On Saturday, 10th December about 60 local Greenpeace volunteers from all 11 London networks as well as Berkshire, Surrey and Cambridgeshire descended to top spots in Central London to lure VW back from the darkside. Our mission: to speak with members of the public of VW’s shenanigans and get the public to sign action cards demanding that VW stop lobbying the EU against crucial climate change legislation.
We believe VW is not all that bad. The company has developed cutting edge Blue Motion technology, which can reduce emissions to 80g of carbon dioxide per km. Unfortunately, Blue Motion technology is available in less than 10% of VW’s fleet. To make matters worse, VW is actively lobbying the EU and the German government against more stringent energy efficiency measures despite having developed cutting edge technology. VW is a powerful player – As Europe’s largest car manufacturer VW can either be a leader or drag down the rest of the automobile industry.
So armed with several stormtroopers who decided to join the rebellion and campaign to get VW back from the darkside. Volunteers from the Greenwich crew joined forces with the Islington network to become Team Endor. Our site was the Tate Modern where we spoke to hundreds of people, including a Santa Scissorhand and a Darth Santa (pictured) who left with “I have joined the rebellion” stickers. Our very own stormtrooper (thanks Gillian for being such a trooper – literally!) did a great job in attracting attention and we managed to get 406 cards signed. In total, all teams got over 1700 cards signed, which will soon be sent to VW. Anyone with a twitter account could follow the day of action via #gpactive #vwdarkside & #spotthestormtrooper
Afterwards, Team Endor joined the rest of the campaigning crew in Trafalgar Square for a photo opportunity before heading to the pub for some well deserved pints and pizzas. You can join the rebellion too - http://www.vwdarkside.com/en
See more of Greenpeace’s London-wide day of action at:
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