Ahead of COP26 in November The Climate Coalition planned for a Great Big Green Week. The idea was to let individuals and community groups come together to plan events to raise awareness of climate change and flag our concerns. The NFWI worked with the Climate Coalition to promote the event.
Cheshire Federation Climate Ambassadors, looking at the federation map pinpointing all of our member WIs, thought it would be wonderful to ask our members to turn the map green.
Members did not disappoint, and bit by bit reports came in of their activities. Concerns about the climate and our natural spaces resonate with many of our members and as the weeks went on more and more reports came in.
Many of our WIs had not met at all over the lockdown period and were still looking forward to their first meeting back. With this in mind we did not expect to see every WI turn their marker green this time. However, we were delighted at the final map, dotted from top to bottom and left to right with strong splashes of green. Stories of activities held were shared on our CFWI Facebook page – (an open page that every member with on line access can view) and our new editor of Cheshire News shared information in the newsletter.
Activities ranged from WIs tree planting, or caring for their centenary trees, to events involving the whole community.
Many WIs went seed collecting with a view to planting up more wild flower gardens to help wildlife. Some planted bulbs or worked on community gardens or allotments, taking the opportunity to litter pick and clear up their local area. Sometimes these activities were done in collaboration with local groups, rangers or the National Trust
The Climate Ambassadors provided a quiz which led to many members having in depth conversations about climate change. The CA’s also went out to talk to several WIs during this period.
Some WIs committed to a ‘plastic free’ week, others worked out their carbon footprint on a calculator and learnt ways to reduce it or discovered that they were already doing very well against the national average.
Some WIs moved to unwrapped biscuits to save waste and another went further and provided all plant based refreshments at their first members’ meeting to reduce their carbon footprint. Some held coffee mornings to talk about climate change and some invited speakers to their meetings. ANSA spoke to a couple of our WIs on waste recycling and the message of ‘Reduce, Reuse. Recycle’ came over loud and clear.
Members of the public were shown alternatives to clingfilm and face wipes and were asked to pledge to do one thing to help reduce their carbon footprint.
The week culminated for our climate ambassadors with their event at Delamere Forest. The forest was the perfect setting to educate members of the public on the best trees to plant where. A climate card game engaged many people in discussion as they attempted to rank different products or activities by their carbon footprint. Children and adults were invited to make a ‘get well card to the planet’ which will be digitalised and sent to world leaders at the COP26 Summit meeting. There were displays on peat and instructions how to make your own peat free compost, a fruit bowl for people to guess the carbon footprint and delicious plant based recipes for people to try.
CFWI’s giant mother earth, Gaia, made by several members from across the federation drew a lot of interest and brought members of the public to the stall. She is made entirely from scraps and recycled materials and is likely to be out at future events.
If you missed the chance to turn your WI green. we will likely revisit the map in February for The Show the Love events. Thank you to everyone who took part, do continue with your efforts and share what you are doing with us.
