Picked for crack climate squad

4:00pm Monday 18th August 2008

YOUNG environmentalist Aisling O'Sullivan-Darcy has been assigned to a crack Government squad on green issues.

Miss O'Sullivan-Darcy, 25, from Harwell, was picked from hundreds of applicants to be one of the British Council's ten English Climate Advocates.

Aged between 19 and 35, the advocates have been hailed as "leaders of the future" and are part of the British Council's pan-European climate change programme Challenge Europe, aimed at countering climate change.

Originally from Kerry, in Ireland, Miss O'Sullivan-Darcy came to England to study and works for the energy and environmental consultancy AEA Technology at Harwell.

She said: "I applied to be an advocate in May and the application itself was pretty tough. In fact, at the time, I didn't think I was old enough or had the experience to be successful, so I was stunned, then thrilled when I found I had been selected.

"I have been looking for a voluntary environmental role for some time, something I could do alongside work that was strategic and would be listened to by Government and business."

Miss O'Sullivan-Darcy and fellow advocates met in London last week for a training workshop.

She said: "It went really well. We range from a final year undergrad international relations student to a few PhD students, and all of us are involved either in studying, researching or working in environmental issues. The workshop was about defining what the team's strengths are and where our key contacts lie.

"The British Council wants to create three new really innovative ideas to tackle climate change and we began to narrow down the three areas we will be working in. We will then be part of 200 advocates across Europe who will contribute our ideas."

She added: "I think the problem of global warming is huge and that people do not have any realisation of the extent of changes we are going to see in our own lifetimes, but particularly in the lifetimes of our children - and particularly of the social impacts that rising sea levels will have in terms of mass migration and changes in agricultural practices. Normal people have a massive contribution to make - if every single person makes a small change in their everyday energy consumption practices, the results cumulatively will really help to reduce carbon."

British Council director (England), Chris Edwards, said: "They are the leaders of tomorrow, a selection of Europe's boldest and best, determined to ensure that they don't inherit climate chaos."