Great Big Green Week: Why community action gives me hope

I spent most of my childhood outside. Out in the garden, watching insects growing tadpoles and asking my parents endless questions about how things worked. I never set out to work in the environment sector (for a long time I wanted to be a cook). I just kept following the questions, and they kept leading me back to the same place: people, communities, nature, and how all of it holds together.

That’s why I care so deeply about The Climate Coalition and Great Big Green Week today.

Because environmental action isn’t about abstract targets or distant futures. It’s about our homes, the places we love, the people we care about, and the kind of future we want to build together.

Caption (left to right): Brexbourne Big Green Fest, Helen Meech, Climate Cymru Green Mingle

Why climate action belongs to everyone

Climate action has often been led by a relatively small group of people, and we owe them a lot. Many of the changes we've seen happened because they kept pushing long before anyone was listening. But the next stretch needs many more of us. It needs to live in everyday places, in the things people already love and worry about.

That’s why Great Big Green Week matters

Every year, communities across the UK come together through schools, faith groups, sports clubs, libraries, charities, businesses and neighbourhood groups to celebrate action for climate and nature in ways that feel practical, hopeful and rooted in everyday life.

Last year, around 1.2 million people took part in thousands of events across the country. Many were completely new to climate action. Many weren’t part of what people might traditionally think of as “green groups”.

That matters because when climate action is rooted in communities, it stops feeling abstract or divisive. It becomes something people can see themselves in.

You see it in repair cafés bringing neighbours together. In schools creating wildlife spaces. In faith groups organising community meals. In sports clubs cutting waste and supporting local nature projects. In families attending their first local event because it feels welcoming, practical and positive.

Together for Good

At The Climate Coalition, we often talk about collective action because we believe people are powerful, especially when we come together.  

Our role isn’t simply to shout louder. It’s to help bring more people in.

We’re seeing thousands of local leaders stepping up across the country, many for the first time. Not because they see themselves as campaigners, but because they care about warm homes, cleaner air, green spaces, thriving communities and a safer future for the next generation.

Politicians notice this too. They respond to arguments, but they respond faster when they can see communities turning up, organising, making themselves visible. That's part of what Great Big Green Week does. It makes the scale of what people care about harder to look away from.

Why I remain hopeful

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the moment. Many of us are stretched financially, trust in institutions is shaky, and climate conversations can tip into doom or feel like one more thing to worry about.

But I remain hopeful.Not because I think change is inevitable, but because I see what people are already doing. Communities building things from the ground up. Young people demanding better. Organisations working together in ways that would have felt impossible ten years ago.

And people care deeply about climate and nature. They might not use those words. But talk about clean air, cheaper bills, good jobs, warm homes, safe places for their kids to play, and they're already with you.

Rebecca Solnit has a line I come back to a lot. Optimism and pessimism can both let us off the hook. What matters is believing that what we do matters, even when we can't see how it lands.

Hope isn't a feeling. It's something you build by doing things together.

Join us this June

Great Big Green Week 2026 runs  from 6–14 June 2026, and there are loads of ways to be part of it. Come along to a local event. Organise something yourself, a litter pick, a nature walk, a film night, a shared meal, and invite your neighbours. Take part through your school, workplace, or place of worship. Or just show up. That counts too.

When millions of us act together, however small the action, we tell communities, local leaders and politicians something they can't ignore: this is the future people want.

That's what Together for Good means to me. And that's what keeps me hopeful.

Find events and ways to get involved at Great Big Green Week

You can also hear more of Helen discussing these issues on the Sustainable Matters podcast from ISEP.