Let’s sort out our Energy Future
by Richard George, Energy Campaigner
We are standing at an energy crossroads and a new law, the Energy Bill, will set out the direction we take. Over the next decade we must replace a fifth of our power stations, as the oldest, most polluting plants reach the end of their working lives. If the government gets the Energy Bill right, we will replace them with clean renewables and cost-effective energy saving; if they get it wrong, then we’ll be forced to rely on expensive gas and risky nuclear.
Electricity is responsible for 40% of our carbon emissions, and the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says that if we’re to tackle climate change then our electricity must be almost entirely carbon-free{pdf} by 2030. This has broad support including from major investors and manufacturers, the green movement and the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties amongst others. The CCC has formally advised the government{pdf} to include a legally-binding ‘decarbonisation’ target in the Energy Bill.
Over the summer it looked like Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat MP who’s running the Energy and Climate Change department, was going to ignore this advice. He’d been listening to George Osborne, who wants to keep the UK hooked on polluting and pricey gas. So very recently, Greenpeace volunteers got to work in key Lib Dem constituencies, reminding Lib Dems that they had to stand up to Osborne and the gas and nuclear lobbies by supporting clean energy.
Thankfully, the Lib Dems listened to reason and now support electricity decarbonisation. This is great – but we need them to go further and vote for it in parliament. We need a firm, legally-binding commitment to clean up our electricity introduced into the Energy Bill. So over the next few months we’ll be keeping up the pressure on the government and making sure that they do what’s needed to stop climate change.
Get Active! Greenpeace volunters and lobbyists are meeting with MPs to ask them to commit to ‘decarbonise’ the UK’s electricity by 2030. If you would like to attend a one day training course in political lobbying, and to meet your MP, then please register your interest here.
#SaveTheArctic events - we need your ideas
by Richard Martin, Network Developer
After a hugely successful summer of protests, two different Shelldays and #SaveTheArctic events at festivals and fairs, it’s started to get cold. Greenpeace volunteers will continue to campaign, and organise protests in the winter months but we’d also like to invite you to share your ideas as to events you’d like to attend – ideally inside.
Ideas might include Arctic film nights, campaign talks, public meetings, benefit gigs, pub quizzes or even an Arctic craft fair. Please post ideas as to events you’d come to as comments here. We'll then invite Greenpeace groups / networks to organise an event near you.
Drawing it all together
by Alicia Craw, Oceans Campaigner
We’ve wrapped up the fishy festival season, with Greenpeace campaign groups / networks attending more than 30 festivals and getting an incredible 15,000 signed fish cards (the target was 10,000) around the SE and SW coasts. The quality of your campaigning work has been truly outstanding, and you all deserve huge congratulations. You’ve forged great relationships with fishermen and communities, and gained the backing of members of the public who in many cases wouldn’t ordinarily support Greenpeace.
Almost all the fish cards have been delivered to target MEPs, at meetings with active supporters, political lobbyists, volunteers and local fishermen. The response from MEPs has been fantastic – 100% of the target SW MEPs now support the campaign demands, and we’ve got almost all target SE MEPs on board – with one final meeting to come. The MEP meetings held so far have forged valuable and ongoing working relationships with these MEPs, so thank you! In total, nationally, we’ve lobbied 57 MEPs and 28 have joined the campaign – an impressive result.
This quote in an interview on Radio BBC Cornwall last week, from Julie Girling, a key Conservative MEP, really sums up your impact:
“This is the Greenpeace campaign which many people would have seen out and about Cornwall in the last few weeks filling in your name on some nice fishy shaped bits of paper. I’ve been given a whole fishing net full of them today which I’m lugging around with me. And well what it shows of course is the, obviously the, heightened level of concern among people about fish and the lack of them in our sea and about the livelihoods of local fishermen. So I’m delighted to support the campaign. It’s a great time to start because we’re getting to crunch point on renegotiation of the Common Fisheries Policy.”
Online petition to Fisheries Minister - We’ve had around 5,000 online signups to the petition to the Fisheries Minister, with a target of 5,000 – 8,000 for 2012. i-pads were also used at three recent fish festivals, with 1,400 sign ups – 1200 of these were at one festival weekend alone!
National Surveys - Big thanks to the 23 Greenpeace groups / networks who went one step further, surveyed 3,000 members of the public across the UK asking: “Do you think the Common Fisheries Policy should be reformed to reward local, low impact fishermen”? The result: 99.9% said ‘YES’.
Next steps - One of the challenges of this campaign is adapting to the constantly shifting political landscape and calendar. The Fisheries Committee vote, which was due on 9 October, has been shifted to 28 November, with the plenary European Parliament vote rolled back to some time in the first quarter of 2013. So, next up we are will be organizing a focused lobbying push of the UK Fisheries Committee MEPs in November – and we need your help. MEPs respond best to personalised rather than pro-forma lobbying (hence the incredible success of the MEP meetings you’ve been involved in). So we’re going to be calling on you to organise personalised letter writing, but probably with a twist – we’ll be in touch soon.
Thank you - Finally, thank you so much again for your stellar work – the campaign is going from strength to strength, and we couldn’t do it without you.
Spotlight on James Cracknell
from Waltham Forest Greenpeace
Last year a letter arrived through my door informing me that I had won a place in the London Marathon. After thinking through the initial dilemma, of how on Earth could I possibly get my body in good enough shape to run 26 miles, came my next quandary: Who to raise money for?
I'd been involved with charities and campaigning before but nothing had ever felt like it truly represented my thoughts and feelings about the world. What I needed was a pro-active, green-minded, peace-loving, ballsy bunch of hippies who weren't just content with hugging trees, but chaining themselves to them. Looking back on it, I can't believe I'd waited so long to get involved with Greenpeace!
Since my first meeting with the Waltham Forest group / network, at which I waxed lyrical about my marathon exploits "The first tale of athletic achievement in our group's history" according to co-ordinator Dave O'Carroll, I have manned stalls, dressed up as a polar bear, been trained in non-violent direct action, got glared at by Shell garage staff, campaigned to Save the Arctic at a recent Radiohead gig and dressed up as a polar bear. Not bad for my first six months, I have feeling there's a lot more to come and I can't wait.
Get Active! Greenpeace needs your help to run marathons, to raise money, to take non violent direct action, to talk to people in your local community, to lobby politicians, to organise outreach events, to protest and to make your voice heard. please get in touch with the coordinator of your local Greenpeace group / network to find out what you can do to help.
Forthcoming Events
Midlands Skillshare, Saturday November 3rd, Nottingham. A skillshare for all active supporters in the Greater Midlands area, with new people especially welcome. A day designed to build on the momentum generated by the Arctic / Shell campaign and to develop campaigning skills. More information from malcolm.carroll@greenpeace.org
Thank you for all your hard work campaigning with Greenpeace.
Tim, Rachael and Malcolm
Outreach team
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