Hackney Friends of the Earth create buzz to persuade the powers that be

Creating a buzz for change: Hackney Friends of the Earth. Photograph: Amelia Collins

What’s your theory of change? I’m told that amongst very serious activists this question gets a lot of attention, and a fair amount of justified caricature too.

But I think it’s worth exploring – we’re all trying to change things one way or another, after all. Whether it’s a pay rise at work, a political system that really works for us, better facilities in our areas, or a better future for our kids.

How do you create change? Do you go straight to your boss and ask for that pay rise? If that works, fantastic. And if it doesn’t, you have to ask yourself why not. Is it because your boss doesn’t rightly value your incredible contribution, or because the organisational pay structure doesn’t have scope for it? If so, I would have thought you have two options: get all your colleagues to keep reminding your boss about how great you are; or change the rules.

I wouldn’t call that a theory of change though; I’d call that a campaign. Someone told me recently that ‘campaign’ originally means ‘preparing people for war’, and even if you’re going for a change in the rules you’re going to need a groundswell of public support (or a water-tight legal case!).

Thankfully, most campaigns have more latitude around tactics than is available in the office. Bribery-by-cake is, of course, a multi-functional tool suitable to any ground, but there are a host of more creative means. In the name of getting people’s attention, we’ve dressed up as cows, waves, and cabin crew. We’ve staged fake living rooms, organised conferences, camped in Bishopsgate and a spent many hours making tiny flags, with tiny tiny bees on them.

More seriously, we’ve also spent any number of hours talking and listening to people: local people, voluntary groups, councillors, MPs, officials, experts, and the press. You have to get people’s attention (solicitous question about your boss’s golf handicap), and then you have to persuade them – with evidence or weight of public opinion – that the change you propose is necessary (litany of good work for the company) and timely (the fact that you’ve been head-hunted).

We worked to persuade all of the MPs in Hackney and Tower Hamlets to vote for the Sustainable Livestock Bill in February 2011. If passed into law, this bill would have brought in a better agricultural system in the UK, with subsidies more accurately targeted towards farming that delivers for people and the environment.

Legislation is one means of changes the rules of the game: without legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, you can’t get the public and private sectors behind coordinated action to tackle climate change: that’s what you have in the Climate Change 2008, subject of FoE’s Big Ask campaign.

Without a planning system that explicitly gives weight to net gains for nature, planning officers cannot take that into account in deciding applications: that’s what you now have in the National Planning Policy Framework, subject of FoE campaigning this year and last.

We’re creating change for a more environmentally-friendly and just world, and you could join us. It’s surprisingly fun. Take a first step by coming to a meeting: second Monday of every month at the FOE offices in Underwood Street.

For more information go to Hackney Friends of the Earth.

Note: this article was written by Kate Hand of Hackney Friends of the Earth.