Hello! My name’s Esther and I currently volunteer for Birmingham Friends of the Earth.
So I’ve been a volunteer at BFoE since October 2020 when I decided I wanted to be more involved in environmental campaigning. I also did my Year 2 work placement with BFoE. Obviously this was during the lockdown when restrictions were in place so I was engaging remotely with campaign activities online and through Zoom. It was only a few months ago that I started to meet everyone in person at the Warehouse which has been a lovely experience.
I chose BFoE because I was looking for an organisation to join at the time and bumped into Sanjive at the MAC Eco Fest where he told me about BFoE and what they do. I’ve stayed because everyone here is absolutely lovely! The wealth of knowledge about the local area and the people in Birmingham as well as knowledge on various campaigning issues from waste, to transport, the Dudley Road widening scheme and political campaigning is amazing. I’ve learned a lot about how environmental issues can be tackled especially with regards to lobbying government officials.
My main role is as a Meeting Coordinator, which means I help our Campaign Support Worker organise our meetings and activities – so general admin. I help plan meetings and write up agendas, send out reminders, write up notes and create resources for our meetings with a bit of facilitating during our Zoom calls.
I highly recommend BFoE if you are wanting to get started in environmental campaigning because of the welcoming and supportive atmosphere.
Written by Esther Adelanwa
