Climate Change Champion sees how North West is acting on CO2

Jessica, from Birkdale near Southport, started in urban East Manchester, where the former eyesore known as the "Black Brook" in Moston Vale has been transformed into a wildflower-rich community woodland. It is part of the Forestry Commission's Newlands project, a £59million NWDA-funded land regeneration scheme, which is rejuvenating around 381 hectares of the region's brownfield land.

At Manchester Airport she welcomed the airport's commitment to be carbon neutral for its energy and on-site vehicle use by 2015. This includes all those operations under the airport's direct control, such as the energy used in buildings, ground support vehicles and service partner emissions.

And beside the A57 close to picturesque Ladybower Reservoir Jessica walked through a stretch of moorland turning purple for the first time in living memory thanks to the flowering of heather restored by the work of Moorland Association member Geoff Eyre. Heather prevents the peat eroding - and peat is vital because more carbon is locked up in our peat moors than in all the woodland of Britain and France combined.

Jessica was one of nine young people from around the UK, selected by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Minister for Climate Change Joan Ruddock to become Climate Change Champion for their home region.

The initiative is part of the Government's "Act on CO2" campaign, which underlines the link between everyday human behaviour and its effect on the environment. It calls for young people to demonstrate how they can encourage others to reduce their carbon footprint and take part in public awareness campaigns.

At Moston Vale Jessica helped Adam Davison, Newlands Project Development Officer for the Forestry Commission, to gather wildflower seeds for use at other Newlands sites. Moston Vale has become a valued community woodland in just four years after work to overcome the effects of more than 100 years of industrial pollution.

At Manchester Airport Jessica was shown how small changes can make a big difference: for example, changing the lighting in the Skylink linking Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 has already saved over 120 tonnes of CO2. She was also shown designs for the new Concorde hangar at Manchester, which will be an exemplar of modern technology heated by biomass boilers and solar panels, and heard how the airport's plans to improve public transport access will cut passenger car journeys to the site. Meanwhile, airlines are also trying to do their bit: Jessica was shown a new 737-900 aircraft operated by XL Airways. The aircraft is able to carry 15% more passengers over the same distance for the same fuel load when compared to earlier models of aircraft

In the Peak District more than 400 hectares of land are turning purple again for the first time in a generation, thanks to a vast programme of heather re-seeding carried out 5 years ago by Moorland Association members. Farmer Geoff Eyre, who invented new equipment for collecting heather seed, walked Jessica through a 40-hectare part, where his contribution can be seen by motorists along the A57. He explained how this habitat - so important for wildlife as well as locking up carbon - is rarer than rain forest in global terms.

Jessica said: "It's been a tiring day but well worth the effort. I'm amazed at the variety of work that is going on in our region to tackle climate change.

"Hopefully these projects will inspire more people to get involved in similar schemes. Even small changes can make a big difference."