If you’ve ever seen someone in a Greenpeace shirt asking you to write a message about plastic pollution or Arctic oil drilling, you’ve already met your local Greenpeace volunteers.

Up and down the country, people concerned about our planet’s future work together on Greenpeace campaigns. It’s all about showing those in power that there’s huge support for urgent action to take on climate change and protect our living world.

There are lots of different things you can do as part of a group so there’s a role for everyone. Fancy getting involved?

Find a group near you to get started or see below for more information on how they work.

What do local groups do?

Groups do all sorts of things, but they all have one common goal: defending our planet. That could be spending a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon on the high street, gathering petition signatures to send to a company boss. It could be running a stall at a local festival as part of the community, talking to people about solutions to environmental problems. Or even organising a film night with others to spread the word about a Greenpeace campaign. Whatever it may be, you can bring along your skills and ideas for campaigning in your local area.

Members can also get involved in peaceful direct actions or joining the climbing or boat teams. But it’s not for everyone, so if that’s not your thing that’s totally fine too. You can still contribute in lots of other ways.

How do the groups work?

They usually meet monthly to plan their activities and organise events and campaigning in their local area. You don’t have to attend every meet-up to be part of the group, but it’s a great way to get to know like-minded people and have fun at the same time, so getting along to one every now and then is a good idea. Most groups have a small core of friendly, enthusiastic people, so it won’t take long before you know everyone and start having fun as well.

Who volunteers?

Anyone and everyone. Thousands of people donate their time, offering a wide range of skills and expertise. We have volunteers who are students, parents, working or retired professionals working in creative, health, business and a huge range of other sectors. Whatever level of knowledge on environmental issues, we always need more volunteers so you’ll be welcomed to your local group.

There are plenty of other roles to get stuck into. Making links with other local organisations, running social media accounts, liaising with local media, organising events, or speaking to people on the high street – whatever your skills, there’ll be something you can take on.

There’s only one rule: you must be over 18 to be a local group member. If you’re under 18, there’s still plenty you can do, such as organising a fundraiser, arranging for a speaker to visit your school or college, or campaigning online.

What if there’s no group near me?

You could start one yourself! No, seriously. You’ll be given lots of support and training, and you’ll join a network of people around the country determined to make changes happen. Get in touch with the Outreach team at getactive.uk@greenpeace.org to find out more – coordinating our efforts across the country makes them so much more effective, so it’s important to talk to us first. There are also tons of other ways you can get involved.

Find your local group