Act Local – Giving you the tools to take local climate action

Are you interested in bringing climate action to your neighbourhood or community? Act Local, a new Friends of the Earth campaign, can help you to organise, get started, and take action at a local level. 

Although the climate crisis is seen as a major global challenge, it is one with local solutions. Bringing together communities and looking at what changes need to be made within neighbourhoods, towns and villages is a crucial part of ensuring a safer and healthier future.

The campaign centres around two key issues for local areas – nature and transport – providing resources to help you learn more about these issues, how to start a campaign and how you can build up a local movement in your community.

Local level climate issues

There are many issues that can be addressed at a local level, but the Act Local campaign provides guides on two topics: Space for Nature and Connected Communities. These guides provide an overview of the issues and challenges on the topic, along with things that can be done by local authorities, businesses, communities and individuals to address these challenges.

Space for Nature

Space for Nature focuses on adding, enhancing and protecting green spaces and nature sanctuaries within your community. Protecting nature not only allows us to support biodiversity and address the biodiversity crisis, it also benefits communities and creates healthier, cleaner spaces for all. 

Connected Communities

Many of our communities experience traffic congestion, which leads to air pollution, noise pollution and carbon emissions. Changing how we get around our communities is a major factor in reducing emissions. Prioritising active travel (such as walking, cycling, wheeling or scooting) and public transport over the private car helps to create safer streets, reduce emissions, provide cleaner air, and can benefit local business.

Find out more about Space for Nature and Connected Communities.

Resources for local-level climate action

To help you get started, Act Local provides a host of resources with everything you need to kickstart a campaign. This includes:

Briefing documents 

Before you start campaigning, it helps to have a deeper understanding of the issue you’re trying to address. Briefing documents on the Space for Nature and Connected Communities topics will help you build knowledge and learn about potential solutions for your area.

‘Nuts and Bolts’ campaigning guide

Starting a campaign from scratch can be a little overwhelming, but this is made simple with the ‘Nuts and Bolts’ campaigning guide which provides everything you need to build a local group and run a successful campaign from start to finish.

Press release guide 

Spreading the word is a key part to a successful campaign, and the press release guide will help you get your message out to local media outlets.

Petition guide 

Send a strong message to decision makers on how much support there is for your campaign by starting a petition. The petition guide will help you set up and get signatures on a petition.

Cuppa for Climate 

The best way to find people to support your campaign is to start a conversation in the community, and the ‘Cuppa for Climate’ allows you to bring people together and chat about climate action. This can be a great way to engage people in an informal setting, and find like minded individuals to run your campaign with. Friends of the Earth have a guide on how to host a Cuppa for Climate.

If we are to address the challenges facing our climate and biodiversity, we need to work together. Communities are powerful drivers of change, and Act Local can help to get your local campaign started. Find out more about the Act Local campaign on the Friends of the Earth website: