Make your community greener
Creating biodiverse spaces are good for people, communities and our planet.
Greener spaces, happier communities!
Studies show that spending time outside has a positive impact on mental and physical health, while communal green spaces bring people from all backgrounds together.
What’s more, nature helps communities to be more resilient to severe weather – trees lower the temperature of urban areas in heatwaves, while plant roots absorb water in torrential rain and absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
If you want to make your community greener and learn how to be more environmentally friendly where you live, we’ve got loads of ideas and tips to help you get started. And remember, small changes can have a big impact!
Go green during the Month of Community
The Month of Community celebrates everything that makes our communities great, taking place during June. Events and initiatives from our partners will take place all throughout the month!
Embrace your wild side to explore and protect nature this June.
- Have a Grow Day is a national celebration of all things community growing, run by Social Farms and Gardens. If you’re part of a community garden, city farm, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) or care farm, why not get involved on Saturday 3 or Sunday 4 June?
- Want to showcase the nature on your doorstep? We’ve teamed up with RSPB and MoreHuman to help you share the nature where you live. Creating a Community Nature Trail helps more people enjoy and appreciate their surroundings, and it’s really simple to do. Design your own Community Nature Trail
- The Great Big Green Week is the UK’s biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. There’s loads to get involved with, from sharing what inspires you to litter picking! Find out more
Seed a wildflower meadow
Surprisingly easy and wildflowers like poorer quality soil!
Little guide for looking after nature
A downloadable resource perfect for children.
Plant flowers in your street
Every little space helps create biodiverse places!
Make a space for nature this summer
Some of our favourite guides in one handy place!
Easy ways to get started
You don’t need to be green-fingered or have a large space to make a big difference. Build it and they will come – it’s true for nature and people alike!
Planting flowers in your street using old containers, litter-picking or offering to volunteer for a local green space is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. From February through to spring is also the perfect time to grow food for your Big Lunch – no experience required!
Looking for something a little more involved? Read our guide on setting up your very own community garden. We’ll guide you through everything you need – from getting permission to recruiting a team of helpers.
How to be more eco-friendly
Making our communities more nature-friendly is just one of many ways we can make a positive change for our planet.
Recycling household items through community events and crafting sessions is a wonderful way to reduce waste and bring people together. Read our swishing top tips to help you hold a clothes-swapping event, cut down on your carbon footprint by organising a walking bus or set up a community food project to help reduce food waste.
Looking to hold an eco-friendly event or Big Lunch? We have lots of suggestions to help you avoid single-use plastic, make your own decorations and avoid food waste.
Hold a clothes swapping event
…and invite that friend with great fashion sense…
Organise a walking school bus
Little footprints that lower carbon footprints.
Beat food waste
A free e-book showing you how to eat and grow local.
Zero waste event tips
Reuse, reclaim and recycle – looks great and saves money!
Reducing waste with the Cherwell Collective
Emily Connally is the founder of Cherwell Collective, a community interest company using the principles of a circular economy to empower local people to…
Saving the planet, one Big Lunch at a time!
After organising her first Big Lunch in 2009, Diane from Warton has been bringing her community together for an annual day of community celebration…
We’re transforming neglected areas into community spaces
Grow N22 is a community project in North London which transforms unlikely, disused and neglected spaces across Haringey into vibrant community gardens and growing…