At Petersfield Eco Fair more than 50 children took the opportunity to spend some time collaging or colouring a canary, thinking about what actions they were hoping for from their MP.
Why a canary? Because they were used to accompany coal miners underground, to give warning signals when the air was too poisonous to work in. They were seen by the miners as valued colleagues and companions. The phrase ‘canary in a coal mine’ is used today to mean an advance warning of trouble ahead, making it a vivid metaphor for climate change and the trouble brewing as a result.
These beautiful canaries were left at the Fair by their proud creators, to be sent on to their MP with postcards telling him of their concerns. We hope these canary gifts will encourage Mr Hinds to act boldly to help create a better future for our fragile planet.
We’ll be sure to publish any reply from Mr Hinds, but in the meantime, here’s the letter we sent:
Dear Mr. Hinds,
I hope you like the friendly yellow canaries enclosed with this letter. They were crafted for you by the children of Petersfield at the recent Eco Fair, jointly organised by Petersfield Town Council and PeCAN (Petersfield Climate Action Network).
They made these gifts for you as a way to encourage you, as Member of Parliament for East Hampshire, to use all your power and influence to do as much as you can to protect our community and planet from climate change and biodiversity loss. I want to ask you to support and encourage the current government to be brave and bold in their action in these respects on behalf of these young people in your constituency.
They made small yellow canaries because canaries were used to accompany coal miners underground, to give warning signals when the air was too poisonous to work in. I hope you see your canaries as hopeful friends beside you as you do the most you can to help create a cleaner and greener constituency, country and world. I hope that you see its yellow colour as a symbol of hope and belief in you, to lead us in flight towards a cleaner, safer, healthier future. You have a lot of responsibility, but I can imagine how rewarding it can be too.
Whilst they were collaging the canaries, they were considering what they cared most about, and they wrote postcards to send their concerns directly to you.
I hope this letter encourages you to act courageously and carefully to look after our fragile home. Please do reply to me to let me know what you are planning on doing to address all our concerns about the climate and make people like these children hopeful for our future. As a PeCAN trustee, I will be sure to publish your reply on the PeCAN website so that it reaches all those who took the time to send these messages.
I wish you all the best and hope to hear from you soon.
Yours respectfully and in hope
Rachel Ritchie
On behalf of all the children who crafted these messages
