Last year was full of highs and lows for climate change campaigning. We mobilised millions around the world in support of a global climate change deal, over one hundred thousand people took action in the UK with Oxfam and yet Copenhagen did not deliver. So we’re asking you, the people who make the campaign happen, how should we take the climate change campaign forward?
Before we do lets have a quick whiz through some of last year’s big moments. From Dhaka to Doncaster, over 1.5 million people took part in our climate hearings, including one in Tunbridge Wells and a hearing in London’s City Hall on the eve of Copenhagen itself. And we can’t forget the summer fete at the Kingsnorth power station in Kent – the chants are still ringing in my ears.
And Oxfam supporters really made some noise. Anna Collins, volunteered for the ‘Adopt a Negotiatior’ project, she ‘adopted’ (tracked, met with and held accountable) Jan Thompson the lead climate change negotiator for the UK. They became quite friendly through the negotiation process. Jan assured her in the final couple of days [sic] “I promise we’re still really trying”. Before rushing off to keep trying.
In the South East we had our own crack team, the “Copenhagen 5”, raising awareness and reporting back to their hometowns from Copenhagen.
For many of us the year culminated in the largest climate change demonstration this country has ever seen. 50,000 people made up ‘The Wave‘ as it flowed through London.
So we need to make sure that this year is even bigger, even better and even louder. Maybe there’s something we should be doing more of? Or something we haven’t thought of? Let us know, we’re all ears:
What do you think Oxfam and our supporters should do to make even more noise this year?
Should we focus on getting supporters to send specific one-off email actions? Should we put money into advertising and spread the word that way? What about producing educational materials for schools, colleges and the like? Or should we become a group of moles and infiltrate online message boards and spaces, taking the arguments to the darkest recesses of the internet? Something else?