of fast fashion’s large scale overproduction. Their work on this project is now displayed at our college as part of our efforts to be more green-conscious. Below is a sample of some of our interns’ creative writing work:
“I am a seed on a farm, then I am planted into soil and I’m also covered in water as I’m parched, I am sprayed with pesticides. I am suffocating. I learned that there are other seeds which are planted without pesticides but that is only 1%.
After I have grown , I am harvested by a self-driving machine. This machine separates the fluffy ball from the seeds , I am then compressed into a 225 kg bail , we get transported on a cargo ship , and we eventually arrive at a spinning factory this is when the torture begins.
Then they blend , pull , comb , stretch and pull me , I am in agonizing pain. After all that I am now a rope of yarn I am now put into heated chemicals , I am burning it’s so hot like a volcano . I am now really soft and white but this didn’t happen without torturous pain.
Then I am sent to Bangladesh, some of my friends are sent to China and others are sent to Turkey . I am anxious and nervous as I don’t know what has happened to my friends and what is going to happen to me next . All I know is that 1 out of 4.5 million people are going to turn me into something unknown .
After all the cloth travels to factories , and all the terrible pain I am now a t- shirt and to be sold in high income countries.
I am now in my owner’s wardrobe with many other t-shirts like me and I am patiently waiting to be worn once again.
Are you aware Fashion is the 2nd largest Polluter (After Oil)!!!”
“Once upon a time I was planted in a field in the middle of nowhere in America. For the first few days it was very quiet but as time went on I remember it got very noisy with very big machines which sprayed us with a very much needed water session. I loved this time as it cooled me and I also got time to refresh myself.
After 5 days I remember it was the same time as watering time but to our surprise this session was not water it was an awful sticky substance which had an awful smell and taste. It came on a very big truck and then we were driven over and it was spread all over us. This was terrifying as we didn’t know what it was. We later found out after weeks of hell and pain that it was a pesticide which is supposed to kill the insects but it also killed some of my friends too. After months of this substance being forced upon us then came the time to be harvested.
All I remember being ragged out of the ground by a machine with spinning blades once inside I remember my lower stem being ripped from my body and I remember a group of us being clumped together before being thrown into a trailer and driven for miles and days before reaching Bangladesh we were tired and depressed from what I had witnessed in the fields. Little did I know that this was not the end. As we arrived into this abandoned looking building we saw people dressed in big head scarfs and masks predominantly females and children.
The truck suddenly stopped and we were all separated and taken into the building and were put to our demise as we were put into this machine which pulled us, pushed us, separated us, turned us and rapped us up and turned us into a flat piece of sheet that these women took and then as we were put onto a cold table we were stuck with needles.
In our sides and then ran over by another machine which stuck a needle in and out of us sticking our sides together paralyzing us. After this torture had stopped we were then put into a bucket of boiling water which hurt like hell and if that wasn’t bad enough we were then put into a clear and harmless looking liquid which burnt all my colours away and then we were painted a new colour….”
“I am a seed, I was planted on a disgusting farm in the United States of America . It Is dark. I was very lonely and I was scared but also very thirsty and I was dying for water. So the farmer gave me water 24/7 but he also gave me something else which was really disgusting and I hate the farmer for this. He sprays us with insecticides and pesticides. It was nearly choking me to death. I absolutely hate it. I want the pain to stop!
Then I began to grow into a beautiful flower and produced the most fluffy puffballs in the entire United States Of America, but the pain came back to me as a self driving machine and yanked me from the ground. I told them to leave me alone. I wanted to stay in my home in the dark, or the only thing I had called home. The terrifying yank of the machine took me from home. I hate that horrible thing.
The next thing I remember as I woke up in this machine was I was separated from my friends and family. Dark was the only place I could call home. I was stressed and anxious but I did find out not all cotton plants were sprayed with those disgusting chemicals, but 1% did suffer like me.
As I got out I was put into a 225 kg bail but I felt nothing but the pain and agony of leaving my home forever. I wanted this pain to stop, it could just kill me. I hate this pain. I want it to stop completely.
I was taken by this tremendous truck and a smelly ship to a very scary spinning mill. My carbon footprint was increasing day by day. When I arrived in China I was twisted in pain and agony. Please let it stop!
The most extreme pain has come to me as I was treated with some extreme heat and disgusting chemicals which also polluted the water. Why can’t they just leave me and let me live my life? So I was bleached and dyed. The pollution scales went off the roof. I hate that and that it affected so many ecosystems, it felt like I was fighting Donald Trump in a boxing match.”
'The Ressaroos'
This group saw an opportunity to turn their Green Project findings into an accessible brand and mascot – ‘The Ressaroos’! Noting that awareness and green education is key – the group have created ‘The Ressaroos’ with the aim of imparting knowledge around Green issues in a fun, accessible way.
The group have recently developed a range of products based on ‘The Ressaroos’… these will be live soon – so keep your eyes peeled!