#ProtectOurFutures!
This was the slogan for the Days of Action of Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The network was quite busy last weekend: about local 130 groups took action and rumour has it that it was great! Here are a couple of stories from a very inspiring day.
Despite strong resistance – and against any common sense from any government that would like to see themselves as climate leaders -, the UK government has given fracking the green light. So for these Days of Action, a Frack Free Fiesta was organised in Huddersfield (West Yorkshire) to call on Greg Clark MP to follow the example from Scotland by banning fracking.
Chayley, from Huddersfield Friends of the Earth, wrote: Huddersfield Friends of the Earth joined a brilliant local samba band on the streets of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire to get the #Don’tFrackOurFutures message out there on the FoE International Day of Action on Climate. The samba music and dancing was a great way to generate interest in what we were doing and get support for our #ProtectOurFutures campaign postcards. We got a lot of support from the people of Huddersfield with 50+ postcards signed calling on Greg Clark MP to say NO to fracking. We also had a go at a Frack-Free Mexican Wave.
Later on we paid a visit to our local Barclays bank to highlight their continued role in funding fracking in North Yorkshire. This led to an impromptu dance outside the branch.
The need to #ActonClimate has never been more urgent. We hope our Frack-Free Fiesta helped increase awareness of fracking in Huddersfield and showed that taking action can also be enjoyable and energising.”
Birmingham Friends of the Earth had an action to launch of their new petition which calls for Birmingham City Council to implement an ambitious, Birmingham-wide clean air zone that will ensure no one is breathing illegal levels of Nitrogen Dioxide, no matter which area of the city they live, work and go to school in.
Molly, from Birmingham Friends of the Earth, wrote: “We saw the day of action as a great opportunity to promote the clean air campaign that we have just launched as a local group. In a productive action meeting back in September, we took inspiration from Friends of the Earth’s idea of creating a public mural and decided to make a banner which we would ask the public to sign by way of showing their support for cleaner air in Birmingham. The message we chose for our banner was ‘go renewable, keep our air clean’.
Overall, the event was a real success. The public were so responsive that we ran out of blank petition sheets. With every petition signature, we asked for a signature on our banner which we had spread across the table to create an eye catching stall. Earlier that week we invited all our local councillors and some other local environmental groups to come along and join us. We were thrilled that some of them came and showed their support by signing the banner and petition, and having some photos with us. We were also joined by friends from Birmingham Greenpeace, Footsteps: Faiths for a Low Carbon Future, and Climate Action Network West Midlands. At midday we gathered for a group photo.
The glorious weather topped off what was a successful, productive and thoroughly enjoyable action.”
