Past Events
Friends of the Earth renewable energy day 25/10/08
Croydon FoE group with our eco citizen award
Saturday 25th October 2008 was the environmental group Friends of the Earth renewable energy day. We had a stall in the Croydon Whitgift Centre and asked shoppers to sign postcards to send to the local MPs, urging them to get reassurances from the Prime Minister that he will stop trying to wriggle out of his promise to generate 15 per cent of the UK's energy from green sources by 2020 and get on with the job of building a thriving British renewable energy industry.
We were pleased to collect over 300 postcards, and also had a graffiti wall for the public to show their support, which was popular with all ages! Visitors to the stall included Councillor Luke Clancy, Member for South Norwood Ward and the Croydon Mayor who both gave their support to the groups cause. Another visitor was Green Party MEP Jean Lambert.
Rising energy bills and the threat of climate change means generating green energy from renewable sources such as the wind, sun, waves and tides has never made more sense for our wallets and for the planet. Investing in renewable energy will bring enormous benefits to the UK. It will help us avoid dangerous climate change, provide a clean and secure energy supply and create hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of business.
Stall promoting the use of reusable bags 27/09/08
FoE Croydon stall at Sainsburys', Selsdon
We held a stall at Sainsbury’s in Selsdon to raise awareness of the environmental impact of using plastic bags and asked shoppers to use reusable bags. Residents not using reusable bags were given a free cotton bag to encourage them to do so in the future.
Another Kind of Silence, at the Warehouse Theatre 21/09/08
We went to see this play, about the environmentalist and author Rachel Carson. On this night only, there are were speakers from Africa, talking about the enviromental cost of toxic chemicals in Africa in the 21st Century.
Heathrow big NO 31/05/08
FOE Croydon at Heathrow demo, with Phil Thornhill (coordinator of the Campaign for Climate Change group)
At Sipson we were among 3000 people who formed a giant 'NO' which could be seen from the air and was broadcast live on the BBC News Channel, and later on BBC1 News and Sky News. [In addition to the loss of a complete community at Sipson, expansion of Heathrow will lead to a great increase in carbon emissions - despite the Government's claims that it wants to reduce emissions - and also increase the levels of noise which local residents in west London have to cope with.]
Climate Change Partnership for Croydon 29/5/08
We are one of the organisations that has been invited by the Sustainability Department at Croydon Council to discuss the possibility of a Climate Change Partnership for Croydon. Under the Partnership organisations would make voluntary pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The first meeting about this took place on 29th May, with several of our members joining representatives from other environmental organisations, schools, businesses, charities and council departments at Croydon Town Hall. The Shadow Environment Spokesman, Peter Ainsworth MP, was one of the guest speakers.
Public Meeting 18/04/08
On Friday 18th April 2008 we held a public meeting on the Climate Change Bill with Malcolm Wicks, the Croydon North MP and Energy Minister, at Croydon Clocktower.
Malcolm Wicks outlined the Government's position and then took some challenging questions from a capacity audience of members of the public, members of Croydon Friends of the Earth and other local environmental groups.
FoE National Day of Action 5/04/08
FOE Croydon, Steve O'Connell and Gavin Barlow of Croydon Council, and Shasha Khan of the Green Party
As part of Friends of the Earth's National Day of Action on Climate Change, we staged a demonstration in front of the constituency office of Malcolm Wicks, the Croydon North MP and Energy Minister, in Thornton Heath.
We wore Gordon Brown masks and blindfolds and flew paper planes to highlight the fact that the Prime Minister seems to be 'blind' to aviation emissions, which will not be included in carbon emission reduction targets set out under the Climate Change Bill. We were joined by local politicians and members of other local environmental groups.
Climate March 08/12/07
Several of us attended the National Climate March on 8th December 2007, the annual Global Day of Action on Climate Change.
Despite getting soaked due to some appalling weather up to 10,000 people took part in the March from the Houses of Parliament to the American Embassy. In doing so we joined thousands of protestors in around 70 countries around the world demanding much stronger action on climate change.
Whitgift Centre stall 15/09/07, 06/10/07
We have been campaigning actively in support of Friends of the Earth's highly successful Big Ask campaign, which has led to the introduction of the Climate Change Bill to Parliament. The Bill will make reducing the UK's carbon emissions a legal requirement for this and all future Governments.
On 15th September 2007 and 6th October 2007 we set up a stall in the Whitgift Centre attracting hundreds of local people who signed postcards calling on the Government to introduce the Bill. We then presented the postcards in person to Richard Ottaway, the MP for Croydon South.