Earthmovers Awards
Presented each year to celebrate the
achievements of the local groups network.
Nominations for Group of the Year
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Bradford Friends of the Earth
Leeds Friends of the Earth
Manchester Friends of the Earth
Walsall Friends of the Earth
Wycombe Friends of the Earth
Leeds Friends of the Earth!
The journey the Leeds group has been on over the past 12 months has been
inspiring. A year ago the group consisted of two members meeting in a noisy
pub. A new co-ordinator took over the group and they focussed recruiting ne
members.
• The group revamping their mailing list setup and website,
• Found a better meeting venue
• Used the Renewables campaign and local Age of Stupid showings to raise
their profile.
• Built coalitions with other local campaign groups and played a key role in a
range of community campaigns, building momentum and contacts.
Leeds Friends of the Earth!
The group now has a steadily growing active membership (currently 15), and
an average attendance of 10 people to their fortnightly meetings at accessible
locations. New people regularly just "turn up" to meetings now. Occasional
allotment days, composting master classes and social events have recently
been added to the mix and help the group appeal to a wide audience.
The development of the group's membership base has meant that it's been
possible to make a big impact on a number of campaigns:
• Over 200 postcards were signed on the Renewables campaign
• A presence at 5 showings of the Age of Stupid
• "Greening the City" and incinerator campaigns
• A flying start to the Get Serious About CO2 campaign.
Leeds Friends of the Earth!
The group has focused on creating a strong team ethos. They use rotating
chair and facilitation techniques to make sure that everyone contributes
equally. Less experienced group members are frequently paired up with more
experienced members. All members are pro-active and committed to action.
Judges Comments
“We were impressed by the steady growth of
this group, and how they have built a solid base
of members and group processes. This is not
one of those groups that has a large number of
email members but no one to campaign!
Neither do they act in isolation but network
effectively. Top marks for development,
commitment and sustainability.”
Nominations for Campaign of the Year
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Caerphilly FOE (plastic bag campaign)
Barnet and Enfield FOE (mass cycle rally)
High Peak FOE (Torrs Hydro New Mills Project)
Marinet (marine reserves campaign)
Manchester FOE (clean air now campaign)
Manchester Friends of the Earth
The Clean Air Now campaign began when the 10 Greater Manchester
Authorities outlined a bid for £3bn towards improving public transport from
the Government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) which required the
introduction of a congestion charge across Greater Manchester.
The group
• campaigned to get local government to bid.
• for a YES vote in the subsequent regional referendum.
In order to assist with this, they founded the Clean Air Now (CAN) coalition of
30 supportive organisations across Greater Manchester and campaigned
relentlessly for the 18 months up to the referendum in December 2008.
Manchester Friends of the Earth
Over the 18 months of the campaign, the group's strategy was planned and
then led by a small steering group within Manchester Friends of the Earth
which used email and a Wiki extensively, and met roughly weekly. Given their
limited resources, they focussed on
• building alliances with other organisations,
• using the media to carry messages to a wide audience
• using humour to catch the media and public imagination
Manchester Friends of the Earth
The group gave a near-continuous voice to the environmental lobby and
provided constant positive information to counter the negative messaging of
the opposition. Highlights include: ·
• Engaging in debate at every opportunity, making over 30 broadcast and
many more print appearances
• Establishing a website http://www.cleanairnow.co.uk/ to give public
access to their resources and "mythbusters"
• Using new media creatively, producing a YouTube viral video for "Let Me
Breathe", an accompanying report, and running a Facebook group
• Delivering a series of "stunts" including a popular World Toilet Day action
• Organised ‘Tour de TIF' and gained coverage for an 80-mile group cycle
ride covering all of Greater Manchester's boroughs.
Manchester Friends of the Earth
The scheme was good, but complex and difficult for the public to understand,
and well funded opposition coordinated by the motoring lobby and an
alliance of large commercial interests meant that the vote became about
"whether or not you want to be taxed". So, the referendum returned a "No"
vote and the funding and the scheme was lost.
But the group was one of the most positive voices for the "YES" vote, hugely
boosting their reputation in the city region, and gaining enormous political
capital, which is now directly assisting them in their current campaigns.
Judges Comments
“They really took the bull by the horns in going
for such a substantial and difficult campaign.
Their collaboration and use of media was
inspiring. Top marks for tenacity, bravery and
ambition.”
Nominations for ‘Spreading the Word’
• Penistone FOE (energy project)
• Birmingham FOE (creative campaigning)
• Leicester FOE (communications strategy)
Penistone Friends of the Earth
After a highly-successful plastic bag campaign, the group decided to start
getting people thinking positively about energy by focussing on simple, costsaving and practical projects that people could do in the home:
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They won £1194 funding which they invested in energy monitors and a
light-bulb display stand to support their campaign
They ran craft activities to make people smile about energy saving, such as
sewing waste material into draught-excluding snakes and hot water bottle
covers, and decorating a tree in low-energy light bulbs for Penistone
church's Christmas Tree festival
They persuaded an energy supplier to give them 1000 free light bulbs to
give out on stalls. Energy monitors are loaned out via the local library.
Penistone Friends of the Earth
The group helped to build support within the community for local renewables
projects by organising a public meeting on the "Future of Energy", actively
supporting local wind farms and starting to look for sites for a community
owned hydroelectric project.
They wrote to 11 local schools about a Co-operative Group grant scheme to
provide solar panels for schools and helped two schools to write grant
applications. They also ran interactive sessions on energy and practical
solutions at 8 local primary schools and an "energy challenge" at a cub and a
scout group.
Penistone Friends of the Earth
All activities were promoted using a strong logo and 'brand name' which
focussed on the local: Penistone Energy Project .
A key hook was saving money in the home. The practical solutions they
supported were aimed to be easily accessible to a range of people with little
or no awareness of renewables or energy-saving. Literature was written in a
lively and entertaining style, without technical jargon or complicated
explanations.
Events promoted renewable energy and energy saving in a positive light,
focussing on benefits and opportunities, rather than gloomy climate change
predictions or confrontations with anti-wind protesters. Arts & craft projects
also helped to lighten the message and activities with younger audiences
were made fun and interactive.
Judges Comments
“A lot of thought and effort put into spreading a
relevant message to a defined audience. Their
reach was demonstrable. Some other groups put
in equal effort but Penistone was the most
focussed. Top marks for planning, persistence
and relevance.”
Nominations for Friend of the Earth
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David Longthorn (Hull FOE)
Deni Newham (Halton FOE)
Dina Baird (Warrington FOE)
Fiona Kells (Walsall FOE)
Herbert Eppel (Leicester FOE)
Margaret Lynch (Birmingham FOE)
Robert Saunders (Telford FOE)
Viv Stein (Brent FOE)
David Longthorn (Hull)
David joined Hull Friends of the Earth in 2001 and immediately started work
on the then new Hull FOE Wildlife area on the site of allotments in the city.
In the area he has created
• a pond
• woodland
• meadow
• field margin areas
• log piles for bugs
• bird boxes
For five years, David was a committed helper on the group's weekly CARGO
(Collecting and Recycling Garden Organic waste) scheme, which collected
garden waste from residents for subsequent composting on the wildlife
site.
David Longthorne (Hull)
In 2004, HEYwoods (Hull and East Riding woods) was launched to increase the
amount of trees in the city. David arranged a tree planting scheme along the
Beverley and Barmston Drain (a local watercourse) to kick-start the campaign
and has represented the group at HEYwoods ever since.
His work involves the planting of trees and wild flowers on brown field sites
alongside cycle /footpaths using local trees from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's tree
nursery and wild flowers grown from local seeds. David manages the nursery
and has brought on thousands of trees from seeds and cuttings etc that have
been obtained from local sources.
David Longthorn (Hull)
David has managed to support hundreds of school children at various times in
tree and flower planting activities covering nearly every part of Hull, including
some very built-up areas. For example, volunteers from five Primary schools
with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have been involved in ten planting sessions in the
last three years - planting over 800 trees.
A further 13 planting sessions around the city have included volunteers of all
ages from the Sculcoates Neighbourhood Association, group members, local
residents, councillors, volunteers from the local hospice and recently
Community Payback workers with the aim of involving as many as possible.
On odd occasions, David has met people coming back to see how well their
tree is doing!
Judges Comments
“This was the most difficult to judge as all the
nominees were fantastic and showed such
devotion to Friends of the Earth, their
communities and their groups. David stuck out
as so dedicated and passionate about his local
environment in all sorts of weathers and
unpleasant conditions that he had to be the
winner! Top marks for consistency, achievement
and passion.”
Photo of the Year
York & Ryedale Friends of
the Earth
Members, Guy Wallbanks and
Caroline Duffy (Miss Earth), raise
the profile of Marinet's Marine
Reserves campaign earlier this
year. The photo and
accompanying story was featured
in the York local paper, on the
group's website and in the
newsletter of York MP, Hugh
Bailey, after the group met with
him about the campaign.
Quote of the Year
Warrington Friends
of the Earth
Over 100 people saw the
film at the Cheshire Oaks
screening, which also
included talks via satellite
from speakers around the
world and a live speech
from group Co-ordinator,
Dina Baird, on the need
for positive, confident and
inspiring action in the run
up to Copenhagen.
“That was an amazing film
- it made me want to get
involved and do
something. It was a real
eye opener how people
living in the most
desperate situations still
have the same dreams and
aspirations that we do”.
Rachel Frith, 14, after watching
Warrington Friends of the Earth's
screening of The Age of Stupid in
Spring 2009.