London wide day of campaigning, fun and games - Turning VW away from the darkside

On Saturday, 10^th December, in the freezing cold, about 60 local Greenpeace volunteers from all 11 London networks and friends from 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 naughtiness 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. VW has developed cutting edge Blue Motion technology, which is able to 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, we campaigned to get VW back from the darkside. 7 people from Islington network joined forces with the Greenwich network to become Team Endor. Our site was the Tate Modern – here we spoke to hundreds of people, including current VW customers who left with “I have joined the rebellion” stickers. Our Stromtropper was brilliant in attracting attention and we managed to get 406 cards signed! In total, all teams got 1700 cards signed, which will soon be sent to VW. Those 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! All in all an awesome day.

You can join the rebellion too - http://www.vwdarkside.com/en