Basecamp: new faces, new ideas, and a weekend of inspiration

Andy Atkins

18 July 2013

If you couldn't be there, I'm sorry: Basecamp was brilliant. Friends of the Earth's 2013 annual gathering for environmental activists combined topical issues with space for collaboration and creativity, all based in a beautiful rural venue with a pub just down the lane.

Basecamp was all about engaging new people in Friends of the Earth's work - participants included volunteers from elsewhere in the green movement, supporters who have yet to connect with local groups, and a growing contingent from Young Friends of the Earth, fresh with lots of ideas.

It was an action-packed weekend that caught people's imagination. With the Big Top and the yurts in the tree-dotted garden of Hartington Hall, a 17th century manor house in Derbyshire, it felt more like a festival or a wedding.

You could have heard a pin drop as the environmentalist George Monbiot delivered a gripping and eloquent talk about rewilding nature - drawn from his new book Feral.

 
George Monbiot addresses a big crowd.

One of our campaigners, it turns out, is  a brilliant cartoonist, and drew live to illustrate the talks and our major campaigns.

Residents Action on Fylde Fracking (RAFF) won this year's Earthmovers' Campaign of the Year award - they're a brilliant example of campaign-building on the ground.

Tina Rothery and Julie Daniels accept their Earthmover award from myself and Campaigner Helen Rimmer - on behalf of all the Lancashire groups involved in RAFF.

It was both hilarious and poignant when everyone lined up for a photo message to support our sister organisation Friends of the Earth Paraguay, which is helping local people protect their land from big agricultural companies. 

Everyone lines up with their message of support.

For me, it was a fitting reminder that the fight for environmental justice goes on all over the world.

I left proud of the organisation, delighted to meet new people, buzzing with possibilities for the future and inspired for the next campaign season.  Onwards!

Andy Atkins, Executive Director