Friends of the Earth (EWNI)

Friends of the Earth (EWNI) (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) is one of 70 national groups around the world which make up the Friends of the Earth network of environmental organizations. It is usually referred to just as Friends of the Earth within its home countries.

Friends of the Earth Scotland operates separately, so there is no single Friends of the Earth (UK).

Since July 2008, Andy Atkins was the executive director of FOE England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Under Atkins' leadership, Friends of the Earth will continue to push for political action to tackle global environmental challenges.

Since Craig Bennett has been director.

In November 2006, the BBC reported that the Government was including a Climate Change Bill in their legislative programme set out in "the Queen's Speech", as demanded by the Big Ask Campaign. The Climate Change Bill became law on 26 November 2008.

FoE EWNI is part of the 30 national organisations that Friends of the Earth Europe represents and unites at the European level.

Friends of the Earth was founded in England in 1971, two years after the group was first founded in San Francisco in 1969. Its first leader was Graham Searle, a former vice president of the National Union of Students. One of the first campaigns was to dump 1,500 glass bottles in front of the HQ of soft drinks giant Schweppes in Connaught House, London in protest at the company's policy of having non-returnable bottles. The group had eight local branches in 1971. By 1976 there were 140, and by 1980 it had 250 and 17,000 registered supporters. Between 1984 and 1993 its director was Jonathan Porritt a former teacher and chairman of the Ecology party. Porritt left in 1993, by which time its membership hit 226,000. The next executive director was Charles Secrett who held the position till 2003. Between 2003 and 2008, FoE EWNI's executive director was Tony Juniper.

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