February campaign wins

February might be the shortest month of the year, but you wouldn’t know it looking at everything we’ve achieved over these 28 days.

Life gets busy, and it’s hard to keep up with all the headlines. We wanted to take a moment to share some of the wonderful wins and milestones we’ve made happen together…

A win for dentistry – but we can’t stop now!

A month after we handed in our 250,000-strong petition with the British Dental Association, calling for NHS dentistry to be saved, the Government has announced plans for 700,000 new urgent dental appointments.

After years of neglect, there is still a lot more to be done to make NHS dentistry fit for purpose. But this shows the impact we can have when we come together and demand better. Together, we’ll use this momentum to carry on pushing for more changes to help make sure all of us can see a dentist and get the treatment we need, whenever we need it.

Standing up for Ukraine

After Donald Trump’s new low last week – blaming Ukraine for the war that Russia started – nearly 50,000 of us called on Keir Starmer to stand up to Trump when he went to the US this week. For every 1,000 of us that signed that open letter, an email was sent directly to Keir Starmer, making it clear that the British public stands with him as he backs Ukraine.

And it looks like he’s not backing down to the US President. While the threat from Trump and Putin is far from over – especially after Trump’s disgraceful behaviour while meeting with Zelensky yesterday – in the days after our letter was launched Starmer made a number of statements reaffirming his support for Zelensky and Ukraine. Together we need to make sure that support stays firm.

Politicians are sitting up and taking note

In recent years, while we know our campaigns made it onto the Government’s radar, ministers rarely replied directly. But just two months into this year, we’ve had two direct, positive responses. And we’ve even had a meeting at Downing Street!

Ministers got in touch earlier about our petition to stop foreign billionaires like Elon Musk from interfering in UK politics, saying they’re looking into it. And this week, Government officials confirmed they’ll keep the ban on harmful pesticides to protect bees, thanks to our successful petition.

And this week our CEO, Matthew, met one of the Prime Minister’s special advisors at 10 Downing Street, raising supporters’ concerns and hopes about the future of the country.

There’s still a lot more to do, but this shows the Government is listening to 38 Degrees supporters, and together we can make change happen.

A helping hand for our bees

Not all our impact is aimed at changing policy – sometimes 38 Degrees supporters band together to make a difference in other ways.

It’s why, this month, thousands of us have chipped in to help launch a project to give away tens of thousands of bee-friendly seeds to help our buzzy friends survive and thrive. We’ve raised enough for 29,902 packets so far, hoping to reach 60,000. If you’ve not yet chipped in – or would like to boost your donation to fund a few more packs – click here to do so.

Photos sent in from 38 Degrees supporters after the previous year’s Bee Seed giveaway.

Protecting our privacy

Our petition to stop banks from spying on us – and reporting it to the Government – is making the headlines. This month a new Bill that would give banks radical new snooping powers was debated in Parliament.

Our friends at Big Brother Watch handed in our massive petition – signed by more than 228,000 of us ahead of the debate. And the issue made a splash in the papers.

Saving a beloved animal park

And last but not least we helped save a local animal park! When Greenwich Council revealed plans to close the much loved Maryon Wilson Animal Park – home to 96 animals and used by local schools to help children understand a love and appreciation for animals – local resident Claire leapt into action. She started a petition on the 38 Degrees site, and it all snowballed from there.

More than 11,000 people signed the petition, put up posters and attended a public meeting to demonstrate how much the community loved the park. And they won! The council has scrapped plans to close the park, and will work with locals to figure out how to protect it.

Whether it’s getting hundreds of thousands of new dentist appointments across the country, or protecting one beloved local park, it just goes to show how much power we have when we come together.

38 Degrees is named after the tipping point at which snow comes together to form an avalanche. Every action you take adds up, until we become an unstoppable force of change.

There’s still work to be done, but for now, let’s celebrate each and every one of us in this wonderful community.