The Future Starts Today

Through the summer we asked people to give us their “Earth Stories”.

Earth Stories don’t need to be epic tales, simply a chance to understand how people connect with nature, hear their memories, find out their fears and hopes and to give us an insight into what people need and how important green spaces are for them. We wanted them to help shape how green spaces are built, managed, and used in the future.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who provided their earth stories and the groups that helped us gather them from their communities. It was wonderful to see the images, hear the recordings and read the “capture of conversations” on paper.

We are going to use the images and stories throughout our City of Nature Delivery Framework document to help make the invisible – visible. Too often in the past the thoughts, wants and needs of communities aren’t seen or heard. We wanted to put them right on the page with the plan so everyone can see them every time we refer to the document and be reminded what it’s all about. We want the future to be different in all the right ways.

During this important week, when not only in Birmingham are we planning a greener bolder future, but the same process is happening for the whole planet at COP26 we want to share some of the stories people shared with us throughout the summer.

It doesn’t take many words to paint a picture and the earth story below provides a brief glimpse into someone else’s life and tells a story that is repeated over and over again – when we have the time to become aware of what is around us, suddenly there are treasures we never knew where there.

I felt like I was in the Countryside

“My green space moment was when walking my dog In Highbury park during lockdown. I could see nothing but trees and grass, hear nothing but the birds and the sun was shining. I hadn’t realised how beautiful the park was (despite living close by). I felt like I was out in the countryside. 
 
I would like to see parks less manicured, with more meadow areas, orchards and wild play areas for children.”