Update on One Future

A network of local climate campaigners!

Friends of the Earth supports people who are concerned about the climate crisis, to take action together. One of the ways we bring people together to campaign on climate is by supporting One Future. One Future is a network of people across Ireland who want to do more to push for climate action, going beyond taking e-actions or signing petitions. With the right support One Future members are prepared to pick up the phone to their TDs, get together with others in their local area to campaign against climate wrecking projects (and support climate friendly projects!) and engage with members of their community.

There are One Future members in almost every constituency in Ireland. Not all of them are fully-organised as groups yet but if you’re on the mailing list we’ll make sure you are the first to know about opportunities to step up your campaigning action. It’s been a busy few months for One Future - we’ve been hosting a wide range of training sessions, workshops and meetings to support One Future members to develop their skills, work with others in their constituency to build local climate campaign groups and identify issues they want to campaign on.

We’ve had some fantastic guest facilitators from renowned organisations like NEON and Seeds for Change who have provided training on topics like campaign building, climate communication and group building. We’ve also held webinars and meetings on issues like the infamous Shannon LNG project (which many One Future members are actively campaigning against) and the urgent issue of rising fuel poverty. 

As the lockdown lifted, some local One Future groups have been getting more active in their community to build relationships and chat to neighbours. The last time you heard from us, Fingal One Future was kicking off its resistance to the Kilshane Gas Plant. Since then, the gas plant was denied planning permission by the local council and the developers have not re-applied for permission. Fingal One Future has gone from strength to strength and are now campaigning against new data centres in their area using local petitions, in-person outreach stalls and social media. 

Dun Laoighaire One Future are hosting monthly “Picnics and Protests in the Park” on Sundays to bring people together and chat to neighbours about local and national climate issues. Over the past 2 months they have been focusing on the issue of Shannon LNG. Last Sunday they gave out over a 100 leaflets to spread awareness of the Shannon LNG project and ask Dun Laoighaire residents to stand in solidarity with groups in Kerry who have been opposing the import of fracked gas into Tarbert for over a decade on health, human rights and climate justice grounds.