‘And then an idea came. It arose suddenly and naturally from our Business Meeting.’

Climate change can make us feel helpless. But at Finchley Meeting, says Tony D’Souza, they tackle the problem one step at a time

It was the overwhelming feeling of helplessness that started it all. The baking hot summer, glaciers melted to bare rock in Iceland, and wildfires bigger than Belgium in Siberia and in the Amazon. Global warming. We felt so completely helpless. What could we do? The unfolding disaster seemed too huge, too apocalyptic, even to imagine, never mind do anything about.

But wait. We care. We really do care. We are the members and attenders of Finchley Meeting in north London. We care enough about the environment to do our best with recycling both at home and at our Meeting house. All tins, jars and bottles are rinsed out and put in the correct recycling bin. We avoid long car journeys and never fly unless it is absolutely necessary. Currently, we are working on plans to make our Meeting house carbon neutral. What else can we do?

And then an idea came. It arose suddenly and naturally from our Business Meeting. (We put outreach on the agenda at every Business Meeting because this generates creative ways to heighten our profile in the local community.) The idea was so simple that at first it was difficult to take it seriously. So simple we nearly missed it completely. We decided that we would go out into the local community and pick up some litter.

This sparked a lot of discussion. As this was an outreach initiative, and we wanted to open the litter picking event to the public, we had to be clear about our health and safety policy. One attender trawled the internet for similar events, and soon we had a mass of relevant information, including risk assessments and safety guidelines. We decided to make the first litter pick event a ‘dry run’ by restricting the event to members and attenders only so that we could get a feel for how it would go. This turned out to be a very good idea.

We chose to hold the litter pick on a Sunday, directly after Meeting, as this would be the best time to get a group together. When Sunday came, we had about twelve people all raring to go. Everyone was asked to wear a hi-viz jacket. We offered protective gloves (the blue disposable type) for those who wanted them and we also had litter picking sticks for those who might have difficulty bending down to pick things up.

Our walk leader had checked the route the previous week. This really helped for a number of reasons. Firstly, they knew where we were going at all times, as well as how we were going to get back, so there was no need for anyone to worry about anything apart from picking up litter. Secondly, they knew where the litter was, which meant we did not have to waste time looking for it.

For safety reasons we appointed a ‘back marker’, whose job was to remain at the back so nobody got left behind. Crossing roads is always a high-risk safety concern, so where possible we used zebra crossings. If there was no zebra crossing, we stopped the traffic and led the group across. London motorists, usually a testy and short-tempered lot, did not seem to mind at all. They appeared to be very approving, fascinated and amused by our little group.

We were very careful to sort the litter into recyclable and ordinary refuse (coloured bags for recycling and black for waste). This is essential for legal disposal, which must be done in accordance with the rules of the local authority. The walk leader had identified disposal points when checking the route.

We received a lot of positive comments from the public, particularly on the high street. ‘How wonderful to see somebody doing something’ was the most common remark. Many shopkeepers were also very helpful and affirming. In fact, everyone we met was appreciative of what we were doing.

We have now advertised the litter walk on the local authority website, and expect members of the public to join us. We ask them to meet in the car park of our Meeting house. The simple conversations that spring up with whoever turns up are the best form of outreach possible. Of course, people who join the litter pick do not have to come to Meeting on Sunday, but at least they know we exist and will tell their friends about their experience with us.

We learned a lot from our first litter pick. We intend to run the event on a regular basis. Here are our findings:

• Planning is crucial. The walk leader should check the route and know it well. This survey should be done at the same time as the planned walk (in our case Sunday morning) to make sure the conditions are the same and that there is litter to pick up.
• The walk leader should know where the safe road crossing points (zebra crossings) are and where all the legal waste disposal points are along the route. Walking back to the start point with sacks full of litter is to be avoided.
• We discovered that picking up litter and walking at the same time is very slow. People like to chat, and this slows things down. It is better to identify a litter ‘hot spot’, walk directly there, pick up the litter, and then come back to the start point. This saves time and is more manageable.
• Aim for a place that is busy on a Sunday morning. High streets, parks or other public spaces are recommended. It is good for morale when the public ask what you are doing or why you are doing it.
• Our (very valid) concerns about health and safety were exaggerated. We underestimated people’s common sense. We asked people to be careful and they were. Nobody picked up broken glass and nobody got run over.

The most important thing is this – we all had a good time. The aim of the exercise is to socialise and have some laughs. This is outreach with a friendly face. Saving the planet is serious, but we don’t have to be serious while we are doing it.

Finally, we no longer feel completely helpless. We feel we are doing something, however small. And it is this ‘doing something, however small’ that attracts members of the local community to come and join us because they are just like us. Many of them feel, or have felt, as helpless as we do when faced with the immense problems caused by the destruction of the global environment.

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