I guess most readers of this blog have
heard of Amnesty International. It is possible that you have not all
heard of Mrs Fawcett. You should have done. She was more responsible
than any other single individual for winning the vote in
parliamentary elections for women in the UK. (If you want to know
more about this, my blog-post “Suffragettes and Suffragists” will
not take you long to read.
http://georgehharris.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/suffragettes-and-suffragists.html)
These two examples are proof enough that campaigns of letter-writing
to decision makers and opinion formers can produce results.
That is why a small group of us at St
John’s Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh have started a post-card
campaign. It is part of our Earth be Glad project.
We are concerned with the environmental
crisis, which is now very urgent indeed. The two massive and
interlinked problems are climate change and the extinction of
species. Most of the sensible decision makers and opinion formers in
the UK do know this, but they need support, encouragement, and a bit
of pressure to make the revolutionary and transformational changes
needed if we are going to have much hope of tackling the crisis.
Hence the post cards.
Each card on the picture side has a
striking image, with a few words as well (there are several designs
to choose from). It is up to the writers to word the messages as they
think fit, though we have made some general suggestions, depending on
the addressee. It would be nice to think that, over the next few
months, government ministers, educators, church leaders, journalists,
MPs, CEOs and others will receive so many of them that they notice
them, and have strengthened their resolve to respond effectively to
the crisis.
The campaign was launched a month ago
and is slowly gathering momentum. If any readers of this blog would
like to join in, please DM an address to @earthbeglad and we can
organise sending you some cards and a suggested address/message list.
Perhaps one day you will share a place in history with Mrs Fawcett.
