Open letter supporting new law to protect people and environment signed by 17 local organisations

Less than a week before we meet Leicester South MP Shockat Adam to talk about our work on the 'Planet Over Profit' campaign, two more local organisations have signed our open letter supporting a new law to protect people and the environment. We welcome this support from Parents for Future Leicestershire and Neve Shalom Synagogue. We've had four new signatories this month, with 17 signatures in total. Some of our partners from these organisations will be joining our meeting with Shockat, to explain why they think a new law is so important.

We are very pleased to see that Shockat Adam has already signed the Good Business Matters pledge in support of a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act. We will be talking to him about the next steps that he can take to demonstrate his support. We hope that the other MPs in Leicester and Leicestershire will follow his example! 

We have also been out and about talking to members of the public about the need for a new law and we have collected postcards from people expressing their support. If you haven't had chance to fill in a postcard, you can still sign our digital petition: Leicester for fair supply chains  But please be quick! We'll be closing this on Thursday.

Two more Leicester organisations support good business campaign

In the last few months, we have been continuing to work on the Planet Over Profit campaign, calling for a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act to hold companies to account for any harm caused in their supply chain. This would help to end the exploitation of natural resources and human rights. We have now collected hundreds of postcards to local MPs. If you haven't been able to talk to us on a stall and sign a postcard, you can still sign the digital petition. 

We have also been talking to local organisations and Leicester's Unite the Union Community Branch and Leicester Woodcraft Folk have both signed our open letter to MPs supporting a new law, which you can read in full in our previous blog post. 

We will be meeting Shockat Adam, the MP for Leicester South, in early June, to deliver the postcards, petition and open letter and talk to him about the need for a new law. If you belong to an organisation or small business that would like to sign the open letter and come along to the meeting with Shockat, get in touch with us at leicesterfoe@gmail.com.

1500 people join birthday party for David Attenborough!

Approximately 1500 people gathered in Attenborough Arboretum yesterday, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough with us. We organised the community picnic with nature-themed activities for the whole family, to inspire people to continue Sir David’s love for the natural world.

A wide range of Leicester environmental and wildlife groups participated and organised activities. An education officer from the Botanic Gardens led pond dipping and minibeast hunting sessions. Leicester Botany Group took people on a guided walk through the trees of the arboretum. Leicestershire and Rutland Bat Group helped people to make bat finger puppets and bunting and had hundreds of conversations with people about how they could help bats. Leicester Green Quakers led ‘mindful moments’ in quiet parts of the arboretum. Parents for Future Leicestershire created a collage from plastic waste and talked to people about how they could reduce their plastic use at home. Climate Action Leicester and Leicestershire led a workshop on ‘Greener Gardens’ for wildlife and adapting our cities to climate change. Insecta Collective helped people to make animal masks and talked to everyone about their upcoming nature-themed art exhibition. 9th Leicester Cubs, of which David Attenborough was a member as a boy, showed people how to make their own natural art materials. 

On our stall, we made wildflower seed bombs and invited people to sign our pledge not to use pesticides in their gardens at home. We also co-ordinated a giant birthday card for Sir David and invited everyone to add their own message. 

Picnickers spread throughout the arboretum, with people sitting to share food with family and friends. The event culminated with a mass happy birthday sing, around a beautiful cake baked by students at Leicester College. A video of the singing and the birthday card will now be sent to Sir David.

Sam Holmes from Parents for Future Leicestershire left us with her thoughts:

"This is a critical time for us all to join together and act to restore our beautiful natural world. At Parents for Future Leicestershire we want to celebrate Sir David's incredible legacy, and protect the planet for all of our kids' futures. The event today has enabled us to increase awareness in our local community of the things that all of us can do, and how we can use our voices and actions to change the world, together."