EPIC CLIMATE CHANGE PILGRIMAGE REACHES UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE COP26 AFTER EXTRAORDINARY ODYSSEY
Group walking the length of the UK, ‘Listening to the Land’ is urging world leaders to protect nature
This September, a group of ordinary people set off on an extraordinary odyssey: waling 500 miles across the UK, reaching Glasgow exactly as delegates and world leaders arrive in the city for the UN Climate Change Conference COP26, on Saturday 30th October.
Called Listening to the Land (https://www.pilgrimagefornature.com/), the group is following an ancient pilgrimage route which weaves through many of Britain’s key historic centres of cultural, industrial, spiritual, and political power, taking the temperature of Britain by walking 10 miles each day for eight weeks, come rain or shine.
The group is connecting deeply with and listening to the land and communities they travel through. They are calling on local people to join them as they walk and contribute their thoughts on climate change, nature and biodiversity loss in their backyards as well as local solutions people are already working on, making sure those voices are heard at the UN Climate Conference COP26.
Listening to the Land will present the voices of the people and the land to delegates in Glasgow through a scroll made of canvas into which people will be invited to weave their dreams andcalls for nature; through a performance based on all the magical and urgent things the pilgrims have heard from the land and its people, and theirdeep personal transformation they experienced on this existential journey.
Jolie C. Booth, co-founder of Listening to the Land, says: “A vast amount of climate change is the result of us all speeding up and consuming too much. Pilgrimage is the exact opposite and puts us in direct contact with nature. The greater our connection to nature, the more we want to protect it. We hope by the time we arrive in Glasgow we will have inspired tens of thousandsof people to go on their own sacred walk andconnect to their land and let nature guide their action.”
Anna Lehmann, co-founder of Listening to the Land, says: “We are at a deciding point for humanity. How we treat nature in the next decade defines the world we all will live in. Nature needs us to give back. The UK is uniquely positioned to lead on this: as this year’s COP host, as a huge historic emitter with a still growing international land footprint, but most significantly, the UK hasthe chance to become an ‘indicator economy’ that might, in the adoption of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, show how to set a clear goal for nature conservation and restorationand inspire other nations to follow.’
Supported by the British Pilgrimage Trust and the creative campaign Letters to the Earth, the group invites everyone who is unable to join the pilgrimage to walk wherever they are and share their own sacred walk, stroll in your backyard with them at #WalkingTheLand2021, or send them their hopes, wishes and fears for nature onwww.pilgrimagefornature.com.
To raise further awareness, there are several events happening from the 26th October until the 12th November around COP26, please find the full event list, social media profiles, and their fundraising campaign here: https://linktr.ee/listeningtotheland
Website: https://www.pilgrimagefornature.com/
