People & Planet
Encyclopedia
People & Planet is a network of student campaign groups in the UK
. It claims to be "the largest student campaigning organization in the country campaigning to alleviate world poverty
, defend human rights
and protect the environment
."
/College groups in the People & Planet Network, and over 20,000 people on its e-supporter mailing list.
The Support Office provides training and resources to the groups. Based in Oxford
, the office has a budget of around £560,000 for 2007-8. This is very low when compared to organizations with a similar support base and remit (such as Greenpeace
, Amnesty International
, and the Stop AIDS Campaign
). People & Planet has struggled with funding in recent years, relying primarily on governmental grants, trusts and foundations for support. People & Planet has a Fundraising and Activist Network called the FAN Club, allowing members to make regular monthly donations that provide invaluable unrestricted income to support the organization's work.
People & Planet groups are completely autonomous and there is no formal membership system. Decisions on the future of the network and the work of the Support Office are made by a Management Committee (the majority of whose members are elected students) and at the annual Forum event.
Some groups, while being part of the People & Planet network, operate without being called 'People & Planet'.
People & Planet's current campaign areas are Climate Change
and Corporate Power.
coming out top.
.
People & Planet's Green League was first created as a way of driving forward the Higher Education sector's lack of environmental management and poor performance by exposing inaction and celebrating those universities leading the way. It initially scored UK universities on four key institutional factors needed to drive forward significant and sustained improvement in environmental performance, as highlighted by the Going Green report. These criteria are:
The Green League is widely credited with shifting the UK's Higher Education sector towards improved environmental management and performance. The last People & Planet Green League 2009, published on 18 June 2009, showed that 95% of all universities now have publicly-available environmental policies, whilst 85 institutions employed full-time environmental management staff compared with 70 the previous year.
Since the first Green League in 2007, People & Planet has widened the criteria to include measures of actual environmental performance based on Estates Management Statistics data collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England
on behalf of all UK funding councils, as well as strengthening the 'Management & Policy' criteria which measure a university's commitment and approach to improving sustainability, managing environmental performance and minimizing impacts on climate change.
People & Planet's Green League has been published annually in the Times Higher Education since 2007 as a cover story see for example Green League 2009. The Green League 2010 will be published on 17 June 2010. The Green League ranking also now appears in The Independent
's A-Z guide to universities.
The Green League won "Best Campaign" at the 2007 British Environment and Media Awards
in an attempt to raise awareness of Topshop's poor worker's rights record.
People & Planet have called on RBS (who owns Natwest, the UK’s largest student bank) to shift their investments from fossil fuel extraction to renewable energy
projects. Campaigning done by People & Planet groups has caused several students' unions (many which bank with Natwest) to threaten RBS with a boycott. The NUS
has also expressed concern.
including Oxfam
.
Third World First was instrumental in setting up the magazine, The Internationalist which was later reincarnated as the now popular activist-magazine, The New Internationalist.
-Joel, Lord Joffe, CBE, Chair of Oxfam
, 1999.
-George Monbiot
, Guardian columnist, writer and environmentalist, 2007
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It claims to be "the largest student campaigning organization in the country campaigning to alleviate world poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, defend human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and protect the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
."
Organization
As of 2009 there were 60 university groups and 75 Sixth FormSixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
/College groups in the People & Planet Network, and over 20,000 people on its e-supporter mailing list.
The Support Office provides training and resources to the groups. Based in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, the office has a budget of around £560,000 for 2007-8. This is very low when compared to organizations with a similar support base and remit (such as Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, and the Stop AIDS Campaign
Stop AIDS Campaign
The Stop AIDS Campaign is a campaign run by the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development, a coalition of more than 80 of the UK's leading international NGOs and HIV/AIDS groups....
). People & Planet has struggled with funding in recent years, relying primarily on governmental grants, trusts and foundations for support. People & Planet has a Fundraising and Activist Network called the FAN Club, allowing members to make regular monthly donations that provide invaluable unrestricted income to support the organization's work.
People & Planet groups are completely autonomous and there is no formal membership system. Decisions on the future of the network and the work of the Support Office are made by a Management Committee (the majority of whose members are elected students) and at the annual Forum event.
Some groups, while being part of the People & Planet network, operate without being called 'People & Planet'.
Campaigns and events
Annual events include Shared Planet - a student campaigning conference (as of 2006, the largest of its kind in the UK), The Forum - the annual decision making conference where the Management Committee are appointed and new campaigns elected, and The Summer Gathering - a training event which prepares the key activists in People & Planet groups for the academic year ahead.People & Planet's current campaign areas are Climate Change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
and Corporate Power.
People & Planet's Green League
In June 2007 People & Planet published the UK's first university league table to be based on environmental impact, with Leeds Metropolitan UniversityLeeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...
coming out top.
.
People & Planet's Green League was first created as a way of driving forward the Higher Education sector's lack of environmental management and poor performance by exposing inaction and celebrating those universities leading the way. It initially scored UK universities on four key institutional factors needed to drive forward significant and sustained improvement in environmental performance, as highlighted by the Going Green report. These criteria are:
- The active, public support of senior university management - (in particular the vice-chancellor or principal) for a programme of environmental performance improvement.
- Full-time staff dedicated to environmental management - developing objectives, setting priorities, and significant, time-bound targets to fulfil them.
- A comprehensive review to investigate all the environmental impacts of the institution - so that current impacts are measured, potential improvements are identified and performance is monitored.
- A written, publicly available environmental policy - to provide a formal demonstration of intent regarding environmental performance improvement and against which to compare practice.
The Green League is widely credited with shifting the UK's Higher Education sector towards improved environmental management and performance. The last People & Planet Green League 2009, published on 18 June 2009, showed that 95% of all universities now have publicly-available environmental policies, whilst 85 institutions employed full-time environmental management staff compared with 70 the previous year.
Since the first Green League in 2007, People & Planet has widened the criteria to include measures of actual environmental performance based on Estates Management Statistics data collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England
Higher Education Funding Council for England
The Higher Education Funding Council for England is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the United Kingdom, which has been responsible for the distribution of funding to Universities and Colleges of Higher and Further Education in England since...
on behalf of all UK funding councils, as well as strengthening the 'Management & Policy' criteria which measure a university's commitment and approach to improving sustainability, managing environmental performance and minimizing impacts on climate change.
People & Planet's Green League has been published annually in the Times Higher Education since 2007 as a cover story see for example Green League 2009. The Green League 2010 will be published on 17 June 2010. The Green League ranking also now appears in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
's A-Z guide to universities.
The Green League won "Best Campaign" at the 2007 British Environment and Media Awards
The British Environment and Media Awards
The British Environment and Media Awards, or BEMAs, were created by Media Natura, and are awarded by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The awards are open to any professional article, programme, website or campaign, written, produced or undertaken in the UK...
Trade Justice
In 2007 and 2008 People & Planet groups have also campaigned regularly outside branches of the high-street retailer TopshopTopshop
Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
in an attempt to raise awareness of Topshop's poor worker's rights record.
Royal Bank of Scotland campaign
People & Planet co-published a report, along with several other pressure groups, detailing the RBS’ investments into oil and gas extraction. The report claims that RBS are one of the world’s primary financers of oil and gas extraction projects and outlines case studies of RBS funded projects in environmentally and politically sensitive regions where larger amounts of financing is required.People & Planet have called on RBS (who owns Natwest, the UK’s largest student bank) to shift their investments from fossil fuel extraction to renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
projects. Campaigning done by People & Planet groups has caused several students' unions (many which bank with Natwest) to threaten RBS with a boycott. The NUS
NUS
NUS may refer to:* Nu Skin Enterprises* Neglected and Underutilized Species, or Neglected and Underutilized Crops* National Union of Students * National Union of Students * National Union of Students...
has also expressed concern.
People & Planet Vs. The Treasury
People & Planet are taking the government to court over its bailout of RBS.Past successes
- Largely due to pressure from People & Planet groups, there are now over 100 Fairtrade Universities and 4 Fairtrade Schools.
- The Ethics for USS (the University Superannuation Scheme) campaign persuaded the £20 billion lecturers’ pension fund to adopt a socially responsible investment policy.
History
The organization was founded in 1969 as Third World First by a group of students, supported by NGOsNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
including Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
.
Third World First was instrumental in setting up the magazine, The Internationalist which was later reincarnated as the now popular activist-magazine, The New Internationalist.
Quotes
- “Over the last three years People & Planet has become an extraordinary organization which attracts student supporters on a scale unmatched within the UK charity and campaign sector. More than any other youth organization it is encouraging the emerging generation to see themselves as global citizens with a responsibility for taking action on global problems of poverty and the environment.”
-Joel, Lord Joffe, CBE, Chair of Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, 1999.
- “People & Planet is one of the most vibrant and effective campaigning organisations in the country. What marks it out from the others is its focus on inspiring and supporting young people. By questioning underlying assumptions and conventional wisdom, and by challenging organizations that are much bigger and more powerful than itself, People & Planet demonstrates its political courage and its independence of thought. I am privileged to be part of People & Planet and hope that this review will give you a glimpse of some extraordinary campaigning by some extraordinary young people over the last year.”
-George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
, Guardian columnist, writer and environmentalist, 2007
Notable people
- Guy Hughes (1974–2006) was head of People & Planet's Campaigns until 2004 when, following the outbreak of war in Iraq, he set up Crisis Action, a UK initiative to help co-ordinate NGO responses to crisis situations.
- The environmental campaigner and journalist George MonbiotGeorge MonbiotGeorge Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
is Patron of People & Planet. - Former members include Mark LazarowiczMark LazarowiczMark Lazarowicz, is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North and Leith since 2001...
, MP, Catherine StihlerCatherine StihlerCatherine Stihler is a British Labour Party politician. She has been a Member of the European Parliament for Scotland since 1999, being re-elected in 2004 and 2009...
, MP, (at the University of St AndrewsUniversity of St AndrewsThe University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
); and Mark BallardMark BallardMark Ballard is a former Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothians region between 2003 and 2007, representing the Scottish Green Party and was Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh between 2006 and 2009...
, former MSP and Rector (at the University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
) where the People & Planet group was instrumental in his election in 2006, against a field including Magnus LinklaterMagnus LinklaterMagnus Linklater is a Scottish journalist and former newspaper editor.-Life:Linklater was born in Orkney, and is the son of Scottish writer Eric Linklater. He was brought up in Easter Ross, attending the local school at Nigg before moving to high school in Dunbar, East Lothian, and then on to Eton...
, Boris JohnsonBoris JohnsonAlexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
and John PilgerJohn PilgerJohn Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
.