This year Sheffield Friends of the Earth had the opportunity to decide which national campaign we were going to get involved with. As the latest science tells us that carbon dioxide emissions need to fall fast - by at least 40 per cent by 2020 - we decided to continue campaigning on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
To help kick start the campaign, Simon Bowens from the regional office popped in to see us at our June meeting to explain what the Get Serious climate campaign is. In a nut shell, Friends of the Earth would like to see councils reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by 2020.
After reading a number of Sheffield City Council documents, it appears that they already have some positive plans to reduce emission but not to the level we would like to see. Our next goal was to
work out how we could influence the council so we decided to invite Bernard Little, Green Party Councillor and Jenny Patient from Sheffield Campaign Against Climate Change to share their knowledge of the council.
So what have we been doing so far?
Trisha provided an interview about the campaign to BBC Radio Sheffield which was broadcast on Wednesday 24 June.
We have collected many postcards at our recent stalls which will be sent to councillors and the leader of Sheffield City Council at a later date asking for action on reducing emissions. It is our intention to show that there is public pressure for action.
Another area of campaigning will be to put pressure on councillors by writing to them individually and using the local media to raise the profile of climate change and the need for councils to take action.
At our next stall in September we are planning to create a questionnaire with suggestions for solutions the council could implement to help achieve these reductions. Members of the public can then choose which solutions they would like councillors to adopt.
For more details of this campaign please
visit http://www.foe.co.uk/community/campaigns/climate/get_serious_20187.html
To help kick start the campaign, Simon Bowens from the regional office popped in to see us at our June meeting to explain what the Get Serious climate campaign is. In a nut shell, Friends of the Earth would like to see councils reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by 2020.
After reading a number of Sheffield City Council documents, it appears that they already have some positive plans to reduce emission but not to the level we would like to see. Our next goal was to
work out how we could influence the council so we decided to invite Bernard Little, Green Party Councillor and Jenny Patient from Sheffield Campaign Against Climate Change to share their knowledge of the council.
So what have we been doing so far?
Trisha provided an interview about the campaign to BBC Radio Sheffield which was broadcast on Wednesday 24 June.
We have collected many postcards at our recent stalls which will be sent to councillors and the leader of Sheffield City Council at a later date asking for action on reducing emissions. It is our intention to show that there is public pressure for action.
Another area of campaigning will be to put pressure on councillors by writing to them individually and using the local media to raise the profile of climate change and the need for councils to take action.
At our next stall in September we are planning to create a questionnaire with suggestions for solutions the council could implement to help achieve these reductions. Members of the public can then choose which solutions they would like councillors to adopt.
For more details of this campaign please
visit http://www.foe.co.uk/community/campaigns/climate/get_serious_20187.html