Birmingham

The Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line Canal between the International Convention Centre (left), Brindleyplace (right), and Broad Street Tunnel (ahead) in central Birmingham, England. A part of the canal originally called Deep Cutting. Photo by G-Man Nov 2004
Location data
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Location Birmingham, West Midlands
Coordinates 52° 29' 38.47" N, 1° 54' 42.10" W

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Birmingham.

News

Birmingham
West Midlands
UK
Europe
Earth
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  • News The pollution court case that could reach far beyond the banks of the River Wye, theconversation.com (Oct 22, 2025)
  • News The flood-prone Worcestershire town being abandoned by insurers, theguardian.com (Oct 14, 2025) — Millions more homes in Great Britain at risk of flooding, investigation finds
  • News "Laying the foundations for the hopeful, creative, just transition that we know is in our hearts". Civic Square mapping eco-possibilities for the West Midlands, Daily Alternative (Dec 03, 2024)
  • News ‘It fully changed my life!’ How young rewilders transformed a farm – and began a movement, theguardian.com (Nov 25, 2025)
  • News ‘Robot’ buses could bring more environmental benefits than public transport with drivers, theconversation.com (Nov 20, 2025)
  • News How heat from old coal mines became a source of local pride in this northern English town – new study, theconversation.com (Nov 20, 2025)
  • News Sharing soil, sweat and tears, ffcc.co.uk (Oct 30, 2025) — Are farm partnerships the future? We talk to the team behind Abunda to find out
  • News Renewable energy investment should come from defence budgets, say retired military leaders, theguardian.com (Oct 23, 2025) — Former European officers say spending on low-carbon power would make nations more resilient to threats from potential aggressors
  • News Green to Grey, How Europe is squandering the little nature it has left, greentogrey.eu (Oct 01, 2025)
  • News The Cambodian women rising up to protect their communal land, positive.news (Nov 20, 2025)
  • News Bees, Community, and Shared Futures, grassecon.substack.com (Nov 20, 2025)
  • News ‘Robot’ buses could bring more environmental benefits than public transport with drivers, theconversation.com (Nov 20, 2025)

Networks and sustainability initiatives

Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.

Northern Ireland community action, Haringey community action, West Midlands community action / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

UK and international events

UK events

  • Event Nov 10 - 16, 2025 (Mon - Sun) — Living Wage Week, livingwage.org.uk
  • Event Nov 13, 2025 (Thu) — Kindness Day UK, Nov 13 annually, aiming to increase the value of kindness in society as well as increase the amount of kind acts that take place, making kindness a greater part in our daily life, kindnessuk.com
  • Event Nov 16 - 22, 2025 (Sun - Sat) — Road Safety Week, brake.org.uk
  • Event Nov 22 - 30, 2025 (Sat - Sun) — National Tree Week, The Tree Council's annual tree celebration. People across the country planting thousands of trees to mark the start of the winter tree planting season. "Trees and hedgerows are some of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against climate change.", treecouncil.org.uk

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event Nov 05, 2025 (Wed) — Media Liberation Day, Change the Media, Change the Future, mediarevolution.org
  • Event Nov 06, 2025 (Thu) — Outdoor Classroom Day, celebrating and inspiring outdoor learning and play, outdoorclassroomday.com
  • Event Nov 13, 2025 (Thu) — World Kindness Day, Nov 13, annually, highlighting good deeds in the community focusing on the positive power and the common thread of kindness for good which binds us, randomactsofkindness.org
  • Event Nov 16, 2025 (Sun) — International Day for Tolerance, Nov 16 each year, fostering respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human, unesco.org
  • Event Nov 19, 2025 (Wed)International Men's Day, Nov 19, annually
  • Event Nov 28 & 29, 2025 — Buy Nothing Day, en.wikipedia.org

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Birmingham video

Bioregionalism

  • Bioregion Birmingham, "A resilient, sustainable city embracing a bioregional approach to economics, governance and culture." (historical initiative, link no longer available)

Community involvement

  • The Front Room, "the beginnings of an ambitious, long-term neighbourhood platform in Birmingham to be designed, grown and co-owned by local communities."

Communities online

Hyperlocal sites in Birmingham, June 2014

Food activism

Martineau Gardens is a community garden on Priory Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It adjoins the Priory Hospital on Bristol Road. It features over two acres of woodland and formal gardens.The Gardens are administered by a registered charity and are a member of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens.

Community energy

BirminghamEnergy Savers, Birmingham City Council originated scheme

Towards sustainable economies

FutureShift, programme to encourage civic innovation in Birmingham and the Black Country...podnosh.com

Community resources

Citizens data initiative

  • Data to decarbonise in a decade, makes available a range of data sets including open data on housing, travel, waste, energy, and emissions. Easy to use, with some features to help with visualisation. added 15:43, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Funding sources

  • Birmingham SOUP
  • LoveBrum, charity supporting 'hard-to-reach' projects across Birmingham that are often volunteer led and that deliver real change, with outcomes that can be seen, measured, enjoyed, and loved.

Other resources

Arts, sport and culture

Health and wellbeing

  • The Active Wellbeing Society, community benefit society and cooperative working to develop healthy, happy communities living active and connected lives, added 17:16, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

Climate action

  • Retrofit Balsall Heath on facebook.com, added 12:19, 7 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Zero carbon house, "…has been designed so there’s no need to use fossil fuels. No carbon is released into the atmosphere from this unique family home and there are no fuel bills either. zero carbon house is the UK’s first zero carbon retrofit – the only existing house to have been upgraded to one of the most exacting standards in green design, Level 6 of the original UK Code for Sustainable Homes."...thealternative.org.uk/dailyalternative, 29 July 2023, added 10:45, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

Sustainable transport activism

Birmingham is at the hub of England's canal network. There are 35 miles (56 km) of canals within the city, of which most are navigable.

Cycling activism

Big Birmingham Bikes, information from Birmingham City Council - Bike North Birmingham, Birmingham City Council project delivered in partnership with Sustrans and Be Active, working to transform the profile of cycling in Erdington and Sutton Coldfield - Birmingham Cycle Revolution,part of the Birmingham Connected vision to reinvent the way people and goods move across the city - Critical Mass bicycle rides in Birmingham - Green Bike Project, community-led bicycle workshop and co-operative based at the University of Birmingham

Environment quality

Resources

Open spaces

Birmingham has 571 parks totalling over 3,500 hectares (14 sq mi) of public open space, more than any other European city. The city also has five Local Nature Reserves, one National Nature Reserve and a number of Wildlife Trust nature reserves.

Trees, woodland and forest

Birmingham Trees for Life

News archive

  • News "Laying the foundations for the hopeful, creative, just transition that we know is in our hearts". Civic Square mapping eco-possibilities for the West Midlands, Daily Alternative (Dec 03, 2024)
  • News ‘Building something better’: the UK residents retrofitting their homes amid the climate crisis, theguardian.com (Aug 03, 2024) — From weekly skills-sharing to rewilding streets, communities are working to improve the planet while bolstering the health of people
  • News Neighbours band together to tackle energy bills and show how climate action starts at home, bigissue.com (Nov 06, 2023)
  • News Birmingham's Zero Carbon House is doable, scalable and beautiful - and expresses what the "climate majority" want, says Rupert Read, The Daily Alternative (Jul 29, 2023)
  • News Birmingham’s Civic Square, so inspirational to many seeking to strengthen community power, is “refounding” itself, The Daily Alternative (Mar 30, 2023)

2013-2021

  • 'Cities have been invaded by cars. Now they are being liberated' - Positive News, Apr 7, 2020...positive.news
  • How a Belgian port city (Ghent) inspired Birmingham's car-free ambitions, Jan 20, 2020...theguardian.com
  • "Play Out Til Tea" is a great Birmingham Impact Hub idea - but their "neighbourhood of the future" is even better, Jul 21, 2019...The Alternative UK
  • From Impact Hub Birmingham to Civic Square, Jun 16, 2019...birmingham.impacthub.net
  • Pedal power to the people: Brum's £24m cycling boost, August 12, 2013...Birmingham Mail

About Birmingham

Past events

Birmingham (BUR-ming-əm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is the second-largest city, urban area and metropolitan area in England and the United Kingdom, with roughly 1.1 million inhabitants within the city area, 2.9 million inhabitants within the urban area and 4.3 million inhabitants within the metropolitan area and lies within the most populated English district.Birmingham is commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom.

Located in the West Midlands county and region in England, approximately 100 miles (160 km) from Central London, Birmingham, as one of the United Kingdom's major cities, is considered to be the social, cultural, financial, and commercial centre of both the East and West Midlands. Distinctively, Birmingham only has small rivers flowing through it, mainly the River Tame and its tributaries River Rea and River Cole – one of the closest main rivers is the Severn, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the city centre.

External links

Page data
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Cite as Phil Green (2014–2025). "Community action/Birmingham". Appropedia. Retrieved November 28, 2025.