From March 20th – 25th, ReLondon hosted a dynamic pop-up at the Natural History Museum’s ‘Generation Hope: Act for the Planet‘ festival. The free programme of inspiring workshops, panels and talks were created in partnership with young people, for young people aged 16+, helping them understand the impacts of the planetary emergency and strengthen their own skills. From reducing food waste to embracing planet-friendly diets, ReLondon’s Food Wave stall engaged over one thousand attendees, teaching them how they can help tackle climate change, one meal at a time.

Each day of the week, ReLondon ran the Food Wave pop-up in the Main Hall of the museum, distributing zines, stickers, seed packets and low-waste recipe cards to passers-by. The team was on hand to inspire people with easy, everyday tips and explore ways to make small changes that can help protect the planet. In addition to raising awareness and educating visitors, the pop-up also aimed to showcase activists, grassroots organisations and projects from the capital who all share the goal of empowering young people to take meaningful action on food. ReLondon invited representatives from London-based groups and organisations to join the Food Wave stall each day of the week, which included members from: Landworkers’ Alliance, Women’s Environmental Network, The Kin-spiration Group, Sourced, National Food Service London, and Micro AD Leap.  

A few highlights from the week:

• Following the success of last year’s Street Action, Food Wave collaborated once more with local artist Kamipaper to run two notebook making workshops at the Natural History Museum. Using vegetable tops and ends and cardboard food packaging, over 50 attendees made themselves upcycled mini notebooks to take home.
• ReLondon commissioned the youth-led, environmental-focused film production company Earth Minutes to create three videos for the event (see the final video here)!
• Artist Ellis Lewis-Dragstra collaborated with the Museum’s scientists and took images of the back-of-house collections to create a piece called ‘Mutualism,’ which captured the links between food systems and specimens in the Natural History Museum. See the full artwork here.
• Illustrator Natasha Phang-Lee joined the pop-up each day to create a live digital mural, encouraging passers-by to share their tips and ideas, which she then sketched out in front of them. See the finished murals here!

Overall, the Food Wave team had 1232 direct engagements with museum visitors, and handed out thousands of cards, seeds and stickers. The Generation Hope event itself had over 470 in-person participants throughout the course of the week, and nearly 300 online attendees. The festival was an overwhelming success, and we hope it inspired and motivated young people to take action for the planet.