Friends of the Earth badges

Friends of the Earth (FoE) is one of the world’s most influential environmental organisations, known for its grassroots activism, bold visual language, and longstanding campaigns.

The power of the badge 🌍🎨

Badges have been a key part of Friends of the Earth’s identity from the start — inexpensive, creative, and designed for visibility on the street, in schools, and at protests. Whether promoting recycling in the 1970s, climate action in the 2000s, or divestment from fossil fuels today, these badges are a form of wearable protest.

Common themes in FoE badges

• Environmental Slogans: “There is No Planet B,” “The Earth is Our Home,” “Love Your Mother (Earth)” — simple, punchy, and designed to provoke thought.
• Campaign Specific: Badges tied to direct campaigns like “Dump Nuclear Power,” “Ban the Plastic Bag,” or “Climate Action Now.”
• Logo-Based: Many feature the FoE “circle O” symbol — a hand-drawn, broken ring representing the Earth — often adapted in different colours or with campaign overlays.
• Humour and Irony: Friends of the Earth has never shied from using wit to make a point, such as badges that read “I Recycle More Than My Ex” or “Bee Kind.”
• Kids and Schools: Brightly coloured badges for young environmentalists, including “Mini Friend of the Earth” or “Litter Hero,” used in educational outreach since the 1980s.

Types of Friends of the Earth badges 🛠️🌱

• Pin-Back Metal Badges (1970s–90s): Small, circular, with printed paper designs under a plastic coating — common at stalls, rallies, and festivals.
• Enamel Badges: Higher quality, often used for supporter gifts or fundraising drives — designs include the iconic Earth ring in green, blue, or eco-silver.
• Stickers-as-Badges: Friends of the Earth also made wide use of sticker-badges for protests, flash mobs, and student campaigns — wearable, low-cost, and ideal for temporary display.
• Digital Badges: Supporters have downloaded FoE badge art for avatars and social media banners during virtual campaigns.

Campaigns through the decades ⏳🌿

The best-known campaigns have been for climate justice, biodiversity, and anti-pollution reform.

Since its founding in 1969, FoE has used badges, pins, and wearable symbols to amplify its messages and unite activists across generations.

1970s: Recycling and Anti-Waste

FoE’s early campaigns focused on industrial pollution, waste reduction, and local ecology. Badges and postcards often featured slogans like “Recycle or Regret” and “Stop Acid Rain”, promoting awareness of everyday environmental responsibility. The circle “O” logo became a recognizable symbol of ecological activism, appearing on both badges and leaflets distributed in schools and at community events.

1971: Clean Air Campaign

FoE pushed for cleaner urban air, producing badges with imagery of lungs, smokestacks, and slogans highlighting air pollution dangers.

1972–1975: Anti-Nuclear & Energy Awareness

Early anti-nuclear badges encouraged citizen action against nuclear power expansion, often paired with educational postcards illustrating nuclear hazards.

1980s: Anti-Nuclear & Climate Warnings

As nuclear energy debates intensified and climate science emerged, FoE’s designs highlighted potential disasters. Badges such as “No Nukes” and postcards warning “Stop Climate Chaos” circulated widely. Collaborations with Greenpeace and CND occasionally influenced visual styles and shared slogans.

1986: Chernobyl Response

Following the Chernobyl disaster, FoE released special badges and postcards urging governments to reconsider nuclear policies, often featuring hand-drawn illustrations of the globe in distress.

1980s–1990s: Biodiversity & Forest Protection

Badges and postcards began featuring forests, trees, and endangered species. Campaigns targeted deforestation, monoculture plantations, and wildlife protection, encouraging supporters to take concrete actions such as tree-planting and sustainable consumption.

1990s: Climate Change Awareness

FoE promoted badges with slogans like “Nature Doesn’t Do Bailouts” to highlight early climate change concerns. Postcards often paired scientific illustrations with calls for policy reform.

2003–2005: Big Ask Campaign

Designed to pressure politicians to enact climate laws, badges featured ticking clocks or countdown imagery.

2005–2007: Biofuels and Forest Campaigns

Leaf-shaped badges and illustrative postcards warned about the dangers of monoculture plantations and land grabs for biofuel production.

2008: Plastic-Free Future

Campaigns tackling plastic pollution emerged, with bold typography and ocean imagery, producing both wearable badges and collectible postcards.

2015–2019: Youth Climate Strikes

FoE supported student-led strikes, producing badges reading “Strike for Climate” and “System Change Not Climate Change”, often distributed alongside informational postcards.

2018–2020: Climate Emergency Now

Black-and-red enamel badges with flame motifs and postcards illustrating climate crises became popular at rallies, schools, and online campaigns.

2020s: Just Transition & Green Jobs

Badges and postcards illustrated gears, turbines, and green thumbs — linking labour, economic justice, and ecological sustainability. These designs supported campaigns advocating for systemic change alongside climate action.

Badges as movement tools 🧩✨

FoE badges are more than fashion — they’re conversation starters and coalition-builders. Whether worn on a denim jacket at Glastonbury, pinned to a rucksack on the school run, or lining the walls of campaign HQs, they carry the legacy of the movement in miniature form.

Some activists collect and archive decades of FoE badges as a visual history of the environmental movement — a timeline of slogans, hopes, fears, and creative defiance.

FoE badge culture today 💡🌎

• DIY & Zines: Modern branches encourage members to design and print local campaign badges — often handmade or risograph-printed.
• Eco Materials: Recent badge runs have used recycled plastics, metal-free fastenings, and plastic-free packaging to reflect eco values.
• Digital Downloads: Supporters can download badge graphics to print at home or use online — connecting global solidarity campaigns with local action.

Wear the Earth on your sleeve 🌏👕

Badges have long been the silent voices of protest. For Friends of the Earth, they’ve become visual declarations of care, resistance, and belief in a livable planet. Whether mass-produced or handmade, funny or furious, they’re acts of hope you can pin on — reminders that the movement for environmental justice is made not just of facts and policies, but of people who wear their hearts, and their Earths, on their sleeves.

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