THE Climate Coalition is a charity, registered under the name of the Climate Movement.

It has around 140 member organisations, including the National Trust, the Women’s Institute, Oxfam and prominent wildlife and environmental organisations.

Since it was started in 2015, one of its great achievements has been to push the green recovery plan up the political agenda - vital as we rebuild the economy after the pandemic and our exit from the EU.

Genuine lasting change will only happen if hearts and minds are captured, which is why the Climate Coalition runs their Show the Love campaign throughout February.

The making, wearing and giving of green hearts is a symbolic part of the campaign.

How you and your family can take part and the materials available are described in detail on the website - www.theclimatecoalition.org/show-the-love

We can show our love for our world by securing its future and enabling it to self-heal the damage caused since the human race industrialised with fossil fuels.

Ironically, what was a brilliant breakthrough at the time, powered the British Empire and brought the massive improvements to human existence which we take for granted, has left us with three disastrous problems which science already knows how to fix - we are releasing too much carbon dioxide, damaging the environment too much and our population is still rising rapidly.

The solutions?

Switch to green energy, live sustainably and provide family planning across the world.

The Show the Love campaign offers you the means to do this at a political level by telling those who represent you how much you want them to use their powers to fix these problems.

There are instructions and materials on the website.

My plea to them all is please stop procrastinating and allowing self-interested groups to get in the way because we are in a race against time.

If politics is not for you Show the Love has plenty of ideas for you and your own community.

This is much more up my street, quite literally.

I believe in doing what we can according to our circumstances and one of the ideas on the Show the Love website is perfect for this.

Take a look at the local link-up - www.theclimatecoalition.org/local-linkup-show-the-love

My neighbourhood has a WhatsApp group which evolved in response to the pandemic and is perfect for the purpose.

We are 40-plus households sharing news, collecting for the foodbank, baking for the junior doctors, recycling household goods, books and toys and, whenever we can, helping one another out.

We have discovered a common concern for our environment, a pleasure in the wildlife within it and a commitment to the children who will inherit it from us.

Little surprise then that I am just about to send out a text to my neighbours…

“Hi, take a look at this. It’s the Show the Love Local Link Up thing. Anyone interested?”

Jill Bruce

Jill Bruce

* Jill Bruce, Lead Essex WI Climate Ambassador, is hosting a series of free Zoom meetings with excellent speakers from Greenpeace, the WWF, the Climate Coalition, the Committee on Climate Change and more, in discussion with Essex MPs, as part of Show the Love. Join in by registering at www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/online/show-the-love-2021/