Friends of the Earth (EWNI) (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) is one of 70 national groups around the world which make up the Friends of the Earth network of environmental organizations. It is usually referred to just as Friends of the Earth within its home countries.
Friends of the Earth Scotland operates separately, so there is no single Friends of the Earth (UK).
Since July 2008, Andy Atkins has been the executive director. Under Atkins' leadership, Friends of the Earth will continue to push for political action to tackle global environmental challenges.
In November 2006, the Big Ask Campaign was widely credited with forcing the Government to include the Climate Change Bill in their legislative programme, set out in "the Queen's Speech". The Climate Change Bill became law on 26 November 2008.
FoE EWNI is part of the 30 national organisations that Friends of the Earth Europe represents and unites at the European level.
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Friends of the Earth was founded in England in 1971, two years after the group was first founded in San Francisco in 1969. [1] Its first leader was Graham Searle, a former vice president of the National Union of Students. One of the first campaigns was to dump 1,500 glass bottles in front of the HQ of soft drinks giant Schweppes in Connaught House, London in protest at the company's policy of having non-returnable bottles. The group had eight local branches in 1971. By 1976 there were 140, and by 1980 it had 250 and 17,000 registered supporters. [2] Between 1984 and 1996 its director was Jonathan Porritt a former teacher and chairman of the Ecology party.[3] Porritt left in 1996, by which time its membership hit 226,000.[3] Between 2000 and 2008, FoE EWNI's executive director was Tony Juniper.
FoE (EWNI) has a dual structure, comprising a trust, which is a registered charity,[4] and a limited company, which carries out political campaigning - something a charity is forbidden to do under UK rules. FoE gets 96 per cent of its funding from individuals. Total income for FoE EWNI Ltd for the year ending May 2010 was £2,978,015 while total expenditure £3,039,618, making a deficit of £61,603. [5]
Friends of the Earth EWNI defines itself as a grassroots organisation, with over 200 local groups making it the largest environmental network in the UK. The local groups are largely autonomous, but most work on at least some national campaigns, especially climate change. Local groups have significant power in shaping the direction of the national organisation, for example by electing a majority of board members.
The major campaign issues of Friends of the Earth in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are:
High profile campaigns have included the return of 1500 non-returnable bottles to Schweppes in 1971, and the successful "Alice's Meadow" campaign of 1983 - which helped force the diversion of the proposed M40 motorway around Otmoor.