Toolkit for Accidental Activists:

Toolkit for Accidental Activists: What We Wish We’d Known

We never planned to become activists. We were neighbours, residents, nature-lovers, people who just wanted to protect the place we call home. But we found ourselves facing a system that favoured those with money, influence, and professional backing. This is what we wish we had known at the beginning.

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1. Three Minutes vs. Paid Reports Isn’t a Fair Fight

We didn’t realise how skewed the planning system would be. Developers come en masse with suits and ties, legal teams, ecological consultants, and reams of documentation. We had three minutes to speak at planning meetings.

What we wish we’d known:

• Record everything. Keep your own evidence and timeline.
• Get good at filing – you will need that document/email/map/pdf/report/whatsapp/ again.
• Prepare your statements collaboratively. Practice for timing.
• Emotion matters — but evidence, ‘planning grounds’ (will be referred to but you wont be able to find out what these are we are still looking for the book they learn this from), visuals (supplementary information you can give committee members), and allies speak louder in planning hearings.

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2. Being Right Isn’t Enough

We assumed that the truth — about sewage overflows, biodiversity collapse, or planning policy breaches — would speak for itself. It didn’t.

What we wish we’d known:

• Start your evidence-gathering early. Who knew we’d need to be able to prove the variety of protected and priority protected species we live with – without our eyewitness testimony (and even then) it is claimed there is nothing worth protecting.
• Use FOI (Freedom of Information) requests to access withheld data or data you suspect may be there. Be very careful with your wording – they will answer the question you ask so you need to know exactly what the language/terms are
• You need to prove things again and again.
• Nobody reads the evidence you supply

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3. The System Won’t Save You

We thought planning policies and environmental protections would protect the community and the land. Instead, we found silence, evasion, or buck-passing.

What we wish we’d known:

• Institutions often protect each other.
• Persistence gets responses trust your gut and pursue the facts.
• Pressure works better than complaints.

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4. You Don’t Have to Be Experts — But You Need Allies Who Are

We didn’t sign up to be planning officers, environmental lawyers, or wastewater engineers. But we had to learn fast.

What we wish we’d known:

• Ask for help early: from Friends of the Earth, local academics, or former officials.
• Pick media carefully and make sure to trust them, it’s too easy to be misrepresented.
• Find a trusted core team and back each other up.
• Reach out to other groups who’ve been through or are going through this. If they have time, their experience can save you literal months of research.
• Check out the Solastalgia Podcast from QUB it has become a ready reckoner of activist groups and their team are a font of knowledge. For deeply human stories of local activism and environmental change, listen to the Solastalgia podcast by Queen’s University Belfast.

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5. Burnout Is Real. So Is Grief.

Fighting for your community and environment means carrying a lot: anger, sadness, fear, and hope. It takes a toll.

What we wish we’d known:

• Pace yourselves. This is a marathon not a sprint.
• Try to rotate tasks and take breaks.
• Talk to each other about how you’re feeling, not just the campaign.

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6. Shared Purpose Beats Perfect Process

We aren’t always tidy or efficient. But we kept going because we cared.

What we wish we’d known:

• You don’t need to be perfect to be effective.
• Community grows through showing up, not showing off.
• People will join when they feel safe and welcomed.

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We hope this helps the next group of accidental activists find their feet a little faster, and fight their fight a little stronger. If that’s you — we’re cheering you on.

See Also