Change Lab has launched an exhibition to raise awareness of the ongoing decline of the River Don as well as to campaign for the river to receive legal personhood.
The Social Action Group’s exhibition, held at Sheffield’s Student Union, is the latest step in their activism towards protecting the river.
If the River Don was granted legal personhood, it would be given additional rights, including specified guardians with the power to sue polluters.
Historically, the River Don was one of the most polluted rivers in Europe due to the chemical pollution from Sheffield’s industrial activity.
Change Lab, as well as other environmental organisations River Don Project and the Don Catchment Rivers Trust, have pledged to protect the river.
Alban Krashi, Rights of Nature Advocate and co-founder of the River Don Project, which advocates for the legal personhood of the river, emphasised the importance of protecting landmarks such as the River Don. He said: “We often see ourselves as detached from our local environment and yet we see ourselves as holding dominion over the environment.
“Change Lab is essentially trying to demonstrate the future rights of nature in South Yorkshire. So we’re not saying we have all the answers but we’re just saying we recognise that there is a problem.”
Ziqing Guo, a member of Change Lab, is also working to protect the river and its surrounding areas. She said: “If you want to protect the river you need to know how the river is and you need to interact with the river. But the constraints currently around the river stop people from interacting.”
Change Lab has made the River Don Project one of its key advocacy themes for 2023/2024, and will be continuing the project throughout the year.
