A more sustainable future at Hackney City Farm

National World - LocalTV

Families across London are being urged to rethink their relationship with nature and sustainability as three quarters (74%) of children in the capital have seen more wildlife on a phone than in real life.

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm here at Hackney Farm in East London, where today children from the capital are

00:06being taught a vital lesson in sustainability and how important nature is, especially for

00:12those living in the city. Families across London are being urged to rethink their relationship

00:19with nature. A recent study revealed by Back Market showed that 74% of children in the

00:26capital have seen more wildlife on a phone than in real life. In fact, six in 10 parents

00:32in London believe their child learns more about the world around them from tech and

00:37their phone than they do in real life. So what can be done to tackle the issue? Well,

00:44today, children from across London are being given the chance to learn about the importance

00:48of nature and sustainability. I'm here at Hackney City Farm, where children are using

00:54recycled paper advertising to make small grown pots for urban gardens across the city

01:00and even take them home so they can grow micro-vegetables and broccoli. I'm sure they are delighted

01:07about that.

01:14So we're doing a workshop teaching the kids how to grow their own micro-greens and we've

01:19worked with Back Market to change a billboard into textile into pots and now the kids are

01:27going to be learning how to grow their own food in those pots. So they're growing their

01:31own food in those pots? Yeah, so it's micro-greens, so they take 7-10 days to grow, harvest them,

01:38so super easy, so we give them a seed packet as well they can go home with and continuously

01:42grow and I think micro-greens are great just to inspire kids to grow their own food. So

01:47the survey you allude to, we found a survey we did with Back Market that 73% of children

01:52see more wildlife and nature on tech devices than they actually do in real life. So I think

01:59given the breadth of City Farms that we've got in London, the green spaces, it's really

02:03important that we encourage children to go outside and interact more with wildlife where

02:07they can. If they do need to learn about it on tech devices, they can do so and I think

02:12just having that knowledge of the world around them is hugely important. The whole point

02:18that we're trying to land with the workshop that Jack's alluded to is the fact that we

02:22want to be encouraging children and everybody to learn about the social economy, about recycling

02:27and ultimately about doing more with what we already have. So turning the billboard

02:31into plant pots has meant that the kids now have a space that they can grow their own

02:35micro-greens that they can take home and learn about how to grow their own fruit and veg

02:39and learn a bit more about the outdoors. Yeah, it's just something that they could

02:43do at home and like Luke said, that might just be their only grow space. That little

02:48part, they might not have the access, whether they live in an apartment in London, and then

02:54that little connection then connects them to the wider nature and places like Hackney

02:58City Farm.

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