Join the conversation about climate change

In the run up to COP26, the United Nations Climate talks later this year in Glasgow, Crawley Borough Council is encouraging the local community to join the conversation about climate change. It has organised a number of local activities as part of the Great Big Green Week, taking place from 18 – 26 September, which celebrates what is being done across the nation to improve our local environment and tackle climate change.

Crawley Borough Council has organised the following activities during the Great Big Green Week:

• A free walk will take place on Thursday 22 September at 10.30am in Tilgate Park, one of Crawley’s five Green Flag award-winning parks, meeting at the Walled Gardens. The walk, led by Curator Nick Hagon, will last up to two hours. The walk in the beautiful park will feature mixed terrain including some hills and will take in some of the tree trail and other areas of interest around Tilgate Park, its history and future plans including climate change, sustainability and the small things we can do in our own gardens to help safeguard the future of our planet. You can register for the walk via myCrawley
• Christian Threader, Crawley Borough Council Parks and Conservation Manager, will open The Friends of Goffs Park AGM in Goffs Park on Saturday 25 September at 11am. He will give an informative talk on how the council’s park team is addressing climate change issues
• At Tilgate Nature Centre, the Education team will be talking about climate change as part of the regular talks about animals, their habitat and ecology. The team will also be looking at ‘appreciation and action for nature’ on its social media channels this week, including sharing some of the beauty of the natural world, alongside tips for reducing your carbon footprint at home, at work and on the go! There’ll be cute critters and pretty vistas in a nature bathing video, as well as ideas for shopping and travelling that help the planet

A small group of people took part in a walk at Worth Park last Thursday with the Worth Park Wanders, led by Head Gardener Stephen Peters. Stephen gave a walking commentary of the beautiful historic park and talked about what we are doing in Worth Park to help combat climate change such as plant diversity, no mow zones and better soil management.

We continue to support the Beewild Maidenbower trial which aims to bring beauty to the area with its wild flower patches and most importantly, support the bees and pollinators. The success of the trial will be evaluated in due course.

The Great Big Green Week is organised by The Climate Coalition, the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action against climate change, whose members include the National Trust, WWF, Women's Institute, Oxfam, and RSPB. You can find out more by visiting the Great Big Green Week website.