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Sheffield Environmental Movement
Widening Participation in the Natural Environment
National Parks Conference 2024
The UK National Parks Conference 2024 took place during September this year under the theme, ’75 Years of Landscapes for Everyone’.
SEM’s Founder/CEO, spoke at the conference stressing the need to reframe the historical narratives associated with the English landscape as a mythologised ‘white space’ if the slogan ‘Everyone’s Landscape’ is to become a reality.
The UK National Parks Conference 2024 was hosted by Northumberland National Park Authority in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Summer Farm Tours with ROSHNI Group Families
SEM Farm tours during the School Holidays for families from ROSHNI
As part of activities marking the this year’s Summer School holidays, Sheffield Environmental Movement (SEM) organised a number of farm tours for families from ROSHNI to Whirlow Hall Farm.
Funding was made possible by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS) which has been supporting SEM take minoritised communities to the Yorkshire Agricultural Show every year.
The farm tours which were led by Ashley Malia, Contract Farm Manager, Whirlow Hall Farm involved sessions around links between the environment, farming and access to the countryside.
It also involves talks on farm diversification, regenerative grazing, herbal leys, species of livestock used, breeds, why and how they fit into Whirlow Hall Farm’s farming system. The groups were also shown around the various livestock breeds on the farm such as the Scottish Highland Cattle, other breeds, sheep, pigs among others.
Ashley also talked to the groups about what happens on the farm seasonally, life cycles, wildlife on the farm, where food comes from, foods in season, sustainable food, animal welfare and careers on the farm.
The older members of the groups who were all women from South East Asia spoke about their visit to Whirlow Hall Farm as taking them back to their home countries of birth, where they lived in the rural countryside and undertook subsistence farming as a source of livelihood.
Only one child out of all the children who attended the farm tours has ever been taken on a school visit to Whirlow Hall Farm, otherwise none have been on a farm”.
My Work Experience Story
Experience of a Year 10 Work-placement Student with SEM
The Sheffield Environmental Movement (SEM) among some of its other activities offer environmental placement opportunities to minoritised young people to learn about the environment.
This placement period saw SEM host a year 10 student from King Edward VII School, below is his experience:
“The staff were nice, diligent, proactive and supportive of my placement and were keen to ensure I learnt a lot from the placement but also were keen to learn from me. This motivated me to want to learn what the organization does that is different from school, and what lessons and experiences that I can take back to share with my peers about environmental issues, which is the charity’s main area of work. I found this important in relation to what I want to do in future which is software engineering that I can design ecologically friendly. The working hours were conducive and friendly, the office was clean. The working environment was friendly, which allowed me to contribute to discussions.
Why I chose SEM
I chose to do my placement with a minoritized environmental charity as I felt the environment is an important area that as a young person is important to be aware environmental issues and also contribute my voice to the ongoing environmental problems facing the world such as climate change which is impacting on the lives of people in countries such as Tanzania which is my home country. I also felt that doing a placement with an environmental charity would give me the opportunity to learn more about the environment and the work the charity is doing to engage people in minoritized communities in Sheffield. I therefore became more interested and excited to do my placement with the charity, as I don’t see people from minoritized communities in the environment sector, especially young people.
My expectations were met, as I learnt a lot during my short placement. I’ve learned a lot of things about the environment, for example: Bio indicators, air pollution, the countryside such as the Peak District National Park.
As I am interested in pursuing a career in software engineering, and the materials used in developing the equipment will need to be designed ecologically friendly and biodegradable to reduce waste in the environment. I believe this knowledge will help me make a difference in the software engineering and computing sectors. The placement, which obviously was an environmental related discipline, enabled the staff of SEM to support me by giving me ideas for my future career.
It was a wonderful work experience as I learned a lot about what it involves with actual work life which is different from school. This experience will help me to continue my studies seriously with the hope of achieving my dreams as a software engineer. I thank Maxwell Ayamba, Founder & CEO and Maxine Greaves Placement Manager for running such an important environmental organization to help people from minoritized communities especially young people from school to have an opportunity to experience placement with an environmental charity.”
Nathaniel Kalombo, Year 10 student, King Edward VII Secondary School