Meet Scout: Our virtual Rivers Trust Ambassador
Our newest ambassador is also our first virtual one. Scout is a children’s book character who is passionate about the environment and helps school-age kids to learn about the natural world, as well as how they can help improve or conserve it.
16/02/24
Blog
At The Rivers Trust, we're delighted to be working with a range of brilliant ambassadors to help celebrate our rivers and connect communities with their local freshwater environments, and also to raise awareness of the issues that our rivers face in the UK and Ireland alongside the solutions that are needed.
Our newest ambassador is also our first virtual one! We're delighted to be working with The 3 Engineers, who have created the character of Scout and produced a range of beautiful books for school-age children who can learn about environmental issues as well as feel empowered to get involved through Scout's own adventures.
In fact, we'll let Scout introduce herself!
So, Scout, tell us a little about yourself!
Hi, I’m Scout and I’m 8 years old and have been litter picking with my best friend Vinnie, the poison dart frog since I was 5. I really like learning about our environment and how we can look after it. My hobbies are reading, solving problems and being outdoors. My favourite subjects are Science and Maths at school and my favourite colour is blue.
Why are you excited to be a Rivers Trust Ambassador?
I’m super excited to be a Rivers Trust Ambassador to help promote protecting our waterways. I really enjoy litter picking and I hope to inspire other children to learn more about our rivers and maybe they’d like to help me look after them.
What do rivers mean to you?
Since I found out that if litter goes down a drain it can end up in our rivers and then out to the sea, it made me realise I could actually help reduce this impact. So I decided to pick up litter when I go on walks with my parents and I am learning so much about rivers and all of the wildlife they provide a habitat for.
Tell us about the adventure that you had in your first book, The Adventures of Scout – Stop Dropping Litter! and what your key takeaways were from that experience.
So, my mum and dad both told me that our beaches were covered in rubbish and we didn’t know why. So we went for a beach walk where I met a crab living in a smelly yoghurt pot, a whale that had kazoo stuck in its blowhole and a turtle trapped in a plastic bag. Thankfully, I had my litter pickers and helped each of the animals who later explained that it was coming from a pipe further down the beach. This is where I met seagull who was collecting the rubbish and told me that the rubbish was coming from the nearby town and out through some pipes. So, I collected my thoughts then concocted a plan using things that I brought. This is where I decided to tell people in town to “STOP DROPPING LITTER”, which gets to the sea, through the pipes from the river. Me and my new friends all decided that we could help clean the beach to make it safe again and cover the pipes to stop litter and pollution getting to the sea. And that’s what we did.
Later, I thought about how I could stop the litter getting into the rivers in the first place and that’s when I decided to litter pick more often and tell people about the dangers and how we could all help. Lots of people listened and then joined my team to help reduce the problem and its impact.
Why do you think that it’s so important to talk to young people about the problems and challenges that nature faces, and helping them to take action?
I think it is really important to talk to young children because together we can make a difference. I hope by sharing my stories they will spread awareness of some common problems the environment is facing and how we can help reduce their impact. Also, if we learn more about these problems nature faces through subjects at school and through resources, we can help even more when we are older.
What are you hoping to do as part of The Rivers Trust team?
I’m really looking forward to becoming a Rivers Trust Ambassador to speak to children in schools and to share some fun facts about rivers. I’m also looking forward to learning more and sharing this with other children through some fun resource sheets so that everyone can take part.
Who came up with the idea for you and created the books you star in?
The3Engineers (Nick, Matt and Jon) started a side project back in 2018 and came up with the idea to write a series of fun rhyming children’s books that could raise awareness of environmental issues. The aim of the books is to also promote taking small but positive action to help. They wanted their stories to have a wide impact and to create a character as widely known as Dora the Explorer, but who was also seen as a positive role model and a natural problem solver who cares about the environment. This character could be seen a modern day Captain planet, who aims to encourage and inspire the next generation to help better our planet through learning and taking action. That is how I was created and my stories come to life.