AN ENVIRONMENTALIST has suggested an oak tree be planted to symbolise the importance of the recent climate strikes in Stratford.
Friends of the Earth representative Chris Crean, who spoke at the strike in the town last month, says the tree would be a marker and somewhere people could reflect on the progress made in fighting climate change.
He recommended Bancroft Gardens where organisations gathered to demand the RSC drop its sponsorship with ‘fossil behemoth’ BP. A move which has proved successful after the company announced the decision to conclude the partnership at the end of the year – three years early.
He said: “Would it not be possible for a symbolic oak tree to be planted as a marker for the year in which the young people of your town woke us all up to the need for us all to take action to reduce our emissions? It, in time, could also be a place to which folks, returning to visit family, friends or for a day out, might visit to reflect on how that day and those events went on to shape the way in which we all live.
“There could also be strong links made between climate activists and the locally inspired, by Felix Dennis, Heart of England Forest. This would reflect the growing awareness of the importance of our relationship with nature upon which we all depend.”
He added the climate should be thematic for nearby Coventry’s upcoming City of Culture status and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to ‘make links with people from the Commonwealth already living with the consequences of the changing climate’.
