Voices for Change: Stories from the Environmental Movement

A unique event with leading environmentalists Areeba Hamid (Co-director of Greenpeace UK); Asad Rehman (CEO of Friends of the Earth) and Harriet Lamb (Chief Executive of the Green Party) and Tony Juniper (Chair of Natural England). Introduced by Craig Bennett (CEO of the Wildlife Trusts).

They discuss what makes an effective campaign? What have been the major successes and failures across the last 50 years? What makes people stand up and what impact does it have on their lives? Does ‘think global, act local!’ really work? What lessons are there for environmentalists of the future? The evening includes presentations, sound clips and in-depth discussion.

This event launches the groundbreaking ‘Voices for Change’ an Oral History of the Environmental Movement that has captured 100 life story interviews with UK environmentalists active over the last fifty years – all to be available at the British Library. A remarkable conversation with leading environmentalists: people who have been the mainstay of the movement, advocating and making change locally or nationally, often unrecognised or derided, sometimes even criminalised. From the National Trust to Extinction Rebellion, from the Conservation Society to Greenpeace, this is a movement that has created lasting change across the UK.

The project is funded by the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council and run by Royal Holloway University of London in partnership with National Life Stories at the British Library, the Royal Geographical Society, Friends of the Earth, and the Wildlife Trusts.

Part of Green Libraries Week 2025.

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