SCHOOL CHILDREN’S LETTERS PUT CLIMATE CRISIS INTO PERSPECTIVE IN
NORTH DEVON EXHIBITION.
A pop-up exhibition called Letters from the Global South is coming to North Devon and Torridge in September to highlight the impact of the climate and nature crisis on vulnerable communities across the world. The exhibition will be available to view in Barnstaple, Bideford, South Molton, and Torrington and is free and open to everyone. Local schools are being encouraged to attend.
Created using letters and pictures by school children from countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, and South Africa, the exhibition seeks to show how the crisis is affecting people in the world’s most vulnerable communities. The exhibition has travelled around the UK visiting London, Edinburgh, Shropshire, and Bristol.
Dr Alessandra Palange, the exhibition’s curator, says: ‘We asked children around the world to tell us how the climate and nature crisis is affecting their everyday lives. Within a few months, we received hundreds of handwritten letters, emails, photos and drawings from communities already experiencing the very real impacts of climate change and environmental destruction. The power of the exhibition comes from letting us hear the voices of people who we would otherwise never know existed. These are ordinary people, just like us, who live in communities that are on the frontlines of climate breakdown.’
Letters from the Global South, created by Zero Hour and Muslims Declare, is designed to raise awareness about the crossparty Climate and Nature Bill that is returning to Parliament this autumn. The CAN Bill aims to ensure the UK does its bit to keep to the 1.5C climate target agreed at Paris in 2015, as well as halting and reversing UK nature loss by 2030. It has the support of 160 MPs from all the main parties and is backed by over 365 local authorities across the UK including Devon County Council, North Devon, East Devon, Mid Devon Councils; and Barnstaple, Bideford, and Great Torrington Town Councils.
The Bill also has the support of national organisations like The Women’s Institute and The Co-operative Bank, as well as celebrities including wildlife expert Chris Packham, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and businesswoman Deborah Meaden from TV’s Dragon’s Den. Over 200 leading UK climate and nature scientists support it.
Cathy Slaughter from Bideford, who is looking after the exhibition during its stay in North Devon and Torridge, says: ‘I wanted to bring Letters from the Global South here because it really engages people about this issue. The letters and pictures remind us that the choices we make here in Devon have huge consequences for other people around the world, often those much less privileged than us. As the world gets hotter and hotter, the biggest thing we can do to help is call on our politicians to take meaningful action on the crisis by backing the Climate and Nature Bill in Parliament. We’re encouraging residents to write to their MP after seeing the exhibition and ask them to back the Bill this autumn when it returns to Parliament.’
The exhibition is free to attend at the following venues and dates:
Venues and dates:
17 – 21 September: The Library, South Molton, normal library opening hours.
22 September: Eco Fair at The Pannier Market, South Molton, 11am–4pm.
24 – 28 September: The Pannier Market Barnstaple, normal opening hours.
30 September – 4 October: Great Torrington School (for school groups only; viewings by appointment with school office).
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