A Nobel prize winner has sent a COP26 message to pupils where he grew up in Scotland.
Three days before the crucial climate summit gets underway in Glasgow, Professor David MacMillan addressed 7,000 pupils in North Lanarkshire who were taking part in their own climate conference.
Speaking from his lab at Princeton University in the US - while wearing a Scotland football top - Professor MacMillan succinctly explained the work that led to him jointly winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year with Professor Benjamin List.
But he also talked about why “right now is a really important time for the world” as Glasgow prepares to host world leaders and climate activists such as Greta Thunberg from this Sunday.
Nobel winner: I owe my success to Scottish school, says David MacMillan
Climate change: How can pupils and teachers get involved in COP26?
Quick read: How to use COP26 to reduce pupil climate anxiety
Global reach: How our school will bring COP26 to students worldwide
On climate change, Professor MacMillan said: “I 100 per cent believe that we’re going to solve this, and we’re going to solve it by a number of different things.
“Mainly, we’re going to do it through hard work and determination...Everyone in the world can have an impact on climate by being determined, by being passionate and having hard work as we go about thinking about how to solve [climate change].
“So the one thing I’ll say to you is, as you go about your schoolwork, as you go about doing everything you do, stick in at school, try hard, do well [and] be passionate about science and, ultimately, how we go about worrying about the climate as we go forward.”
Bellshill-born Nobel Prize winner David MacMillan sent pupils in North Lanarkshire this inspiring message on his work and about the environment as part of the Action on Climate Together conference.
#ACT2021@PrincetonChem@ScottishFA pic.twitter.com/tCflDSmxDs
- NorthLanCouncil (@nlcpeople) October 28, 2021
Professor MacMillan grew up in Lanarkshire, where he attended New Stevenston Primary School and Bellshill Academy.
After the news of his Nobel Prize win was announced. he praised the “brilliant” education he received in Scotland.
Professor MacMillan gained his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Glasgow before moving to the US for postgraduate studies.
