Canvass Your MP campaign kick off
This is probably the fastest campaign ever.
A bunch of 10 strangers met for couple of hours, came up with some solid ideas, exchanged few emails and after only a week(!), a simple, single-minded and hopefully effective campaign was born!
Well done to all people involved.
The Canvass Your MP campaign aims to encourage members of the public to engage with their local MPs on the climate change bill issues by going to meet them in person. When they need our vote, MPs are going door-to-door to convince us why they deserve our support. We want to flip this practice and get people to canvass their MPs to convince them to press for a stronger, more effective bill.
There’s nothing like a bit of one on one time to convince someone of your true feelings and many people feel passionately that the it’s time for the politicians to pull their fingers out of their a**e and to start taking positive, effective, cross-party action on Climate Change.
This is a politics neutral campaign. The issues are far more serious and urgent than any petty party-politics and herd-voting. We want to know who is serious about tackling climate change and who is just paying lip service to make him/his party look good.
Canvass Your MP is providing three easy steps for you to take action.
1. If you don’t already know your MP you can find out by entering your postcode into the Find Your MP website.
2. Contact your constituency MP at their surgery. You can use this website to find telephone numbers and surgery times.
3. As soon as you get a response from your MP, saying that they will (or won’t) support the 80% target, let us know by reporting back.
The Canvass Your MP website will show people taking their future into their own hands, proving that the power of the individual is an amazing force. The more people that meet their MPs to discuss their thoughts about the Climate Change Bill the more informed the Government will be and the more likely they will vote for the 80% target.
Thanks ever so much to Jez from Make Hay Ethical E-media for putting the wonderful site together in no time.
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Making Democracy Work For You by Gareth on February 12th, 2008
At last year’s Glastonbury Festival I stood in the Left Field Tent and listened to politician, Tony Benn make a rousing speech on democracy.
Guest Editor: Dr Gary Robertshaw - How times have changed! by Guest Editor on November 12th, 2007
Green campaigners and those concerned about the environment were once regarded as fringe activists, 'tree huggers' and 'eco warriors'.
Making Democracy Work For You
At last year’s Glastonbury Festival I stood in the Left Field Tent and listened to politician, Tony Benn make a rousing speech on democracy.
Tony’s message was clear. “Democracy is not just voting every 5 years, watching Big Brother in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say. Where we live and work….”
Like anything in life if you want to use, it you need to know how to. Democracy is a lot like that, if you want to make real changes, you need to learn to use it.
Last year I visited my local Member of Parliament (MP) to find out how to use the system.
This is what I found out…
Email campaigns
You plug your name and address into a website, like magic an email wings its way to your local politician describing your disdain for whaling, climate change or the latest concern of the day.
Lots of people make a difference, but MPs sometimes treat these emails like a petition. It’s easy to sign something without giving it much consideration and MPs know this. “If you get 15 e-mails in one go, the usual reaction is not ‘this is important’ but ‘oh God, my inbox is full of e-mails!”
Effectiveness rating: *
Protests
The Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, Gandhi’s march, the Iraq war protests.
Protests can raise important media attention and apply intense pressure to political systems. They can even be used to highlight the ridiculousness of legislation, such as Mark Thomas demonstrations against restrictions on campaigning in Parliament Square.
Effectiveness rating: * to ****
Letters
I highlighted the sentiment of an email was the same as a letter but was told: “It would be better if somebody wrote a letter in their own words. Sometimes if lots of people send an email it can have an impact, but most of the cynical politicians will think ’somebody has just gathered 50 people to annoy me by filling up my inbox”.
I guess the pen is mightier than the keyboard.
Effectiveness rating: **
Face to face
Many politicians run appointments when you can go along and meet them in person. Don’t be shy, most of them are human. If you know a few people with the similar concerns go along together. If there are many of you why not invite them to come and see you.
Politicians know that issues must be really important to their constituents when they take the time to meet them.
Effectiveness rating: ***
Political systems are different in every country. The guidance above will help you get started, but it is by no means exhaustive. All politicians are different and vary in the type of communication they take most notice of. Different countries have different forms of democracy. The more liberal a democracy is, the more accountable the government to the people, the increased civil and political rights people have and the freer and fairer elections are. (Dahl, 1989)
I know people that give up even before they’ve tried, they tell me their concerns, ‘One person can’t make a difference’. I believe they can. Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln. History is full of individuals and groups making a difference.
Over the last few weeks I’ve decided to see my MP about Climate Change. I’ve dusted off the notes from my Environmental Science degree, boned up on the latest developments from the IPCC, and have taken it upon myself to give my MP a grounding in the climate science basics.
The first meeting went well. Once we had finished our ‘Save the World’ talk, I took it upon myself to complain that it takes 5 years in my town to get an allotment. A giant leap from the melting permafrost, or destruction of the rainforest, but I’ve come to realise that everything is connected to everything.
Effectiveness rating: ? Watch this space
References:
Dahl, R. (1989) Democracy and Its Critics, Yale University Press, New Haven
Links:
In the UK you can find out who your local MP is at http://www.WriteToThem.com
Mark Thomas - Mass lone demonstrations : Against legislation to prevent free protest around British Parliament http://www.markthomasinfo.com/demo/default.asp
The IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of risk of human-induced climate change. http://www.ipcc.ch
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Glastonbury Festival Climate Conversations by Gareth on July 1st, 2008
I asked a number of people at the festival what they were doing in their own lives to tackle climate change and also what they found the most difficult.
Green fields at Glastonbury Festival by Gareth on June 29th, 2008
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Guest Editor: David Fletcher - Too Rich to Care? by Guest Editor on June 15th, 2008
One morning I was walking to work in London when I passed a woman unlocking her shop on Old Bond Street.
Guest Editor: Dr Gary Robertshaw - How times have changed!
Green campaigners and those concerned about the environment were once regarded as fringe activists, ‘tree huggers’ and ‘eco warriors’.
Belittled for their stance against things like road building, corporate pollution, urbanisation and 4×4s, and personified as lentil-eating vegans living in trees.
Now the evidence for man-made climate change is overwhelming with rapidly disappearing ice sheets, rainforest destruction, population growth, species extinction, hurricanes and extreme weather patterns as billions of tonnes of carbon are pumped into the atmosphere every year.
In response, it’s now trendy to be ‘green’ as everybody from the newly green Tories to major banks to supermarket chains to ‘eco’-airlines is keen to show their concern for the environment. Not a day goes by without another announcement that another major business is going green.
But how ‘green’ are these corporations really and how sincere are they in their commitment to the environment? Can a supermarket that uses palm oil obtained from cleared rainforests in its food products and which flies ‘organic’ food half way around the world clocking up a huge carbon footprint be considered green because it asks customers to re-use their plastic carrier bags? Clearly, much of the recent surge to become green is a cynical ploy aimed at capitalising on consumer concerns and increasing profits.
Don’t be fooled! Remember, buy locally produced food. Buy food grown organically, free from pesticides and harmful chemicals. And buy Fairtrade-certified products. For more advice, tips and a list of companies offering truly green products and services see The Green Providers Directory (www.search-for-me.co.uk)
THE GREEN PROVIDERS DIRECTORY
I set up The Green Providers Directory in 2006 in an effort to encourage more consumers to use environmentally friendly, ethical and organic goods and services. I have deliberately set out to make the directory not-for-profit and run it in my spare time out of a genuine commitment to furthering the ‘green’ cause and out of a duty to try and reduce the widespread damage being done to our planet. Whilst there are many green sites that cover environmental damage and discuss the problems of climate change, I felt that they lacked proactivity and failed to engage mainstream consumers, which is needed to facilitate change on a global scale and not just stimulate debate amongst core eco-consumers.
The premise of the directory is based on consumer power. That is, if large numbers of consumers can be educated and convinced of the dangers of climate change, then their combined demand for greener goods and services will cause a paradigm shift in buying behaviour and force companies to adopt policies that reduce harm to the environment
Each company listed has been vetted against their stated ethical policy and a demonstration that they are contributing in some way to combating climate change and environmental damage. We routinely reject applications because they fail to meet these criteria. I have also been keen to avoid associations with ‘pseudo-green’ national corporations who are using the growing concern to jump on the green bandwagon, whilst continuing to pursue non-sustainable business practices. To that effect, you will not find supermarkets, car makers, tobacco companies, etc…anywhere in the directory. As The Green Providers Directory is privately owned and not-for-profit there is no requirement to affiliate with any particular company - it’s completely unbiased and independent.
The basic concept is that visitors to the site can be confident in finding true green companies for all their everyday needs. The advice given is impartial and there is no active selling. This gives the site a point of differentiation from other ‘green’ directories and instills greater credibility.
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This year I'm trying to reduce my carbon footprint at Glastonbury Festival by living by 10 Carbon Busting Green Festival Tips.
GM crop, global hunger, world food. by Gareth on May 15th, 2008
Frankenstein foods, biodiversity loss, corporate takeover of the countryside.
Guest Editor Adam Beazley - Energy Efficiency: Greener than Green by Guest Editor on May 12th, 2008
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