A home to fall in love with (the Earth)
27.03.2012
It’s easy to forget the importance of a home, especially a good home. You probably have an office, right? Somewhere everyone you work with can come together in each day, guaranteed.
We are a small team who have been growing at rocket-speed, going from none to 1 to 5 in just a couple of months. We were homeless, vagabonds with a big mission but nowhere to make it a reality. Uscreates changed that.
Along with the good people at Smack, we at the Eradicating Ecocide campaign were gifted Uscreate’s space near London Bridge for 2 weeks in February. It helped enormously in our campaign to create a very big change in the world — put in place an international law of Ecocide, ending dangerous industrial activity that is destroying the Earth and people’s lives.
In February, on Valentine’s Day, we were launching a very special project: giving people the opportunity to write a love letter to the Earth and remind world leaders how much we care about the world we all share.
Whiteboard walls! Aside from the wonderful old Leathermarket building, our first revelation was having whiteboard-like spaces painted on to the walls. Markers at the ready, we brainstormed the final stages of our Twitter and Facbook campaign to reach the world with Love Letters as we hit D-Day (well, V-Day) on the 14th.
As time went on we started playing around with the space more and more. Having a sofa tucked away by the front door was my creative retreat for writing; the kitchen area became a film shoot when our founder Polly Higgins came to visit; and by week two we had completely rearranged our desk space by the wonderful windows to catch the early Spring light.
Nearing the end of our time there, we brainstormed what we wanted from a permanent office: “This place! Just a little further North” was the answer from Zoe, who works on our campaign outreach. So we launched our search! This video and a message to our supporter base later, we were inundated by offers of spaces and now have a free space courtesty of 3space on Oxford Street.
So what started with two weeks in a new space led to letters to world leaders, two films, new ways of thinking and working — and now our own new space. A big thank you to Uscreates and we hope they and many others will fling open their doors more …and open up more new possibilities!
Joe Hall is Head of the Eradicating Ecocide campaign
www.eradicatingecocide.com
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