It was touch and go whether we would go out on Saturday to campaign on Renewable Energy at Surbiton Festival. My Mum had been in hospital this week and a lie-in sounded like heaven. But I knew that the Energy Bill is currently being worked on in Parliament - that it presents probably the last opportunity for the UK to stand up and lead the way in tackling climate change and saving the Arctic (ice-free summers would be catastrophic for the animals that rely on its presence), and that its our local MP, Ed Davey, who can make it happen.
So no stepping back and letting other GP groups tackle this one. Plus we had one of the few polar bear costumes (yes - we all share a couple of costumes) and two people ready and willing to dress up. Waking up to a fabulous Saturday morning, we decided to go for it and spend a couple of hours getting a few more "Green Promise" messages for Ed. About an hour in, much to the amusement of the people nearby, who happened to wander by and decide to have their photo taken with our Polar Bear?
But from this person we need more than just a bear hug, photo or a text. We need Energy policies and legistation that gives us affordable Electricity with very low Carbon emissions, and it needs to be in place by 2030 to have any chance of preventing those ice-free summers. A challenge he said he was up to in the Lib Dem conference last week, a commitment he would not waiver from, regardless of "the people that would sabotage that future" as Ed put it.
In the meantime, we will be continuing to collect messages for Ed over the next two weeks. We will then visit him to discuss the Energy Bill in detail and hand over your messages with a tree for his garden - so this is one promise he won't forget. I will of course keep you updated on how that meeting goes. And if you live in Kingston & Surbiton, you can tell Ed what you would do if you were one of the few people who really could Save the Arctic (http://bit.ly/OvSk6l).
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