Words by Smiley Team
Celebrities and icons including Viviene Westwood and Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore will read out their Letters to the Earth this week, expressing their hopes for how we can preserve our planet.
They join CEOs from green companies such as Triodos Bank and Vivobarefoot to read their letters aloud in videos that will go out on social media from 25 October to 1 November, in time for the start of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).
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“Letters to the Earth shows that while the climate and nature crisis can be overwhelming, there is power in writing and in working together to make our hopes real,” said Laura. “We are in this together and each of us has a responsibility for the generations to come.”
Also reading their letter is 12-year-old Layn Swanson from campaign group SOS From the Kids, who said: "My letter to the Earth is a letter to the animals - about how much I love them and how I want them to still be here when I have kids because I'm sure they'll love them too."
Campaigners will deliver the letters to attendees at COP26 in Glasgow this November, to inspire leaders to act more ambitiously to protect life on Earth.
Arts organisation Letters to the Earth is leading the initiative to engage the public and the corporate world in climate solutions.
Their co-founder Kay Michael hopes the letters will help spread optimism, saying: “Together we are building a new story. One where everyone everywhere is inspired to dream big and take courageous action to make the world greener, fairer and more resilient.”
Organised together with campaign group Business Declares, the project’s business focus is designed to help corporate players better understand their role in combatting the climate and ecological emergency.
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The first CEO to join the campaign was Galahad Clark from natural footwear company Vivobarefoot. His letter confesses: “Like many, I come from a trade that has caused you untold damage,” and ends with a hopeful message: “I want my kids to feel inspired and rebellious. I hope they never accept the thinking that got us into this crisis.
“One day they may read these words, along with other letters from people in my industry and generation. My greatest wish is that they do so amidst landscapes that have been given the time and space to regenerate. A world where you, and humans, are able to flourish.”
Other letter writers to join the campaign include the CEOs of Triodos Bank UK, Riverford Organics, Hatch Enterprises, Project X, Forster’s Communications, Bates Wells, NatureSave Insurance, Tribe Capital Investment, Ecology Building Society, Beauty Kitchen and TYF.
Find further information about Letters to the Earth here.
