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Community action/Oxford

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Cornmarket St, Oxford, England, looking north towards the tower of St Michael at the North Gate parish church. Attribution: Grue
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Location Oxford, Oxfordshire
Coordinates 51° 45' 7.25" N, 1° 15' 28.26" W

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Oxford.

Oxford
Oxfordshire
UK
Europe
Earth
  • News ‘In Delhi I can see the climate catastrophe unfolding before my eyes’, The Guardian (Nov 15, 2022)
  • Oxford council backs bid to stop water firm dumping sewage in Thames, Oct 9, 2020...theguardian.com
  • City Council responds to Oxford Citizens' Assembly on Climate Change and outlines £19m climate emergency budget, Dec 16, 2019...oxford.gov.uk

Read more

  • News ‘A share in the delight’: the people investing in the UK’s first community-owned solar battery, theguardian.com (May 08, 2026) — Oxfordshire’s Ray Valley Solar already generates clean energy for 7,000 homes, and is now crowdfunding storage to marry daylight with evening demand
  • News UK’s first community-owned battery site launches share offer, thenews.coop (Apr 13, 2026)
  • News Salt Cross: Carbon neutral village plans approved by government, BBC News (Feb 04, 2026)
  • News Plans for major overhaul of councils halted, BBC News (Sep 07, 2026)
  • News Sardines are having a moment but could this humble fish turn the tide for the UK’s local fisheries?, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (Sep 03, 2026) — Can the UK learn from Iberian traditions and turn its booming love for tinned sardines into a lasting win for coastal communities?
  • News Andy Burnham announces thousands of new homes, but is the government much closer to its target?, theconversation.com (Sep 02, 2026)
  • News European farmers face ‘unprecedented crisis’ after successive heatwaves, theguardian.com (Aug 17, 2026)
  • News Europe’s rivers are running dry, and the knock-on effects are disastrous, Yiannis Baboulias, theguardian.com (Aug 05, 2026)
  • News How Australia combines modern tech and Indigenous knowledge to fight wildfires, BBC News (Aug 01, 2026)
  • News Why I choose to build commons, rather than being an ‘activist’, growingcommons.substack.com (Sep 06, 2026) — And why I think you should, too, Dil Green
  • News What Brazil’s supercentenarians can teach us about living to 120, positive.news (Sep 02, 2026)
  • News How a South African town cleaned up its polluted river using stones, wood and sand, theguardian.com (Aug 31, 2026) — Scientists say system to treat contaminated wastewater offers a model for ensuring food security in a fast-warming climate

UK and international events

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UK events

  • Event Sep 7 - 11, 2026 (Mon-Fri) — Zero Waste Week, zerowasteweek.co.uk
  • Event Sep 11 - 20, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Heritage Open Days, celebrating our fantastic history and culture. Your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE to explore, heritageopendays.org.uk
  • Event Sep 18 - 27, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Great British Beach Clean, mcsuk.org

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event Sep 15, 2026 (Tue) — Free Money Day, Global invitation for people to explore, in a liberating and fun way, what it might be like if our relationship to money was a little different. Sep 15, annually, freemoneyday.org
  • Event Sep 18, 2026 (Fri) — Park(ing) day, global, public, participatory project where people across the world temporarily repurpose curbside parking spaces and convert them into public parks and social spaces to advocate for safer, greener, and more equitable streets for people, myparkingday.org
  • Event Sep 21-27, 2026 (Mon-Sun) — Global Week Of Action For Peace And Climate Justice, climatemilitarism.org
  • Event Sep 21, 2026 (Mon) — International Day of Peace, Globally shared date, Sep 21 each year for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace, internationaldayofpeace.org

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.

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Moray Ocean Community film
Authors: Moray Ocean Community, 4.38 mins.
Date: 2025-12-13
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The John Muir Trust: Our Wild Places
Authors: John Muir Trust, 6.50 mins.
Date: 2025-02-17
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Malmesbury School- Connecting with Nature
Authors: John Muir Trust, 2.20 mins.
Date: 2024-12-05

Community action/Moray, Rewilding Scotland, Community action/Wiltshire / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

Oxford video

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Food activism

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Cripley Meadow Allotment Association is managed by an annually elected committee. Oxford City Council lease the land to the association and devolve its management to the committee. Since 2004 over 160 plots have been cleared and put back into use. It is now a thriving site supporting over 200 members in growing local food and flowers.

Cripley Island Orchard has also been established. W

Towards sustainable economies

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Community resources

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Commons

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Wolvercote Common is an area of grassed common land north of Port Meadow in Oxford, England.

The Wolvercote Commoners' Committee was established in 1929 to manage the common land and to preserve other amenities in the village. Along with Port Meadow and Wolvercote Green, Wolvercote Common has been a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) since 1955. In 1993, the Wolvercote Commoners' Committee resisted an attempt by Oxford City Council to take the common into its ownership.

Climate action

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  • Oxford Citizens Assembly on Climate Change, oxford.gov.uk, held over two weekends in September and October 2019...oxford.gov.uk. Many videos on the website.

Cycling

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Among cities in England and Wales, Oxford has the second highest percentage of people cycling to work. W

Biodiversity activism

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The Trap Grounds (aka Trap Grounds Town Green) is a nature reserve in north Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, owned by Oxford City Council.

Environment quality

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  • Cleaner, Greener Oxford, Oxford City Council campaign
  • OxClean, Oxford Civic Society initiative dedicated to keeping Oxford clean and tidy
  • Oxford Flood Network, making a citizen-built flood detection network in Oxford, based on river levels, groundwater and local knowledge.

Open spaces

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Oxford is a very green city, with several parks and nature walks within the ring road, as well as several sites just outside the ring road. In total, 28 nature reserves exist within or just outside Oxford ring road. W

The city is at the centre of the Oxford Green Belt, which is an environmental and planning policy that regulates the rural space in Oxfordshire surrounding the city, aiming to prevent urban sprawl and minimise convergence with nearby settlements. The policy has been blamed for the large rise in house prices in Oxford, making it the least affordable city in the United Kingdom outside of London; some estate agents have called for brownfield land inside the green belt to be released for new housing.

News archive

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  • 'We can go quicker than 2050' - Citizens assembly votes for ambitious city climate target, Oct 20, 2019...oxfordmail.co.uk
  • The library of things: could borrowing everything from drills to disco balls cut waste and save money? Apr 24, 2019...The Guardian
  • Oxford aims for world's first zero emissions zone with petrol car ban, Oct 12, 2017...The Guardian
  • One part of Oxford seems to be getting more and more vegetarian, Jan 4, 2017...oxfordmail.co.uk
  • OXONBIKE brings electric bike hire scheme to city centre, Oct 10, 2016...lowcarbonoxford.org
  • Pupils to help raise awareness and tackle air quality around Oxford's schools, Jun 8, 2016...oxford.gov.uk
  • 100 electric car charging stations to be installed around Oxford in world's biggest scheme, January 25, 2016...oxfordmail.co.uk
  • Oxford's aspirations to host the first double decker wireless electric bus project, March 16, 2015...Oxfordshire County Council
  • Oxford Council first UK authority to pass divestment motion, September 16, 2014...Fossil Free UK
  • Pioneering community renewables in Oxford, July 11, 2014...The Ecologist

About Oxford

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Campaigns

Oxford University Fossil Free

Past events

Oxford ( ) is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.

The city is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every style of English architecture since late Anglo-Saxon. Oxford's industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing, science and information technologies. Founded in the eighth century, it was granted city status in 1542. The city is located at the confluence of the rivers Thames (known locally as the Isis) and Cherwell. It had a population of 166,034 in 2024. It lies 56 miles (90 km) north-west of London, 64 miles (103 km) south-east of Birmingham and 61 miles (98 km) north-east of Bristol.

See also

Page data
Keywords UK cities, solidarity economy, library of things
SDG SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-4.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 3 pages link here
Redirects Oxford community action
Views 48 page views (analytics)
Created October 13, 2021 by Phil Green
Last edit December 16, 2025 by Felipe Schenone
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