Newly launched Parents For Future (PFF) West London held their first event yesterday (23 September 2022) in Hanwell to draw attention to renewable energy alternatives instead of fracking and drilling in the North Sea for oil and gas.
At the outdoor event in Elthorne Park, the group of parents and their children made a pop-up wind farm to highlight the importance of renewable energy for the environment which is now reported to be much cheaper than gas as well as being safer for the planet. Recently, a report highlighted how it is nine times cheaper.
The event coincided with the Global Climate Strike by Fridays for Future, of which Parents for Future supports, and was part of nationwide demonstrations by PFF.
The after school event at Elthorne Park in Hanwell saw children from local primary schools including Oaklands and Fielding craft wind turbines, make signs and play games.
Ealing resident Susan O’Leary, who organised the event in Elthorne Park said: “We hear from parents all the time that they feel stifled and powerless because they don’t feel they can make a difference and yet their heart is breaking when contemplating the future that faces their children if immediate action is not taken with regards to the climate crises. By joining here today we hope to enable parents to be part of the change – be parents for a future – and be able to look back and tell their children, they did everything they could.”
Those attending welcomed the event and PFF West London launching locally.
Genevieve Sitlington went with her son and said: “What a great event! Very well organised, with multiple activities for the children, all of which tied into the underlying theme. This provoked great discussions amongst children and parents, and was a clever accessible way of raising the topic. My son loved seeing how much power he could generate running with the wind turbine he made!”.
Pritie Billimoria added: “It was such a fun event and I met lots of lovely parents from other local schools. But it was clear the looming energy price increase is on everyone’s worry list. Along with urgent help with bills now, there was an absolute appetite to end reliance on gas in the long term and ensure we can power the UK with domestically produced, clean, cheap renewable energy.”
PFF West London can be contacted via:
Twitter: twitter.com/pff_westlondon
Instagram: instagram.com/parentsforfuture_westlondon/
