Help Zoe and Falco 'Walk for Earth'

 

 

I’m Zoe, and with my friend Falco the mule I’m walking from Oxford to Loch Lomond in Scotland starting in May 2022 to raise awareness and funds for Stop Ecocide. If all goes well, we will try to walk back to Oxford again. A quick note before you read the rest of our story:

 

If you would like to donate directly to Stop Ecocide to contribute to our fundraising effort, please go ahead using this link to their Charitable Trust . If you'd like to support me and Falco on our walk, read on!

The amazing support shown so far means that we now have a chance to reach more people with Walk for Earth - so our new target is to  crowdfund for three part-time paid support roles over the duration of our walk.

I want to invite more people in more areas of the UK to join in - by doing a walk for Earth locally  to boost the fundraising for Stop Ecocide International, and by taking part in the textile project Interwoven.  So if you want to support me and Falco to extend our awareness-raising potential, please donate on this page.

 
With your support, I would like to pay for two  part-time public engagement coordinators to help with Walk for Earth's social media and with contacting schools and local groups along our route. The third paid support role will be for a part-time textile project coordinator to help contact skilled craftspeople who might want to take part in creating Interwoven, and to organise the curation of the final textile piece.

Right now these roles are open to volunteers willing to commit from two to three hours per week - so if you know of anyone who would like some voluntary work with the potential for the role to develop into a paid one, or if you're keen to take a role yourself, please get in touch using the contact form on my website.  I'd love to hear from you. 

On our walk, Falco and I will help spread the word and invite support for an international law of ecocide to protect the natural living world - on which all our human lives depend. We've got specific activities people can do to get involved, and targets they can help us to reach by adding their voices. We're evaluating participation with an online survey, so we can find out what's important to people and how many people got involved in different ways.

Falco will be carrying the gear and doing what he does best: helping people feel connected with the living world, sparking conversations, and opening hearts.

 

Why walk?

Since I was a small child I’ve felt a love for the natural world that goes beyond words, and like many people I'm devastated by the dangerous loss of biodiversity we’re seeing in the UK and beyond. Ecocide law can put the brakes on this destruction, and provide a legal framework for the move to a decarbonised economy that supports the wellbeing of people as well as natural world. Many countries have discussed ecocide law and are taking some steps towards its progress, but the UK is still slow to take action, and with your help, I want to do my small part to help change that.

 

Our walk has a creative element. We’re inviting craftspeople along our route to help make a textile piece called Interwoven, to express their care for the natural world and their support for an ecocide law. We hope to exhibit the final piece in the UK, and then it will be offered as a gift of recognition from one island nation to another: Vanuatu, in the South Pacific. Vanuatu is the world's most climate-vulnerable island, and the first nation to propose serious consideration of ecocide law on the international stage in 2019.

 

Walk for Earth is also a way to honour the founder of Stop Ecocide, Polly Higgins, who died unexpectedly in March 2019 at the age of 50, after dedicating her life to making ecocide law a reality. My destination goal is Loch Lomond, close to where Polly grew up.

 

Falco’s story

Falco and I first met in September 2019. He was already trained to carry packs, but hadn't had much socialisation in his early life. I could see he was intelligent, sensitive, and a fast learner. He was still shy around humans and didn't much like being handled. But we've been getting to know each other and training together for the past two years, and he's been changing my life as much as I'm changing his.

 

Falco loves exploring and is very curious about the world. He often stands at the gate to his field after our practice walks, looking out towards the path beyond. Your support will help us to raise funds and awareness for a law to safeguard the natural living world for future generations - and at the same time, you'll be giving Falco and me the gift of a walk to remember for the rest of our lives.

 

What's the money going to be used for?

If you donate to our crowdfunder, you'll be making sure that Falco and I have:  

 

 

 

Will I receive anything in return for my donation?

If you just want to give to the cause - thank you! Whatever you can give, however small, will be very gratefully received.

 

I'm also offering some rewards for donations. Please make sure you supply your name, postal address and email for us to send your rewards. In the event that we need to amend any of these rewards - if unforeseen circumstances make it impossible to supply the exact description - we will keep you informed, and where possible offer you an alternative.

 

REWARDS

 

£10 or more: a Thank You postcard from Zoe and Falco.

 

£20 or more: With the postcard you'll receive a download of our Walk for Earth theme song. A link will be emailed to you prior to our departure date in May 2022.

 

£35 or more: With the postcard and song download, you’ll be sent a digital copy of the Walk for Earth journey booklet, with selected photos, drawings and poems from the walk - available by end of November 2022.

 

£65 or more: You’ll become a sponsor of the ‘Interwoven’ textile piece: 10% of your donation will help cover materials for the makers. Your name will be printed in a card given to Vanuatu’s Ambassador to Europe with the finished piece, along with any message of support that you want to convey. We’ll send you a live link to the moment when the finished piece is presented, as well as an emailed photograph.

 

*EQUINE LOVERS' BONUS*: as well as the above, we’re offering our first five donors or £65 a 1hr online trouble-shooting session with Ben Moxon. An experienced trainer, teacher, and writer on horsemanship, Ben has travelled internationally to learn from some of the greatest trainers, and brings their approaches into his own  work with horses. You’ll send a video to Ben, followed by an online session with him focusing on the areas where you want support with your equine.

 

£150 or more: You’ll receive a printed copy of the ‘Walk for Earth’ journey booklet with poems, drawings and selected photos from the walk - available by end of November 2022.

*EQUINE LOVERS' BONUS* with this reward, we’re offering Ellen Cochrane’s Equine Agility online series to the first three donors of £150. Ellen is a world-renowned equine trainer, and the International Horse Agility Club online Reserve World Champion, with a special interest in donkeys and mules.

 

£500 or more: As well as receiving the journey booklet, if you can travel to us you are cordially invited to a day-long walk for two with Falco and Zoe, including a special picnic featuring locally-grown and organic produce. If you are someone who uses a wheelchair or if you have additional needs, we’d love to find out how we can adapt your time with Falco to suit you. So don’t hesitate to get in touch.

 

What are the deadlines?

Our initial deadline is 30th March 2022, to give us time to prepare using the funds we’ve raised. How far we are able to walk will depend on the success of this crowdfunder, so we will adjust our destination according to how far we meet our target.

 

What about fundraising for Stop Ecocide and Earth Protector Communities?

Once our set-up costs are covered, we will post a link here and on our website and social channels to a new fundraiser for the environmental organisation we’re supporting. Since the launch of this crowdfunder, Earth Protector Communities has agreed that we should focus our fundraising efforts on just one organisation, rather than split between two. So we're going to be focusing on fundraising for Stop Ecocide. Our fundraiser will remain open until we're back from our walk.

 

What happens if you don't complete the walk?

If Falco and I can’t complete our walk as planned, due to illness, injury, or other extreme unforeseen circumstances, any unused donations to this crowdfunder will be shared between the two environmental organisations as mentioned. So you can be sure that whatever happens, you're contributing to a cause that values the living world and seeks to protect and nurture it as the guarantor of all our lives. Thanks for your support! I’ll update you as we go along.  

 

Zoe and Falco