The Power of Local: How Communities Can Kickstart Climate and Nature Action

When we talk about solving the climate and nature emergency, it’s easy to think of international summits and government targets. But Henley’s recent Great Big Green Week proved something powerful: real change begins at the grassroots — with our community coming together to protect all that we love.

Through a packed week of local events in Henley — including our vibrant Big Green Festival, a poetry evening at Henley Library, Green Screen film “Honeyland” with panel discussion at the Regal Picturehouse, an inspiring talk at Leander by climate scientist Professor Christopher Merchant hosted by Olympic rowing champion Greg Searle, a business roundtable on sustainability at the River & Rowing Museum, and a joyful Big Green Picnic down by the river — we saw what’s possible when people feel connected to a shared purpose. Nearly 2000 people from the local Henley community took part in the events during Great Big Green Week. Ideas were sparked, connections were made, momentum was built. And this is just the beginning.

Local action, lasting impact

What these events showed is that change doesn’t have to start with big policy — it can start on a picnic blanket, in a sports club, in the library, in your garden or at a local business workshop, with small actions which then become amplified. Whether it’s schoolchildren learning about pollution or businesses using their voice to influence their customers and suppliers, change is most powerful when it’s rooted in everyday life.

That’s why our attention now turns to what’s next. Greener Henley’s 2025 – 2028 Plan for a Safer, Cleaner and Greener Henley seeks to harness this momentum, setting out an ambitious but achievable goal: to engage 5,000 local people in climate and nature action over the next three years. This number is not arbitrary, it represents 25% of our local population, the percentage shown by research to be what is needed for a social tipping point. We aim to engage these 5000 people not through top-down campaigns, but by reaching those not yet actively engaged — those who care deeply, but haven’t yet found a way to take part — and supporting them to step in, speak up, and take action.

Pledge for the Planet

As part of this next phase, we’re inviting people and organisations to make a Pledge for the Planet — a set of carefully chosen actions in 9 sectors of our lives: Travel, Food, Money, Energy, Fashion, Stuff we buy, Nature, Speak up, and River. The pledges represent some of the most impactful actions we can take to help tackle the climate and nature crisis.  Each pledge shows how many others have already signed up to it – because while it is easy to feel that individual efforts don’t matter, together we create momentum that’s both impossible to ignore and powerful enough to influence real change.

But we’re not just asking individuals to pledge. We need everyone to reach out to their own networks and spread the word – and some networks can reach a lot of people very quickly. That’s why we’re calling on local organisations — schools, businesses, clubs, and community groups — to Adopt a Pledge and actively promote it to their stakeholders: their members, customers, staff, and suppliers. This is how we grow a ripple effect of action and awareness that spreads far beyond our central efforts — with trusted voices carrying the message into every corner of the community.

Everyone has a role

We believe that climate and nature action works best when it’s local, accessible, built on real relationships and grounded in the community. To truly scale this movement, we need more voices, to reach more people. We need local organisations – schools, businesses, community groups, churches – to step up and lead action within their own networks, so that this becomes a joined up, self-sustaining, connected movement to make Henley safer, cleaner and greener. We are already now starting to see the seeds of that happening, with organisations championing our message within their own communities.  It’s why we’re calling on the following to get involved:

• Schools, which sit at the heart of our community and have vast reach through students and their families, can work with us to help inspire the next generation—amplifying climate and nature action through learning, creativity, and leadership. Schools could, for example, adopt our Get more wildlife friendly Pledge, encouraging simple actions like planting native species, or rewilding school grounds. By embedding this Pledge into everyday school life and sharing it across their wider networks, schools can lead by example and spark broader community engagement.
  
• Local businesses, to drive sustainable practices and bring customers, suppliers, and staff on the journey with them. Businesses have the potential to reach a wide audience very quickly, so for example by undertaking our Pledge to Get Energy Savvy and getting a free energy assessment, businesses can relay that through their networks and quickly inspire similar behaviours.
  
• Sports clubs, to use their strong platforms within the community to amplify and normalise our message to members, supporters and the wider community. They already have a cohesive team, so by sharing their Pledge – for example Walk it / Bike it! – they can inspire their network to adopt these changes.
  
• Community groups, to keep leading the way through projects that bring people together and build trust.  By taking our Spread the word Pledge and simply sharing news about our events, groups can have a huge impact that reaches further into the community, helping to keep people informed in their own conversations on climate and nature issues.
  
• Sporting and other influencers, to become champions for the planet — helping to reach broader audiences and normalise action across all walks of life.  Local rowing champions Greg Searle and Imogen Grant have already started on this journey with us.

Together, these groups can help us amplify Greener Henley’s message and show that collective action is not only possible — it’s powerful.

From momentum to movement

Great Big Green Week showed us what can happen when a community comes together — but it also reminded us that the clock is ticking. We need to take this momentum and turn it into a movement that’s impossible to ignore. Why? Because when communities come together with a shared vision, they model what’s possible, how we can protect our families, our local places and live in harmony with nature.  This kind of positive, united action inspires confidence, encourages wider participation, and creates a strong foundation for lasting change.  Like the multitude of drops of water making up the ocean, our Pledges for the Planet can provide a platform for us to create something bigger and longer lasting than the sum of its parts.

The takeaway

The climate and nature emergency can feel overwhelming. But our community has already shown that we are stronger together. We have the people, the passion, and the power — now we need to use them.  If we can get much larger numbers of people involved, amplify our message through trusted voices, and protect what we love, we’ll create change that lasts.

Because real transformation doesn’t start somewhere else. It starts right here in Henley.