As 2012 draws to a close, and us poor over-worked volunteers take a bit of time out over the festive period, it's a good time to look back at the many activities and achievements of the past year. Wayyyyy back in January we started off in the wilds of cyberspace (e-Tatooine?) with the many online Jedi pledging to tackle VW's drift to the Dark Side while other VW-related events, aiming to stop the company from lobbying against climate laws, happened at showrooms and other suitable venues (the real world is now known as 'realbook') including Southampton city centre where I got to dress as a Stormtrooper which was like nerdy heaven. Apart from the chafing. We (well, Alex) also managed to find time to organise a film-showing in celebration of it being Greenpeace's 40th birthday - huzzah!
By March we were campaigning at Shell garages - something that's continuing as they still want to drill in the Arctic whereas we and millions of other people want to Save the Arctic (or #stopshell and #savethearctic of you inhabit Twitterland). More of this, and more VW campaigning, and then in May (in case we didn't have enough to do) we started pressing for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which is needed to prevent overfishing and damage to marine species/ecosystems. This was all about getting MEPs on side by showing clear public support, and supporting sustainable practices within the fishing industry (e.g. family-run boats and the businesses they sell to) rather than the damaging industrial-scale operations causing the problem. It has to be said we had fun with this - how couldn't we with a 7-foot mackerel costume - wonderful!
After taking the fish (imaginatively named Big Fish) to campaign on World Oceans Day, the Shell campaign moved up a gear when rumours started circulating about the company rebranding its own forecourts in rather surprising ways. Despite the photographic evidence, we never did find out who did this - rogue Shell staff who had seen the light maybe? In June, the Arctic Scroll campaign was launched with the aim of getting a million signatures on a scroll to be placed in a pod on the seabed at the North Pole. Within a month we had the million, and by October 2 million - and still rising...
In June the Jedi morphed into a number of iconic Arctic animals - walrus, polar bear, snowy owl, narwhal, and of course the cunning, splendid Arctic Fox - they all have their facebook personae, and you can still join any or all of them. There's even a Caribbean Save the Arctic group! Then, it all got busy (busier) in July when direct action saw numerous Shell garages closed, shortly followed by Shell Day 1 on the 21st. Unsurprisingly the previous action meant that an injunction prevented us (and still does) from going onto their property, but that's fine when you're there to wave banners and hand out leaflets. Just like when we went back for Shell Day 2 on Sept 22nd. Shell, you suck soooo bad...
Of course there's more - we've tackled various clothing companies to urge them to detox their products (the latest two are Zara & Levi's), got KFC to stop sourcing its packaging from dodgy forest-trashing companies, and most recently got Waitrose to cancel (well, delay 'til 2014 at least, but cancel seems likely) plans to expand its relationship with Shell. We're looking to keep on with Save the Arctic, hopefully starting with an outreach event at a showing of Chasing Ice in early 2013.
So, if you helped out in 2012 - in whatever way - major thanks; if not, there are always lots of things need doing and we can always use more volunteers - all welcome - so come along to our next meeting and get active in 2013 :)
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