By PDV
The COVID pandemic has been traumatic; it also led to career reinvention for many. Giulia Innocenti is one of them.
She’s an actor and co-director of Inspector Sands Theatre Company. In 20202, during challenging times for the creative industry, she sought a deeper connection with her community and became a councillor for Barnet, Child’s Hill ward.
“It’s three of us. We came into administration in May 2022 by-elections, and we have a very ambitious administration, especially in greener environmental issues, so we declared the climate emergency.”
The North London councillor spoke with students during London Metropolitan University’s Journalism Newsweek panel, “Dirty London: how can we make the capital greener?”
She explained how the Green Our Neighbourhood community volunteers to create more green corridors for children, and raise awareness through local activities.
“The main focus now is greening around schools, which some boroughs have started to do, as well as growing trees and increasing biodiversity. Although this is a community group initiative, as a councillor, I will wholeheartedly commit to and support it,” Innocenti said.
“If you want to try doing something, do it locally, and you’ll have a lot more sway.”
Encouraging more people to cycle is also an essential goal for Barnet’s councillor.
“Barnet is a very car-driven borough, and it has been like this for years; many people have 2/3 cars: 70% of our emission is from cars.”
As mentioned by the BBC last week, government data shows that fly-tipping increased by 65% in the borough of Barnet, with the number of incidents rising from 5,907 to 9,763.
When questioned about the matter, Innocenti said: “Fly-tipping is another big problem in Barnet. General waste is the problem, so we’re introducing food waste collection and skip services for more oversized household items.”
Photo by Wendy Sloane
She is optimistic about future generations, despite acknowledging the limited time for the work that needs to be done.
“Working with Green our Neighbourhood, we have been so impressed with the level of education these children have, despite the lack of resources,” she said.
“They all have schemes like ‘Eco Warriors’, a group of children that have to represent the school on green issues and, across the board. Every single school has that so there’s a new generation of children who is so much more aware.”
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