Active Citizens Transform was founded in 2004 by Charles Secrett, former Executive Director of the

environmental organisation An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...

, and Ron Bailey, as a new non-party political movement in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It aims to mobilise citizens to transform the United Kingdom into a vibrant, participatory and

sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

. It opposes the "

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

" electoral system. ACT published an advertisement in 2005 criticising Labour party members of parliament who promised to support environmental policies but, under pressure from the Labour party's leadership, voted against environmental measures opposed by the British government. The ''advertisement'' was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for making misleading claims. One of ACT's main projects was Local Works the successful campaign for the Sustainable Communities Bill. ACT inherited this campaign from the

New Economics Foundation The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a Great Britain, British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice". NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new m ...

. In 2006, ACT formally merged with Charter88, which in turn merged with the

New Politics Network The New Politics Network (NPN) was an independent political and campaigning think tank in the United Kingdom, concerned with democratic renewal and popular participation in politics. It was founded as the successor to Democratic Left in 1999, and ...

in 2007 to form

Unlock Democracy Unlock Democracy is a British pressure group, based in London. The organisation campaigns for a more participatory democracy in Britain, founded upon a written constitution. Unlock Democracy works to promote democratic reform across the politica ...

References

External links

ACT

Charter88
Friends of the Earth. Press release, 28 March 2003. Electoral reform in the United Kingdom Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Sustainability in the United Kingdom {{UK-org-stub