Students at an international school in Cobham saved over 12,000 litres of water and engaged in a myriad of other 'planet-saving' actions thanks to a new scheme championed by the Wildlife Aid Foundation (WAF).

The Leatherhead-based charity teamed up with the ACS International School Cobham to perform over 2,600 actions in six weeks for the charity's new iDot project that aims to encourage collective behavioural change to fight the climate and ecological crises.

Committing to undertake a number of green actions for the period, WAF announced that students had:

  • Saved over 12,780 litres or water
  • Created 15 new hedgehog highways in gardens
  • Eaten 50 meat-free meals
  • Made 39 items from recycled materials.
  • Switched off lights and unnecessary electric appliances 234 times
  • Fed birds 68 times
  • Used reusable masks and water bottles 218 times
  • 57 ACS Cobham students took part in litter picks
  • 27 made their own masks
  • 109 crushed tins for more fauna-friendly recycling

"The concerted efforts of students show what is possible when people commit to doing positive environmental actions," WAF Founder and CEO Simon Cowell said.

"We are often left feeling that the climate challenges the world faces are too great for us to overcome as individuals, but as the students at ACS Cobham demonstrate, we can all make a difference if we work together," he added.

The climate crisis, driven by carbon emissions and the global heating they cause, threatens the future stability of life on the Earth in the coming decades.

A recent study published by a group of leading climate scientists suggested that humanity faces a "ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals" that threaten our survival if governments, societies and people fail to act.

iDot stands for 'I Do One Thing', and aims to harness the power of collective action by encouraging people to do environmentally friendly tasks every day, which can be recorded on the iDot website.

Individuals and schools can sign up for free and join the expanding iDot community.

Chloe Welch, Middle School iDot champion at ACS Cobham, said: "We aim to develop students to be globally-minded and to make responsible and sustainable choices for the planet.

"The iDot programme blends perfectly into this ethos and empowers students to work together to improve the world during a time of great uncertainty.

"Within two weeks of launching the programme they had completed over 1,000 actions.

"It has been a fantastic experience working with Wildlife Aid Foundation on iDot, and we would encourage other schools to engage with the programme too."

Click here for more information and to get involved.