A climate change pilgrimage will pass through Penrith next month.
The Listening to the Land group is planning to walk 500 miles to the COP26 conference in Glasgow, which takes place in November.
The group, of between 20 and 25 people, will pass through Penrith on October 7.
They are inviting residents to join them as they walk, and are hoping someone might be prepared to put the small group up for a night – in a field, on some land, or in a church or village hall.
During the walk, the pilgrims will be asking people’s opinions about climate change, biodiversity loss and local issues and hopes to do with the land.
Jolie C Booth, co-founder of the project, said: “We’re phenomenally excited to visit Penrith Beacon, and we hope, with local residents, light a fire to burn for action on the climate emergency.
“We really want to hear your ideas about what world and business leaders should do to protect the earth. All we ask in return is somewhere to lay our heads for the night!
“We’ll leave no trace but hopefully some fond friendships and lasting memories.”
The Listening to the Land camp will consist of 20–25 people, in a COVID-19 bubble, staying in one-man tents, with two larger communal tents, a raised fire pit and two vehicles. The group needs no facilities beyond drinking water.
The Listening to the Land group will present the voices of the people and the land to delegates in Glasgow through a scroll made of canvas into which people will be invited to weave their dreams, fears and hopes for nature; through a performance based on all the magical and urgent things the pilgrims have heard from the land and its people, which will present in Glasgow in an amphitheater made of pianos the Pianodrome; and arts collective Still Moving will make the most powerful soundbites visible in light installations across the city.
Listening to the Land is an independent civil society movement co-founded by Global Climate Policy Expert Anna Lehmann and theatre producer Jolie.
It is funded by the Arts Council England, and Wildlife Works, and is a co-production between Kriya Arts and No Planet B Initiative.
