Edinburgh 2011 – the force was with us

It’s been an amazing year of positive action by Greenpeace, from making John West change its tuna and shaming Cairn Energy over its oil spill response, to tackling the dark forces of VW and having fun with a bunch of stormtroopers (really). Here’s a reminder of how we played our part…

We’ve been involved in several events around the No Tar Sands campaign this year. We held a free showing of the film, H2Oil, at the Forest Café, and signed up members of the public to the campaign at the Tarnished Earth photo exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden. In November, around 50 activists from across the UK, including Edinburgh, descended on London to blockade the Department for Transport over ministers’ involvement with Canadian tar sands lobbyists. Sixteen activists were arrested and are due to answer bail early next year. 

We were really pleased to have a stall at the first annual Scottish Tattoo Convention, held in Edinburgh in March. A big change from the usual ethical and green fairs, we took our Go Beyond Oil campaign to people who have possibly never encountered Greenpeace before. An interesting and colourful weekend.

June and July saw shoals of stickers appear on tins of John West tuna in local, well-known supermarkets. What could these be for, our local members asked innocently when they spotted them. The message stuck and John West finally committed to source line-and-pole caught tuna. Find more information on the battle to stop exploitation of the oceans here.  

Also in June, our members joined Greenpeace volunteers from across the country at Glastonbury to help run the Greenpeace field and spread the word about our campaigns to festival goers. As this was our 40th anniversary, the Greenpeace field was particularly exciting and included highlights such as the Cowshed Recording Studio. 

Closer to home, we took our collective passion for the wonderful sport of extreme ironing to new heights with our “extreme stall” on the top of Arthur’s Seat. A really fun day out… and we got some great photos of the day.

As summer drew to a close, nymphs from the Edinburgh wilderness occupied stores and shopping centres to point out to Mattel, Disney and Harbro (and their customers) how their toys’ wrappings were contributing to rainforest devastation.  As if by magic, warning messages appeared on boxes containing Barbie, Transformers, My Little Pony and other toys. It did the trick, with all three giants dropping Asia Pulp and Paper-sourced paper for a more sustainable source. And Ken dumped Barbie.

One festival not being enough, in October a group of volunteers from Edinburgh and St Andrews headed for the Kaleidoscope Festival in Fife. From our small marquee, we spent the weekend encouraging people to get active with Greenpeace locally, and got loads of petition cards signed for the tar sands and fisheries policy campaigns.

The group was also busy during 2011 with the Star Wars themed Volkswagen Darkside campaign.  In June, group members went to London for the campaign launch, informing the public about Volkswagen’s attempts to sabotage important European climate laws in typical Greenpeace style. Later, in September, we visited a Volkswagen dealership in Glasgow as part of a coordinated Europe-wide direct communication.  And more recently, we've been gaining campaign support at our stalls in Edinburgh , where our genuine Star Wars stormtrooper caught the public's attention.

In response to Cairn Energy's reckless drilling in the Arctic and their reluctance to publish an oil spill response plan, Greenpeace activists, some dressed as polar bears, visited Cairn's office in Edinburgh to look for said plan. 17 activists were arrested and a tense trial followed in Edinburgh's Sheriff court. As always, those charged were well supported, including a visit from Greenpeace executive director Kumi Naidoo, who shared an informal lunch with us. Happily, the next trial was a triumph for Greenpeace - the first defendant was found not guilty and all other charges were then dropped.

The new Rainbow Warrior attracted admiring crowds in November, and two of our members went to meet her while she was berthed in London. It was an inspirational trip as well as a poignant farewell to the old Warrior, who will now serve as a medical ship in Bangladesh.

The end of November brought our annual Pub Quiz - a fun evening and an impressive turn-out despite torrential rain. Keen quizzers battled for the top spot and a fantastic array of prizes - for both the quiz and a raffle. Pretty much everyone won something and we raised £110. Special thanks to those who brought friends, went to shops to ask for prizes and displayed posters around town. And to our excellent quizmaster, Alison, who made the whole night happen.  

Other fundraising activities included a car boot sale at Greenside, with items – including many, many books – donated by supporters raising £60. 

Being part of the local group means you get to learn many different campaigning skills. Richard Martin came from London HQ to give us a workshop on how to use the internet effectively in our campaigns – and inspired us to get blogging. Street communication training helped new volunteers to find their feet for Greenpeace stalls and others to brush up on techniques. The trainers were fantastic - full of energy and enthusiasm. The day covered pretty much everything to do with campaigning at a street stall, from preparing the stall itself to dealing with “difficult” members of the public.  And some of the guys even wore a pink cowboy hat to get into character (well, that was their excuse). Brainstorming ideas about non-violence, listening to real accounts from Greenpeace activists... and dragging each other across the floor - all in a day’s training for non-violent direct action. And we were very fortunate to have one of the Cairn Energy activists to share his experiences. The whole day was really useful and is highly recommended to keen volunteers.

There were plenty of chances to test these skills over the year, with our volunteers taking Greenpeace campaigns to events across Scotland - including the Dumfries Environment Fair in March and the Glasgow Make Peace Festival in September.

If you want to be part of the action in 2012, come along to our next group meeting and find out how.