I heard all about the Climate Challenge competition on a friend’s car radio, so I thought I would give it a go. I entered a piece in the form of a newspaper article, attempting to explain why young people as a whole don’t seem interested in our so-called planetary emergency’. This was back in March. An interview later, a visit to Number 10 and some of the hottest July temperatures ever recorded, and I’m about to set off to the southern Swiss town of Andermatt to see the effects of global warming on the local landscape. In the UK, I have seen the causes of climate change all around me everyday of the week. Now it is time to experience the real effects. I’m very much looking forward to the trip, as an opportunity to meet others who share my interests and concerns, and to learn more from them about climate change. There has, as yet, been no real solution introduced for the climate change problem but everyone has their own ideas about what we should or shouldn’t do. I think that the more people I meet who have been thinking hard on the topic, and consequently, the more different viewpoints on the issue I encounter, the closer I will come to understanding the real requirements of a practical solution. I plan to communicate what I learn on the trip to other young people, particularly via my online blogs’, so that others have the opportunity to do the same. I’ll also be keeping an audio diary of the trip which will be available on the Climate Challenge and BBC Radio Nottingham websites.I’m going to make sure that all the information I bring back is relevant and interesting. We have to remember that being climate or energy conscientious needn’t be a career choice, and you don’t have to be an environmental scientist or a hippie. However, many young people are put off by the fact that tackling’ this issue seems inconvenient, boring, potentially unrewarding and too much like hard work. This was a point that I brought up in my competition entry: The Soggy State of the Nation. My aim over the next year is to help change attitudes towards the issue of climate change ñ Tomorrow’s Climate, Today’s Challenge initiative. Contact: www​.climatechallenge​.gov​.ukwww​.myspace​.com/​g​r​e​e​n​a​g​e​r​s​C​a​rri Swann and Minister of State for Climate Change and Environment, Ian Pearson MP Photo: © Steve Phillips/Trident Communications