As part of the national Friends of the Earth ‘Planet over Profit’ campaign, last September, we launched a project called ‘Keep Forests, Don’t Deforest!’. The aim of this project is to increase public engagement and raise awareness of the environmental harms and human rights abuses that can occur in supply chains.
In the autumn of 2024, we invited the public to explore the theme of deforestation and its impacts on our natural world through creative means, using the written word or visual art. We received a range of art forms, including poetry, digital art, and drawings. We compiled the submissions into a booklet, which we will send to MPs, using it as a campaigning tool to show them that the public are against deforestation. A digital copy of the booklet can be found here.
As part of the project, we hosted two events on 28th October 2024 at our building, The Warehouse, to give people the opportunity to explore the campaign and get creative:
- Let’s Create a Rainforest – Through the art of storytelling, participants created a 3D rainforest together and explored why the rainforest is so important to the animals and people who depend on them for food and shelter.
- Activism Meets Arts Workshop – Participants joined us for an evening of discussion, art, and poetry.
We launched the booklet at our ‘Branching Out for Nature’ event, which we hosted in our Digbeth Community Garden on 1st March 2025. To engage the public, we put on craft and gardening activities and invited local storytellers and speakers from various organisations including:
- Libby Harris and Delia Nickson from Birmingham Friends of the Earth;
- Carolyn Morton from Compost Culture;
- Jake Williams from Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust;
- Volunteers from Greenpeace;
- Storyteller Pyn Stockman;
- Storyteller Lucy Starkey.
You can find the digital booklet here or pop in the Warehouse, 54-57 Allison Street, Birmingham, B55TH for a printed copy.
