Having just got back from a meeting with Chris Huhne (who happens to be my MP as well as the Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change) about fuel poverty and energy efficiency, I feel it went well although such meetings sometimes take a while to digest, especially when they are with a very well-informed Sec of State... At the end of the meeting he asked how things were Greenpeace-wise and I mentioned the VW campaign as being one of our big current areas of activity. Nothing unusual there as far as it goes, but it did make me think about the different campaigning styles that we use, depending on who or what we are focusing on. So, if we're looking at the need for better policy/legislation, we meet with MPs and highlight our concerns. When it's a big company like VW which has been frankly rather arrogant and dismissive so far (e.g. releasing bland corporate statements without any real action), it's all rather different - spoof films, banner drops, street campaigning (though we do a bit of the latter with politicians too, like the recent Common Fisheries Policy letter writing) and so on.
Still, having got back home to write up my notes from the meeting with Chris Huhne, it was good to sit back and remind myself that next Thursday I'll be wearing a Stormtrooper helmet and, along with other local volunteers, asking members of the public in Southampton to take action against VW and its irresponsible lobbying against effective climate change legislation. Should be interesting... VW, we've got our eye on you...
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