Message in a Bottle Isle of Islay

  1. A Day in 2040 – Callie, Port Ellen Primary School

It was a regular morning on Islay, I woke up at 5 in the morning and plugged in my lamp [It was fine because the electricity is powered by solar panels]. After that I put on my second hand upcycled oilskins and rushed downstairs. For breakfast I gobbled up some fresh fruit from my garden and jumped onto my electric quad bike to quickly tend to my livestock, I used non-meat scraps mixed with suitable animal feed for their breakfast. Then I watered my plants, checked on the flower beds and headed to work in my electric car.

 A bright, morning sun was shining as I made my way down to the pier to my large electric tesla fishing boat which has solar panels and an all-electric control centre where I waited patiently for my crew.  At last, they arrived, and we headed out to Ardnahoe and used our cast nets to catch some sea trout. After a long day of fishing in the warm sunshine, we headed back to the pier and plugged the boat into an electric charging port. I hopped back into my car and headed home.

My home is very well insulated with sheep’s wool and has double glazed windows. To power my house, I use solar panels for electricity, Bodmas for heating the house plus hot water and water devices for running water. When I arrive, I grab some more food and scraps to feed my cows, pigs, birds, sheep, and dog.

Once I am finished feeding my animals I fillet and package my fish in plastic made from potato peel [ I put a blue fish logo on the packet, so people know it is sustainably fished]. Next, I milk my cows and put the milk in glass bottles with paper labels. My cows do not produce methane since in 2039 scientists invented a jag where cows do not produce methane when they burp, excrement and wind.

Finally, after being outdoors all day, I stepped back inside and made myself some pork stir fry on my electric stove and drank some cold milk from my cow. After a long exhausting day on the water, I went to sleep in my cosy bed with bamboo bedding and a natural birch mattress.

 Our Island is very sustainable because We only use local produce or home-grown fruit and veg, we use all electric devices and vehicles, and our meat is raised and slaughtered in Islay. Our animals and plants are well looked after. We plant many trees on a daily basis, our island powers houses with renewable energy and most important for me we use sustainable fishing techniques. 

  1. A Day in the Future – Chloe, Port Ellen Primary School

This morning I woke up and it was a nice sunny day. Then I looked out of my window and saw the sun rise and lots of wind turbines and trees on the hills. I went down the stairs and into my garden I have A glass dome in my garden which is very hot to grow all of my fruits and vegetables in. Today I picked a big squash to eat for my breakfast before starting my gardening day helping Mrs Patuna with her Orchids.This is because it is one degree higher than normal and  Islay has not had rain for a month, so  Mrs Patuna is very nervous that this will affect her precious orchids.

Today I walked to work but sometimes I drive in my electric car. Mrs Patuna only lives a street away. When I was walking I passed 20 wind turbines that were so tall they were nearly touching the clouds. There are very loud every time you passed them but the energy goes to all the houses in the Island so they help our island.

Mrs Patunas house is very eco-friendly. It has a wind turbine in the back garden, lots of solar panels on the roof , her roof also has glass and she lives near the sea so she has some wave energy as well.

When I got to the back garden she was watering the plants. The plants looked a little dead but luckily I brought a greenhouse for her plants. I set up the greenhouse and put her fruits, vegetables and orchids  inside the greenhouse. Mrs Patuna insisted I stayed  for lunch so she picked some of the fruits and vegetables and made leek, carrot and broccoli soup.

  1. My life as a 29 year old in a climate friendly world – Evie, Port Ellen Primary School.

I can feel that I’m waking up but I don’t want to get out of my cotton wool bed. Slowly I open my eyes to look at the clock and suddenly realised that my electric clock says it’s 7 o’clock already! And I’m going to be late to perform at the make your move against climate change  pop concert! I spring into action rushing to put on my costume made of all recycled materials and get ready. I sprint to the electric bus so I won’t be late. I jumped on just in time and the electric bus sped off to the concert. 

When I arrived at the pop concert I got the instruments (that were powered by renewable energy) ready to perform. By the time the rest of the band arrived (at nine o’clock according to my electric watch,) it was aou turn to rehearse. The rehearsal had to be quick because the audience was starting to arrive and get settled in the chairs that were made of recycled materials. We hurried to get the electric instruments ready for the real thing and the next band to perform. Thirty minutes later it was our turn to perform, we played the best 3 songs. After that one of my  friends gave me a lift home in their electric car.

When I arrived home I decided to write another book about the climate (since I am an author as well.) My books were climate friendly because the pages were made of cotton, not normal paper which is made of tree bark. Lots of my books were about climate change and needing to save the world to make sure the next generation leave their mark as well and make sure their mark is positive. It was getting late and the wind turbines were being turned off(since the wind would brake them its too strong) so I decided to go to bed.  I climbed my stairs that are made of recycled materials of my two floor house that is powered by renewable energy  and is made of natural materials that is climate friendly,  followed by my dog  Forest, then I layed down with Forest laying on my feet and then I fell asleep.

  1. A day on my island 2040 – Hugh, Port Ellen Primary School

My name is Hugh, I am an architect and I live in a big house on Islay made of locally sourced, sustainable wood. It also has a pool in the backyard that the wastewater from the distillery is changed into clean water to fill the pool. With solar panels on my roof.

I woke up this morning. I got dressed for work and went downstairs to eat my breakfast. I have peanut butter waffle to cook it I use my electric waffle maker powered with the solar panels on my roof  that gives power to my house and they also help slow down .I have to move fast to catch the electric train with its own solar panels on the roof. It doesn’t have wheels its connected to the track with magnets. The train goes everywhere in town.

I have to continue designing a new charging stop for the train on the new laptops on them you don’t draw out a sketch you make a model house theme. because it keeps running out of charge in the middle of the run around the city because the solar panels on the train doesn’t generate enough power. The new point has twice as many solar panels  as the old one. The new one also has more cables for the train. After work I caught an electric bus home with solar panels on the roof.

 I need to get home to take my dog for a walk in the park. At the park all the benches give you a massage and the benches are powered by the hydro power from the river.  Most of the park is filled with wind turbines. I sat on a bench while my dog ran around and I chucked a ball for him. After about an hour we went to the train stop to go to the city centre to have a break and get some food for dinner.

  1. Day in the Life – Jack, Port Ellen Primary School

Yesterday I realised I had something very important to deal with. As landlord it is my resposibility to find suitable housing for many residents. A new family have arrived on Islay as Dad has a job in a local distillery. The family have requested an eco-friendly 4 bedroomed house with a garden.

I got in my tesla model x and drove to a house that I felt would be suitable for them. The house uses solar panels which are on the roof for electric lighting. The walls are made from locally sourced pine and it has sheep wool as insulation to stop there being a draught. The main electricity source for appliances comes from wind turbines. This design has been recently upgraded to become more sustainable since the old house was not very eco-friendly because they had a fire all day burning fossil fuels and they had no wind turbines.

As the children will be attending the local school I decided to check out how to get there from the house. The local transport is an electric bus service which comes around a few times a day, with lots of walking paths so you don’t need to use a petrol car and there is an electric charging port in the centre of the village. Down the road there are many wind turbines that create electricity for most of the buildings. 

  1. A Day in a Life 2040 – Katie, Port Ellen Primary School

This morning I woke up just as the sun was rising and I gazed out my window to see beautiful Islay. Then I turned on the light controlled by my solar panel and got changed in the clothes that were recycled. My eyes were drooping down my face with tiredness. For breakfast I had some cereal with the milk from my cows. Then when I hit the fresh air, I felt alive and fresh as I hopped on my bike and set off to the farm.

When I arrived I heard the cows mooing the sheep baaing, I was so happy. Quickly I leapt off my bike and drove my electric tractor to feed the cows. Eventually I got the locally sourced feed which is  made by robots in the factory. I put some fat in the cow’s diet because that reduces methane. Cows don’t produce methane now because there was a special type of breed, I put fat in the cows diet so no methane is possible to come back. Afterwards I got some milk from the cows to give some to our local community shop.

It was a great day to crop the field. So I went from the inside to the outside, cropping the field so it doesn’t kill any corncrakes. Corncrakes are a very rare bird that we need to save. After I cropped my field it was lunchtime so I walked up to my chicken pen to get eggs for my lunch. Eventually I put all the eggs and milk in my basket then I rode off back home to prepare my carbon neutral omelette.

Suddenly I got a call that it’s an emergency! One of my calves couldn’t breathe. My robots called the vet. I couldn’t lose this calve. The vet rushed over with her troop of robots. They worked on her for a while. My heart was racing and I was so nervous but the vet came out with a big smile on her face. She said 

“The calf is fine!”

I gave a sigh of  relief, thanked the vet and the use of her robots for their help.

Finally I went to my house. My house is made out of bamboo because it is the most climate friendly material in the world. When I returned to my house it was very warm from the insulated heating. I looked out the window to see the big trees surrounding my house, and the wind farm. I trained my dog to gather all the plastic from the ground and put it in the bin. She finished her job and came into the house. I made a scrambled egg, it was so yummy. I gave my dog a bit too!

Later I took the electric bus to the village to deliver the eggs and milk to the shop. All of the farming community gather to give the shop food and drinks. The shop owners were very happy as many locals benefit from these organic products.  After my shop visit I took a walk around the village to pick up any plastic I could see, but there was none! While I was walking I saw a local fisherwoman and she gave me a free fish. I was over the moon! I gave her a bottle of milk to be kind.

After that I went back home and checked on all my animals. I worked with some of my machinery powered by my wind farm. The local horse riders came up to go on the horses. They walked down to the beach with the horses and put some environmentally friendly sunscreen on as the temperature can be quite hot and dangerous for everyone’s skin. They also checked the wave power system that generates electricity to make sure it was functioning properly.

Finally I got back home to cook and eat my fish. I also gave some to the horse riders. Then I cleaned all the dishes with the new electric dishwasher! I had an electric shower and used vegan shampoo and conditioner. I brushed my teeth with my bamboo toothbrush. I went to bed in my natural and non toxic bed. I felt so happy and calm.

  1. My Climate Friendly Life on Islay – William, Port Ellen Primary School

My name is William Campbell, I live in the Isle of Islay. I am a mechanic and Iam the only mechanic. My garage is in Bowmore and the building is older than me, so there are no materials getting wasted. My garage is next to the sea so there are water turbines powering the building and there is one giant generator out the back of my garage that is powered by a wind turbine on the hill behind. There are solar panels on the roof powering the heat in the building and the wee shed that robots work in for  fixing the cars.

At work I sell old cars that are electric and old petrol cars get turned into spare parts and their engines get shredded. I fix any cars and bikes. I try to reduce the amount of fossil fuels in my life and family’s life.

My house is in Port Ellen. It is white, quite big and made from brick and sustainable timber. There are solar panels on the roof for electricity and a fish tank indoors with electric eels for some electricity. The trees in my back garden are for the heating system in my house and warm water. All the food I eat I grow in my small croft such as potatoes, carrots, apples and soft fruits.  I water them with a sprinkler that is solar powered and can sense if it has been raining and if it has not it goes on automatically and waters the crops.  The local farmer next to me has a small holding where I can purchase products such as meat and other fruit and veg.For transport and getting around the island  I have an electric pickup to get around or I use a bike.

At my local pier there are lots of electric boats. I own one called SEA ALBA which is a hardy rib boat that I use for pleasure and catching fish to feed my family. On my boat I have a solar panel which helps to charge the batteries for my boat. 

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