Category: News

On the 6th November during COP26, Stitches for Survival will be displaying 1.5 miles of beautiful hand-crafted scarf, on Glasgow Green Drying Poles and Railings.

Hundreds of Craftivists from around the world have knitted, crocheted, stitched and crafted 1.5 miles of climate messages for the COP26 negotiators to urge them to take bold and binding action together. Mass-craftivism to put the Earth centre-stage at COP26!

Please join us at the event and support the display of the amazing scarf in person, to show solidarity and demonstrate to world leaders our commitment to protecting the planet!

Although we want to send a message to world leaders at COP26, Stitches for Survival is all about inspiring “the every day person” to take positive action to tackle climate change: S4S shows what happens when hundreds of people knit together (pun intended) and we want to inspire “regular folk” to think about their habits, their carbon footprint and to learn about climate change. Thank you all for making this vision a reality!

Stitches for Survival local groups from Leeds and Aire Valley have a spectacular display on at the iconic York Minster until 28th September.

We join a special season of services, events and webinar debates put on by York Minster highlighting the accelerating global climate and environment emergency, throughout September and October.

Taken from a York Minster News Release:

The season will also anticipate the crucial COP 26 UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow (31 October – 12 November), regarded by many as the final wake up call for world leaders to follow through on their commitments protect the environment to avert a catastrophic climate crisis.

Canon Maggie McLean, Canon Missioner at York Minster said:

“There can be no doubt that the global climate emergency is the most serious challenge of all time and it is getting closer and closer to home.

“We have put together this season of events and special services to reflect on the climate challenges we face together and explore how we can respond faithfully through prayer and action. Speakers from across the world will consider our place in creation, explore theologies of creation and will consider the climate emergency as the primary justice issue of our age.”

Please visit the York Minster by the end of September to see the beautiful Stitches display and more!

We thought an update to let you wonderful Stitchers know where we are with the project, would be helpful at this point.

It’s all coming together organically and as we are working alongside other activist groups at COP26, while it is no easy logistical task, it is very exciting. You are all part of making this a very special project for the planet.

· We aim to display our scarf at COP26 on the weekend of 6/7th November and hope to use Glasgow Green, near the Peoples Palace. This is an old drying green which is a public place and citizens have a right to dry their washing there, so we thought it would be a great space for S4S. We hope as many of you out there as possible can join us. The Human Hotel offers free/reasonable accommodation on https://www.humanhotel.com

· There is a “Raising of Banners” on the Wednesday 1st November at COP26 being co-ordinated and we hope to be part of that – again volunteers needed.

· A rally and march will take place on the 6th November and this may have the Glasgow Green for the rally or the convergence point. We are in conversation with the organisers to co-ordinate with S4S

· Groups all over the world are participating in our project so we anticipate having enough scarf, but we do not know at present how near our target of 1.5 miles we are. It is the process which is important however we are optimistic with the activity we see and hear about; we will get to our target. Do keep stitching – your work is WONDERFUL!

· Our fantastic partner organisation R:evolve Recycle in Glasgow will now take over storage and delivery of all panels. Please now send to: R:evolve Recycle, 56 Hamilton Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow, UK, G72 7LE

R:evolve are also organising S4S “stitch up” sessions in September/October so watch this space for opportunities to join in!

· We are so grateful to Christine Thompson who has been collecting and photographing all the beautiful panels so far – “a big thank you Christine!”.

Finally, thanks again to all of you for making Stitches for Survival such an amazing community initiative! The thousands of stitches will make such an impact- demonstrating global commitment to action on  climate change.

During September and October this year, Stitches for Survival will be following Storm, a 10-metre tall mythical goddess of the sea, around Scotland!

Storm was created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics. Storm celebrates our oceans and coastlines and raises awareness of the crucial role they play in mitigating climate change. Constructed and woven from recycled and natural materials and operated by 10 Puppeteers, Storm is appearing in many towns across Scotland over the next couple of months in the run up to COP26. See the full timeline of Storm’s travels at the bottom of this article to join the celebration of the sea!

On the 15th August, Stitches for Survival supported Storm at her amazing opening event in North Berwick. Vision Mechanics were delighted to collaborate and hope to see as many Stitchers around Scotland as possible.

On Edinburgh Fringe’s opening weekend, Stitches for Survival displayed their craftivist art on the iconic Victoria Terrace.

Featured in the Canary , the event spread the climate protection message far and wide, talking with tourists and Edinburgh locals about the community action project and aims.

This last year has shown how radically our lives can change overnight when the political will is there and people take responsibility. It is time to act with the same urgency on the climate and ecological crisis!