Advocacy
Advocacy is any sort of action to get things you care about on the agenda. For HUGS our priorities are supporting nature, tackling the climate crisis, and encouraging sustainability.
We’ll be joining a growing network of groups concerned with limiting the damage we cause to the planet, and trying to ensure our communities are fit places to live in the future.
As part of this network we’ll discuss local housing, transport, land use, energy and nature. By considering alternatives, contributing to debates, and holding decision-makers to account, we hope to help shape policies and plans so they don’t compromise when it comes to sustainability.
The Time Is Now
During lockdown we took part in an online event called ‘The Time Is Now’. The aim was for people across the country to talk to their MP about their hopes and concerns for a green recovery from Covid-19.
We took part in a meeting with David Johnston, MP for our constituency, in which we highlighted the need:
for more action to ensure new homes are sustainable
to avoid delays to the new Environment Bill and the new Agriculture Bill
to improve and extend the local cycle network
As a result of the meeting Mr Johnston agreed to review progress on sustainability issues in this constituency on a regular basis.
What’s at stake?
Speaking up about these issues now is important because otherwise decisions which affect our communities might be taken without full consideration of the impacts they’ll have.
We need to speak up because governments and councils are notoriously poor at making decisions that look beyond their term of office. They don’t necessarily look to the medium and long-term impacts of what they’re doing. And they almost never look to the impact on future generations.
Individual action vs collective campaigning
As individuals there are lots of ways we can make our voices heard: signing petitions, writing to our MP, attending council meetings, going on marches.
These methods are most effective when lots of people are involved (unless you’ve got a public profile the size of, say, Marcus Rashford’s!) so let us know what you care about and we might be able to spread the word together.
Information-gathering
In Harwell the sustainability group has surveyed residents about their views on cycling. This information is being used to inform plans for improving the cycle network and removing problems which prevent people from enjoying safe, emission-free travel.
This has inspired us to look at gathering information which could help improve our village. If you’ve got ideas on what data might be useful, please drop us a line at hugsustainability@gmail.com