Lancing children help launch green campaign

The Great Big Green Week campaign begins at the weekend and will run until Sunday, October 2, with thousands of people across the UK hosting local festivals and events.

The campaign aims to draw attention to climate change and the destruction of the natural world, while also making a connection with these issues in communities like Lancing and showcasing actions that can be taken to tackle climate change.

The initiative was launched in Lancing by Co-op member pioneer Bob Smytherman and Adur District Council chairman Andy McGregor at an assembly at North Lancing Primary School.

The Great Big Green Week is an important part of the Co-op campaign ‘Co-operating for a Fairer World’, and Mr Smytherman said: “I want to see progress on tackling climate change because I care about our children and those in other countries that are feeling the worst effects of climate change.

“By engaging today's young people with the Co-op's campaign for Co-operating for a Fairer World, together we can encourage whole community of Lancing to do more to recycle their soft plastics in our local Lancing store.”

The Great Big Green Week is being organised by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action against climate change, whose members include the National Trust, WWF, Women's Institute, Oxfam, and the RSPB. Other organisations supporting the campaign included BT, British Mountaineering Council, and the Manchester United Foundation.

Mr McGregor said: “We’ve seen how climate change can affect us directly here in Lancing with recent flooding and coastal erosion. We need to tackle climate change now and our young people are willing to lead the way with the support of our local MP and district and county councils.”