Beyond YEW: Great Big Green Week

This is a guest post by Debby Cobbett, who is part of the York Stitches for Survival movement, which will be hosting a drop-in session during the week of 18-26 September, which is not just York Environment week but also the nationwide Great Big Green Week – see the “Other events” section at the bottom of the events page.

We’ll be busy with climate action in York from 18-26 September with many events in York Environment Week, and now that many of us are used to meeting on zoom, here are a couple of events you can attend without leaving wherever you are reading this.  

First up, here’s one from a favourite place of mine, the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth in Wales.  They are running this free webinar on Wednesday 22 September at 7.30: Kevin Anderson and Zero Carbon Britain: responses to the climate emergency. They say: ‘Join us as Professor Kevin Anderson lays bare the scope and scale of the climate crisis and offers thoughts on what needs to happen at COP26.”

Architects CAN or Architects’ Climate Action Network are running a series of events called Everything Needs to Change, starting on 9 September and running through till 11 November, and bookable using links here .  Talks began with Why must everything change?  There are many more topics, such as: How can urban planning be radical and transformational?  How can we reimagine living environments?  The first event showed that there’s plenty of creative thinking and plenty of food for thought.

Locally, there are several events linked to the arrival of Young Christian Climate Network relay walkers on 20 September, on their way from Cornwall to Glasgow for COP26, with the theme Same Storm, Different Boats, aka global climate justice.  Full details are here.  There’s a talk online or live at York Uni, on Thursday 23 September at 1.30, run by Christian Aid, with the Archbishop of York and others, including students from the university and young people from the relay walk.

Another thing to do in YEW/GNGW is to invite your MP to an event and tell them about Great Big Green Week and there is a template for that here.  We know that Rachael Maskell supports climate action and has knitted with York Stitches for Survival who also have an event in GBGW.  Rachael is one of 113 MPs who support the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, which aims to ‘reduce the UK’s entire emissions and ecological footprint, urgently and fairly.’  Note ‘entire’ emissions, meaning all the supply chain stuff that’s being blamed on China and all those flights people like to think they can pay to offset. What if we got York City Council and York Outer’s MP to support this?  You can read the summary of the Bill here, and the whole document here (only 10 pages) and tell politicians what you think.

If you missed the deadlines for YEW, why not put your event on the Great Big Green Week website and search there for more events?  Just remember: YEW is also GBGW and YCCN residency, and you’ll find lots to do.

YEW 2021 flyers

With only a couple of weeks to go until York Environment Week 2021, the publicity machine is in full swing and we are looking to get the word out to as many people as possible about our wonderful festival.

To help us make the week even more successful than last year, please download the above flyer image (see also below for more file formats) and share it to your fellow York residents on social media etc. If you would like any printed flyers to distribute to friends, family etc. or put on neighbourhood display boards, please contact us and we can send you some.

We are posting about all the different events every day on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, so please feel free to join in and share those posts. If you are running one of the events then please make sure you publicise your event, including sharing of our posts about your event. And please also give shout-outs to York Environment Week so we can spread the message far and wide, and get big audiences for all our events!

Thanks, and see you soon.

The YEW team

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PRESS RELEASE: York Environment Week 2021 event listings announced

York’s second Environment Week will run this year from 18th-26th September. More than double the 2020 number of events are planned with both online and in person events possible this year. They will showcase environmental groups who are focusing on acting to tackle climate change in and around York. 

With the theme #YorkActsTogether-Tackling Climate Change, events will highlight ways in which everyone can help reduce climate change by individual and group action. 

This year’s events have been timed to coincide with – and will receive support from – The Great Big Green Week. With thousands of groups involved this will be the largest programme of events for climate and nature ever seen in the UK. 

York Environment Week will be hosting events as diverse as Improving Your House and Re-Wilding the Campus East of University of York, to in-person discussions about the Sustainable Transport Report on Tadcaster Road and guided walks around Museum Gardens, and much more. 

Some of the events will remain online, which gives greater accessibility for more widespread participation, but others will this year be conducted in person, which after last year’s restrictions due to the national lockdown, is very welcome. 

One live event will be conducted walks around the Groves, one of a national programme of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). Sara Mair, spokesperson for the group ‘We Are The Groves’ said “We’re really excited to be part of York Environment Week and work together to tackle climate change and we’ll be running our popular ‘Storytelling Walk Around the Groves’, both to encourage walking as an activity and to spread awareness of LTNs.’ 

‘We are the Groves’ is a creative community storytelling project. Find out more at tellusastory@wearethegroves.org or on social media @wearethegroves 

The programme has been put together by members of York Environment Forum and aims to celebrate and promote the work of local environmental groups and amplify “the voice for the environment in York”. 

The Forum’s Chair, Penny Bainbridge, said: “We know the environment – built and natural – is a big concern for York people. Greta Thunberg’s huge following shows that young people want to know what they can do and want to learn practical, sustainable things to make the living world a better place. We hope York Environment Week will help them, as well as all other residents around York, to do that, and to connect the global problems of species extinction, climate change and environmental degradation to positive solutions that they can get involved with locally.” 

“There are already so many people in York passionate about caring for the environment. We want York Environment Week 2021 to showcase them and direct local people towards them to help them get involved.” 

Organisers also want the week of activities and events to create further momentum for implementing York’s climate emergency target of net-zero emissions by 2030, as well as promoting further support for the UN climate conference COP26, to be held in Glasgow in November. 

Many events will be recorded and uploaded to the YEW YouTube channel so that they are available to watch again, which is also designed to create a legacy of resources and information. 

All event listings are now live on the YEW website at https://yorkenvironmentweek.org.uk/events-2021/.