Sheffield’s Green Influencers

Who should you be following on Social Media this year? Which Sheffielders are the big environmental influencers?

I’ve put together a couple of league tables to see who has the most followers on Facebook and Twitter. The clear winner on both is the Baroness of Manor Castle, Natalie Bennett who is one of the two Green Party peers in the House of Lords. She led the Green Party from 2012 to 2016 and is a Sheffield Green Party member. Her forthcoming book is called “Change Everything”. She works tirelessly in the Lords trying to amend and/or defeat acts of parliament.

In a recent New Year’s video, she described three bills she is currently working on.

The Australia and New Zealand Trade Bill, where she will be addressing problems for our farmers, workers’ rights and the lack of parliamentary scrutiny.
The Financial Services Bill where she is concerned that the Government’s competitiveness agenda means letting the Financial Sector run riot. We know how that ended up in 2007/8!
The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which is allowing the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment. Here Natalie claims the government science is completely out of date.

To follow Natalie go to @natalieben on Twitter, NatalieBennettGreen on Instagram or Natalie Bennett, Green Party Member of the House of Lords on Facebook.

Foodworks come second on the Facebook table (15093 followers) and fifth on Twitter (@TheFoodWorksSHF 6352). Foodworks are a social enterprise, established in 2015 to raise awareness and reduce the scandal of food waste. They save over 500 tonnes of food per year and are working on building a fair and sustainable food system for Sheffield. They work with 100s of committed volunteers whose time, passion and skill drive their ability to feed thousands of people each month.

Second on Twitter and third on Facebook are the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. A video filmed in Wyming Brook featuring Chris Packham urges us to get involved at two levels. He wants us to do things at a personal level, greening our lifestyles and building greener local communities. But he also wants us to communicate our demands to those in power and hold them to account because time is running out. This he says, “is the time for changing minds, changing practices and making meaningful differences”. Also featured in the video is Smithy Wood which was saved from “development” as an M1 Service Station and Owlthorpe Fields which was finally designated as a local wildlife site in 2022. If you want to help protect nature @WildSheffield is a must-follow.

Third on Twitter (@SheffieldGreens) and 7th on Facebook is Sheffield Green Party . With 14 Councillors, the party holds the balance of power on the Council and with the new Committee system they have considerable influence in the Town Hall. A quick scroll through their Twitter account reveals pictures from the nurse’s picket lines, new cycle parking facilities and news of roads to be resurfaced, without the need to cut down any trees. Sheffield Greens are definitely worth a follow to understand more about what happens at Sheffield Town Hall.

4th on Facebook are Sheffield Tree Action Groups, a victorious campaign now featured in two films, The Felling and Tree-sistance. The campaign is still active, keeping an eye on the Council to ensure that they are now properly managing our street trees, but many of the Facebook posts are interesting reminiscences from the height of the dispute when protesters stood under healthy trees to stop them being felled. The group has spawned many other groups, such as It’s Our City which successfully campaigned to improve our local democracy by ditching the “Strong Leader” model of governance and bring in the Committee System, and Nether Edge and Sharrow Sustainable Transformation which has among other things been raising money to plant new street trees.

5th on Facebook and 8th on Twitter is the Regather Coop. This amazing group run a veg box scheme, a small farm where they grow fruit and veg and cut flowers and run a community hub at Club Garden Road.

Other organisations deserving a mention include @CycleSheffield which are organising the Sheffield Active Travel Summit on February 18th, @ShefEnvironment, which organises Sheffield Hen Harrier Day and @ParkinginSheff on Twitter, full name “Parking like a twat in Sheffield” which catalogues idiotic parking from all over the city. If you are a bad parker you better check to see if you are featured! Sheffield Litterpickers highlight the magnificent work of volunteers from all over the city keeping our streets clean. Extinction Rebellion Sheffield, having quit their tactics that disrupt the public, is busy building the biggest climate rally this country has ever seen, which is happening on April 21st at Parliament. South Yorkshire Climate Alliance are marking the 4th Anniversary of Sheffield Council declaring a Climate Emergency by petitioning the Council to start treating it like the Emergency it is. Sheffield Vegans offer help in transitioning to a healthy plant-based diet.

Here is the top 30! Sincere apologies if I have missed anyone who deserves to appear in it. Please let me know!