365 Days of Activism

Hi there! My name is Liz.  

Becoming a parent was the thing that most dramatically changed the way that I view life.  I found that my journey into motherhood caused me to start prioritizing my natural compassion, and my urge to pursue a world view of the future became much more acute. It was not long after becoming a mother that Extinction Rebellion began to highlight the completely catastrophic climate crisis we are in and the fact that the crisis will continue to drastically worsen if we do not change everything about the societies and systems that we live in.

I had also become involved in animal rights activism, taking part in activities such as the cube of truth and ‘chalktivism’ events. I am a single parent, and as my daughter was not yet 2 years old it was essential that the events I chose to take part in were family friendly, and would involve my daughter wherever possible. The single fact that caused me to switch to a plant based diet I learnt from watching the film ‘Cowspiracy’; that there are over 1 billion people in the world starving, whilst we are feeding over 70 billion land animals in the animal agriculture industry. The incredible disparity of this fact tore my heart in half, and still has a huge impact on me to this day.

The step from animal rights to environmental activism was a no brainer for me. Losing up to 150 plant and animal species every day due to the climate crisis, it became my ultimate priority to join the work in mitigating the damage being done by our society. I joined my local Extinction Rebellion group in Leeds, where I became the XR Families coordinator and continued to set up a functional families group.

I have always found that the hardest challenge is motivating people and getting people to engage with the work and activism. However, I soon found a circle of local mothers who shared my feelings, concerns and passions, and the support of other parents has been immeasurable. I became part of the XR Families national team at the start of 2020 and discovered another network of incredible empowered and active women who were all driven to create effective and impactful family activism campaigns. Together we have engaged families all over the UK and beyond in all types of activism including protest, petitions, direct action and lifestyle changes.

In the winter of 2020, we designed the ‘Activist Advent Calendar’ which was aimed at families and packed full of activities, one to do every day. We hoped that it would help people to feel strong at a very difficult time, and take part in both individual and collective action throughout the month of December. During the process of putting together the calendar with the team, I had the idea of writing a book called ‘365 Days of Activism’ that would guide people through a journey to become more active in all areas of their life.

I wrote the book in about a month in order for it to be available at the start of the new year, for those who would be considering getting more involved in the environment and all other areas of activism. It is split into weekly sections, each with a topic to consider or action to take that revolves around an aspect of activism. I drew on my own experience and journey over the last few years to create this step by step guide for others.

Some Example chapters are:

You are not alone; Plant based swaps; Sustainable Festivities; Attend a council meeting: Targeting Corporations; Consumption-Clothes; Envision the future; Volunteering.

The book was released in December 2020 and has received positive feedback from a wide range of people, from those new to activism to those who are well established in many organisations and campaigns. Scattered with motivational and inspiring quotes from notable people in history and today, it aims to encourage and support all of us who have made the choice to push for positive changes in society.

My hope is that it will offer guidance, support and reassurance to all who read it.

Book available from: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08Q6HT938

Instagram: @Every_day.activism

Email address: everydayactivism@protonmail.com

Action against Leeds airport expansion.