{"id":3004,"date":"2023-08-23T20:55:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T20:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/?p=3004"},"modified":"2023-08-23T21:04:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:04:35","slug":"get-norfolk-greener-a-small-experiment-in-localising-a-climate-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/?p=3004","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Get Norfolk Greener\u2019: A Small Experiment In Localising A Climate Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Get Norfolk Greener\u2019: A Small Experiment In Localising A Climate Campaign<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long blog: pdf here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tiktoks by the UEA student campaign Get Norfolk Greener<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier this year I worked with a class of 28 third year University of East Anglia (UEA) students on a group project in which they created and ran a short campaign \u2013 \u2018Get Norfolk Greener<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 which localised the climate and energy propositions of a national campaign backed by 40 voluntary organisations. \u00a0\u00a0While for the students it was first and foremost an exercise in learning-by-doing, \u00a0the element of localisation can make many campaigns more \u2018real\u2019 and tractable for a wider range of audiences (especially Settlers and Prospectors<\/a>), and might be relevant to a number of change efforts.<\/p>\n

At least in the UK, localisation to Parliamentary Constituency level may be vital to building a resilient and durable base of support, not just to achieve objectives but to conserve and consolidate gains. \u00a0In a post last year,<\/a> I argued that to tackle the impacts of intensive agriculture, nature campaigns need to be resourced and organised at the Constituency level (just as the farming lobby is).\u00a0 \u00a0My experience of working on recent nature and climate\/ energy campaigns is that this is still sorely needed in the UK, with many campaigns overly reliant on national public opinion and social media.<\/p>\n

The national campaign the UEA students localised is Warm This Winter<\/a>, whose objectives include access to cheap renewable energy, help with energy bills and upgrading homes with heat pumps and insulation.\u00a0 The very need for the WtW campaign in 2023 is at least partly due to previous failures to convert public support into durable consolidated gains and groups of constituents confident to make the case with MPs.<\/p>\n

The Need To Anchor Gains<\/strong><\/p>\n

Any campaign can make progress when it runs with the winds of public opinion in its sails, and those winds carry also along a flotilla of politicians, the media and corporates. The trickier test comes when it encounters significant headwinds.\u00a0 Fairweather friends may fall away, and forward progress may be reversed if the tides and currents run against you.\u00a0 This is why campaign groups need an engine which does not depend on favourable winds (usually paying supporters), and to put down anchors against backsliding (eg social or legislative).<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s most successful climate campaign was Friends of the Earth\u2019s \u2018Big Ask<\/a>\u2019 campaign in 2005 \u2013 2008 [see analysis here<\/a> and here<\/a>]. \u00a0\u00a0Fortuitous competition between the main parties to look green before a General Election swept the campaign to victory and, unusually, success was consolidated in law, in the shape of the 2008 Climate Change Act<\/a>. \u00a0That statute imposes a legal duty on UK Governments to set and meet carbon reduction budgets to bring about a 80% cut in emissions by 2050. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So far it\u2019s acted as an anchor stopping the UK from drifting backwards on climate but it hasn\u2019t prevented significant climate obstruction.<\/p>\n

The greatest success for obstructers of action on climate in the UK came between 2010 and 2015. \u00a0Right-wing Eurosceptic and climate-sceptic Conservative MPs exploited Prime Minister David Cameron\u2019s small majority and forced him to U-turn on supporting for onshore wind energy.\u00a0 Cameron declared he would get rid of the \u201cgreen crap\u201d, and defunded household insulation programmes, despite having the worst housing stock in Europe.<\/p>\n

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The Sun<\/em>, 21 November 2013<\/p>\n

In 2019 I tried to find out how exactly this had happened, given that UK public opinion had remained overwhelmingly in support of wind power throughout.\u00a0 When nobody seemed able to tell me, I looked into it myself \u2013 detailed in the blog Killing The Wind Of England<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0A critical factor was that while NGOs and the renewables industry had won the \u2018air war\u2019 of national public opinion, they had failed to turn this expressive support for wind power into instrumental political support at a local level.\u00a0 \u00a0There was no social \u2018anchor\u2019 in the form of an established lobby at the local level, which was where their opponents acted to manifest one. Consequently it didn\u2019t take much in terms of opposition, to make it feel like a lot.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s geographic Parliamentary Constituencies and \u2018first past the post\u2019 election system makes its party politics particularly sensitive to a ground war of well-organised constituency-based lobbying.\u00a0 \u00a0In 2017 a long-running government tracker poll on wind found that just one person in a panel of 2000 was \u2018strongly opposed\u2019 to wind. \u00a0But such opposition was concentrated among Conservative Party members, and the anti-wind campaign was organised within the Party. \u00a0MPs were systematically bombarded with letters, emails and face to face visits from activists, as well as the threat that both members and MPs would defect to the more right wing UKIP Party.\u00a0 One MP previously supportive of wind flatly refused to accept polling evidence on the grounds that it did not reflect his postbag.\u00a0 By localising their campaign, the opponents of wind power flew under the radar of wind power\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Green Crap\u2019 Legacy <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cameron\u2019s about face over green policies had a dramatic and lasting effect.\u00a0 In 2012 the UK was upgrading homes a year with loft and cavity wall insulation at a rate of over two million a year.\u00a0 By 2013 that plummeted\u00a092%<\/a> and 74%, and has never recovered. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This has had serious consequences, especially for poorer people struggling to pay for food and heat their homes. When gas prices spiked after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, Simon Evans at Carbon Brief calculated<\/a> that \u2018cutting the green crap\u2019 ten years before had added \u00a32.5billion to British energy bills in 2022 (and more since).<\/p>\n

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Chart from CarbonBrief<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile the restrictions introduced to make it almost impossible to build onshore wind in England remain in place. \u00a0In 2023 it was found<\/a> that despite being one of the windiest places in Europe, only two English wind turbines had been built in the past year, whereas Ukraine had managed 19 despite being at war.<\/p>\n

The UK Government has just about managed to argue that it is still on course to meet its Climate Change Act commitments because of building windfarms offshore, and the statistical legacy of shutting down coal power.\u00a0 However the same pattern of organising opposition to energy infrastructure as was adopted against wind turbines is now being applied to energy grids (pylons) and misinformation campaigns are being run against adoption of heat pumps.<\/p>\n

Get Norfolk Greener<\/strong><\/p>\n

UEA offers a module in \u2018Activist Campaigning<\/a>\u2019 from within its undergraduate courses in politics. For the past fifteen years it\u2019s been run by Dr Ben Little<\/a> but he asked me to fill in for him in 2023 while he was seconded to help direct the UEA Civic University<\/a> (outreach) project. UEA is based in Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s design of the module was built around some teaching (for which I used some of the campaign training content I use with NGOs) and a group project, which students would design and implement, with an assessment based on their reflection on their experience of doing the project.\u00a0 We needed to find a project \u2018client\u2019 so I contacted half a dozen NGOs, looking for a campaign they already had or had in mind, to which a group of about 30 students might feasibly make a useful contribution, over a month or so\u2019s preparation and three week\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n

The energy and climate NGO Possible<\/a> agreed to help and suggested we connect with Uplift<\/a> and the Green Alliance<\/a> which were organising a campaign for WarmThis Winter<\/a> (WtW), a coalition of 40 mainly national NGOs* (of which Possible is one), ranging from environment and nature groups to energy-poverty and community organisations.<\/p>\n

The WtW campaign ask was (and is) straightforward: individuals were invited to use an online form with a pre drafted letter to ask their MPs to sign a \u2018Pledge\u2019 which essentially committed then to do everything they could to encourage more government action on the energy and climate crisis.\u00a0\u00a0 It read:<\/p>\n

\u201cI pledge to help keep my constituents warm every winter by urging the Government to rapidly expand home retrofit schemes, support the swift deployment of homegrown renewables to speed up the net zero transition away from volatile fossil fuels, and provide further financial support to vulnerable households. I will work alongside Parliamentary colleagues to ensure the Government goes further to tackle the energy crisis at every available opportunity, including upcoming fiscal statements and the Energy Bill.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We set out to localise this ask, and work on securing the support of all nine Norfolk Westminster MPs, eight Conservative and one Labour.\u00a0 By way of context most of Norfolk is rural, with one small city (Norwich, population 200,000) and relatively few towns. \u00a0A national survey<\/a> found most of Norfolk is above average for \u2018agreeableness\u2019 meaning people tend to be \u2018cooperative, friendly and trusting\u2019, below average on \u2018open-ness\u2019 meaning they lean towards being \u2018conventional, down-to-earth, and traditional\u2019, and above average on \u2018conscientiousness\u2019 meaning they tend to be \u2018self-disciplined, cautious, and compliant\u2019 as well as socially conservative.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Norfolk can be slow to adopt innovations, and is often seen as a bit of a political backwater. \u00a0Many people living in Norfolk quite like its sense of relative isolation from the rest of the country.\u00a0 It\u2019s the sort of place where constituents often vote for MPs as individuals rather than by party. \u00a0I once asked a friend who was our local Mayor how the local elections had gone, and she said \u201cnot bad Chris but it all got a bit too political for my liking\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not then, perhaps, optimal political campaign territory, especially for one which had to be run in short order (teaching and preparation one day a week Feb \u2013 April, a month break and three weeks of implementation in May). \u00a0On the other hand the default assumption might have been that no MPs would respond to the WtW pledge campaign, or just one would (the South Norwich Labour MP, Clive Lewis, who had a long track record of being active on climate), so we had a default benchmark.<\/p>\n

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www.warmthiswinter.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

The national WtW format used online resources to encourage individuals reached through participating organisations, to start and join local lobbying events, and contact their MPs asking them to sign up, by email, social media, face to face or phone. \u00a0WtW provided some good online training webinars from Uplift, 350, and Hope for the Future.\u00a0 Experience suggests that the \u2018usual suspects<\/a>\u2019 mobilised and aggregated by such formats tend to be a thin layer of high-agency Pioneers and so we hoped to use campaign design to make our campaign more accessible and relevant for more of the constituents of Norfolk MPs, and provide evidence that there are impacts they are concerned about, and solutions they support.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a couple of slides from an early briefing:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Students formed six Research Groups, on positive case studies (solutions that work, with relevant benefits), problems to stop or avoid, understanding our MPs as people, relevant voter attitudes, finding constituents willing to talk to MPs about problems or solutions, and work being done on problems or solutions, by local (District) councils.\u00a0 These were then used to populate a website, social media posts and construct localised communications to the MPs, and to explain the campaign.<\/p>\n

[It\u2019s a convention<\/a> that UK MPs are not obliged to respond to members of the public who are not Constituents. \u00a0Basically this means campaigns need to engage registered voters, not eg students registered to vote elsewhere.\u00a0 Although MPs are expected to reply to constituents, in practice some do so rarely, especially to tiresome \u2018usual suspects\u2019 who contact them about nationally organised petitions and campaign asks. \u00a0During this campaign a number of Constituents of Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, were reluctant to take part given that he rarely responded to them. \u00a0He was even subject to public criticism<\/a> from his own local Conservative Party for being unresponsive].<\/p>\n

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Gathering content in the situation research phase<\/em><\/p>\n

Students produced a \u2018portfolio\u2019 for each of the nine Constituencies, aiming to match three problem and three solution examples, with a constituent endorser\/ messenger\/ proponent for each.\u00a0 [\u2018Finding people\u2019 proved a slow process, not least because only one of the students had actually lived in Norfolk.\u00a0 It was also disappointing, though after working on other UK local projects, not surprising, to find that NGOs involved with the WtW coalition were unable to help us find the minimum three constituents in each MP\u2019s area.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t because of a lack of goodwill, just not being organised that way, and in some cases channelling all their political work through their senior, staff which of course means that the MPs are not necessarily hearing from their voters].<\/p>\n

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How the elements of the portfolio were intended to combine in making the case for the Pledge to MPs. <\/em><\/p>\n

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How the Research Groups work applied<\/em><\/p>\n

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Students taking part in a Civic University community \u2018Climate open Space\u2019 event in Norwich, doing a bit of networking with\u00a0 whoever turned up.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Comparing MPs positions to the WtW pledge asks<\/em><\/p>\n

Researching Local Stories<\/strong><\/p>\n

Students investigating energy and climate problems at local level looked at nature and landscape and energy poverty.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s well known that the Norfolk coast is experiencing accelerated coastal erosion, flooding and saltwater intrusion as a result of climate change but other impacts are less well known.\u00a0 In 2018 UEA research by Dr Jeff Price studied 834 species from Norfolk\u2019s characteristic flora and fauna, to see what would happen if the average temperature was allowed to increase 2.C.\u00a0 He found most of Norfolk\u2019s bumble bees, larger moths and grasshopper species would die out, along with the Swallowtail Butterfly, only known in England from the Norfolk Broads, and many traditionally \u2018common\u2019 species such as Grey Partridge, Water Vole, Common Frog and Common Lizard could be lost.<\/p>\n

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Climate heating is leading to introduced species such as Alexanders displacing native flowers such as Bluebells which are adapted to cooler conditions.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Page from Get Norfolk Greener website, for S Norwich<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Page from Councils section of the Get Norfolk greener website \u2013 Kings Lynn and west Norfolk Council covers the Constituency of James Wild MP and part of that of Liz Truss MP, and is one of the more active Councils in Norfolk on the climate and energy crises. Students surveyed national studies of local Councils, Climate Emergency declarations and subsequent actions, and made direct contacts. They found that Great Yarmouth appeared to have no climate plan at all.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Passiv Haus scheme in Norwich<\/em> \u2013 overall practical climate action as a result of Council policies is at a very early stage compared to many parts of the UK.<\/p>\n

One decarbonization expert told me the County was about a decade behind the next-door county of Suffolk, and a further ten years behind cities like Manchester.<\/p>\n

Energy Poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n

To show the basic facts about energy poverty in each Constituency, the campaign used figures from the group End Fuel Poverty<\/a> which break down to local levels. Students also reserached more personal local stories.<\/p>\n

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Energy poverty stats for Great Yarmouth \u2013 Constituency of Brandon Lewis<\/em><\/p>\n

Voter Attitudes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The campaign drew on an accessible and relevant survey<\/a> conducted by Survation for Renewable UK in 2022 on voter attitudes to forms of renewable energy and the attitudes of politicians to renewables.<\/p>\n

Unlike most national surveys which poll about 2000 people, this involved over 6000 and so could be broken down to Constituency level.<\/p>\n

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Broadland page of Get Norfolk Greener website, showing attitudes of voters in Jerome Mayhew\u2019s Constituency.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>(Contrary to the assumptions of many politicians, this and other polling shows most Conservative voters are more not less enthusiastic about renewable energy than Labour voters).<\/p>\n

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The political geography of Norfolk. <\/em><\/p>\n

Campaign Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once the research was finished, the campaign needed a name that would ideally sound \u2018normal\u2019, sum up what it was for and trying to do, and relate to locality (identity \u2013 weighted to Settler but not excluding to others).\u00a0 \u00a0Students used these functional cues to brainstorm possible names.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 15 minutes the students came up with these names: Green Norfolk Nine, Get Norfolk Greener, Warm Up the Pledge, Norfolk Climate Action, Heat Norfolk\u2019s Homes, Pledge Against Poverty, UEA Student Pledge,Norfolk Student Pledge, Give Truss The Trust, Norfolk Students Warm This Winter, Climate Action in Norfolk, UEA Action For Norfolk Energy, End Fuel Poverty in Norfolk, Keep Norfolk Warm This Winter,Norfolk MP Pressure Group, Chris & The Cool Kids, The Student\u2019s Pledge To Save The hedge, The Student\u2019s Pledge to Give Norfolk The Environmental Edge.<\/p>\n

There are pros and cons to all of these.\u00a0 \u00a0Immediately after that session we had a talk on how local councils work from Felix Brueggemann, Communications Officer for North Norfolk District Council and asked him what he thought. \u00a0\u201cThree word names are popular\u201d he said, tapping \u2018Get Norfolk Greener\u2019.\u00a0 So we adopted that.<\/p>\n

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Felix Brueggemann of NNDC<\/em><\/p>\n

Logo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Students developed a logo for the campaign following similar principles to the name.\u00a0 It wanted to say \u2018place\u2019 (identity) and \u2018green\u2019.\u00a0 A map of Norfolk was tried, a long with a green tree but the map of Norfolk is not very recognizable and the campaign was not about tree planting. \u00a0In the end it was based on the road signs you see when entering Norfolk, a \u2018you are here\u2019.<\/p>\n

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The Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above: overview of how the campaign design localised the WtW pledge: framing it as a local campaign, and bringing that to Constituency level with messengers and evidences.<\/em><\/p>\n

Campaign Launch<\/strong><\/p>\n

For logistical reasons and because we hoped to to engage some of the 3,700 staff, 4,000 post-grad researchers and 12,000 undergraduate students at UEA, the campaign was launched at a (pre-existing) \u2018Green Day\u2019 held at SIZ, the UEA Student Information Zone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Students made a flier with a QR code linking to the website and social media. \u00a0After considering free coffee as an incentive to other attract students, the team chose animals because so many students miss contact with pets or wildlife.\u00a0 The campaign paid a local animal rescue charity (Wild Touch<\/a>) to attend with animals used to meeting people, attracting crowds to talk to.<\/p>\n

Realising that a lot of people were still walking past, two students found a small whiteboard and turned it into a stop-and-talk device, in the shape of an instant opinion survey.\u00a0 This led to several deeper conversations and local stories, together with the insight that many students didn\u2019t know what an \u2018energy crisis\u2019 or \u2018energy poverty\u2019 actually meant.<\/p>\n

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Re-Purposing The Affordable Energy Calculator<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of the national WtW campaign, Greenpeace, working with Cambridge Econometrics, had produced an online Affordable Energy Calculator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the answers to a few simple questions about any home, this neatly converted the complicated and techy question of upgrading homes with heat pumps and insulation into a simple, personalised results in money terms.<\/p>\n

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Greenpeace agreed to let students repurpose the Calculator.\u00a0 They set out to visualise the results of householders willing to use it as a way to send a message to their MP, which could also be shared with local and social media.<\/p>\n

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Stimulus from an ideas generation session on using visual language to combine householder, saving money and their home to personalise and visualise the Affordable Energy Calculator.\u00a0 <\/em>Students considered various ways to say \u2018savings\u2019 or \u2018more money\u2019 in visual terms, and what emotion should be conveyed (eg angry, hopeful, cross, celebratory etc).<\/p>\n

Candidate visuals included a piggy bank and a presentation cheque (above) but they opted for a changeable Estate Agents\u2019 type sign, retaining the Greenpeace colours and \u2018shouting out\u2019 to the MP.<\/p>\n

This could turn the act of using of an online App into a publicly visible if micro real-life public event, on the archetypal \u2018doorstep\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Sign design on a student\u2019s computer for use by bill payers outside their homes<\/em><\/p>\n

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Broadland Constituent Sophie, in Fakenham, holding an Affordable Energy Calculator sign calling for MP support.\u00a0 After a bit of experimentation, students opted for the handmade changeable \u00a3 numbers, mimicking changeable signs on cars in used car lots (at the suggestion of our printers). \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Instagram<\/em><\/a> posts. Lydia from NR14 south-east of Norwich, and her large poorly insulated house with a huge potential saving. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Outside Norwich City Council offices – article in <\/em>East Anglia Bylines<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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The campaign was covered in several local radio interviews<\/em><\/p>\n

MP Sign-Ups<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the 19 days from the campaign launch to the end of the module, the campaign succeeded in holding one face to face video meeting, with Duncan Baker, Conservative MP for North Norfolk. \u00a0During the call he agreed to sign the Pledge, becoming the fourth Conservative MP to do so (of 47 MPs nationally to date<\/a>).\u00a0 Duncan Baker is a member of the Conservative Environmental Network and a member of the UK Parliament\u2019s Environmental Audit Committee.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Thumbs up\u2019 as Duncan Baker MP backs the Pledge <\/em><\/p>\n

As well as students, the call was joined by local resident and businessman Matt Higham, who runs a Deli in Wells next the Sea.\u00a0 He described<\/a> how high temperatures in 2022 had forced his shop to shut because the refrigeration system could not cope, and called for more rapid action against climate heating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Duncan Baker said: \u201cI am delighted to sign this pledge because it is so important to create a cleaner and greener future for generations to come. I also wholly agree in doing all we can to retrofit our housing stock to help keep households warm every winter. From small changes we can do ourselves to larger actions within governments we need to continue investing in sustainable and renewable forms of energy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Later the same day, Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for South Norwich also signed the WtW Pledge, saying\u00a0 \u201cGlad to sign this pledge from @ThisWinterUK and @GetNorfolkGreen. My Energy Equity Bill demands a rapid expansion of retrofitting and a universal energy allowance. I am very proud to see this student-led campaign fighting for energy equity in Norfolk\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From Get Norfolk Greener social posts<\/em><\/p>\n

Jerome Mayhew MP wrote to a Constituent explaining the reasons he would not sign the pledge, while Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North, issued a statement explaining why she would not be signing \u201cfor now\u201d.<\/p>\n

Five Constituents wrote to NW Norfolk MP James Wild but despite several follow up messages, no reply was received. \u00a0Constituents also wrote to Richard Bacon and Brandon Lewis but received no response. The campaign was unable to find Constituents to write to Liz Truss and George Freeman.<\/p>\n

Both Freeman and Bacon were involved with a campaign against electricity pylons to carry power from offshore wind energy to connect with the National Grid, through their Constituencies.\u00a0 George Freeman and Chloe Smith both had Government Ministerial jobs at the time (the usual UK Government convention is that Ministers do not support non-governmental campaigns, although in practice they do manage it if it suits their purposes).<\/p>\n

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Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get Norfolk Greener was a student learning process and neither a test of a model for NGO campaigns nor a test of the student\u2019s abilities by results.<\/p>\n

Achieving two MP sign-ups was better than might have been expected and as many of the students commented in their reflections, has we started active campaign earlier, had the long Easter holiday not existed, and had we gone on longer, we could have achieved more.\u00a0 Sentiments many readers may have encountered in professional campaign evaluations.\u00a0 They also identified the need to build up a stable of social media post material in advance and the missing local events in Constituencies.<\/p>\n

One major disappointment was our general failure to effectively utilise the community of UEA (some 3,700 staff and 4,000 postgrads as well as 12,000 undergrads) as a \u2018pool to fish from\u2019 to find Constituents (and then their friends or neighbours).\u00a0 There are a number of reasons why this may have been the case.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the toughest job fell to the students researching the attitudes and activities of District Councils.\u00a0They accumulated a lot of information and intelligence and made some useful 1-1 contacts but were not helped by the May 4 Local Elections which distracted Councils and prevented Officers from making any public statements, which I should have anticipated. \u00a0If the project had gone on longer and we had succeeded in running at least one event in each Constituency, bringing together MPs with Councillors and the public could have been very useful.\u00a0 As it was the Affordable Energy Calculator home visits turned out to work well and absorbed a lot of the available time.<\/p>\n

In my opinion Get Norfolk Greener\u2019s work probably meant WtW achieved more than it otherwise would have done in Norfolk. \u00a0One rather obvious reason for that is that although the national WtW coalition is in theory impressively large, only a small proportion of the organisations behind seemed to be actively engaged on the ground, as opposed to sharing asks online.\u00a0 Fewer still seem to be able (or ready?) to turn out members, supporters or other contacts willing and able to engage with their MPs as Constituents.<\/p>\n

There may be many reasons for this but perhaps especially in the case of issues that affect land in rural areas, it puts them at a disadvantage compared to interest groups such as the NFU (National Farmers Union), long seen as the most effective lobby in Westminster politics. \u00a0\u00a0(As discussed in previous posts on intensive farming<\/a> and Bovine TB in cattle and badgers here<\/a> and here<\/a>, the NFU is assiduous in encouraging<\/a>individual farmers to act as messengers and engage face-to-face with political processes).<\/p>\n

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NFU post<\/a> encouraging farmers to join the Boards controlling National Parks in 2023. Of course it\u2019s right to have some farmers on such Boards but they are often over-represented and National Parks are not supposed to be farm-parks.\u00a0 Agricultural intensification is still taking place in the UK\u2019s \u2018National Parks\u2019, to the detriment of nature, amenity and ecosystem function.<\/em><\/p>\n

As to climate and energy, the 2010-15 situation documented in Killing The Wind Of England<\/em> has changed \u2013 now for example there is an organised green group \u2013 Conservative Environment Network<\/a> (CEN) – amongst Conservative MPs with over 150 MP members and 500 Councillors.\u00a0 Duncan Baker who signed the WtW Pledge is one but so is Jerome Mayhew who didn\u2019t, and George Freeman who is now a CEN \u2018alumnus\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0On the other hand, the Conservative \u2018Net Zero Scrutiny Group<\/a>\u2019 of about 20 \u2013 30 MPs, ex MPs, Lords and political supporters formed in 2021, has been actively lobbying to obstruct progress in ending use of fossil fuels, and shares members and and has many ties with the same political network that forced Cameron into the \u2018Green Crap\u2019 reversal. \u00a0They are very unrepresentative of public opinion in the UK, including amongst Conservative voters but may be more cohesive and determined than CEN \u2013 it\u2019s hard to tell.<\/p>\n

At any event, there is much to be gained by the proponents of pro-environmental action organising to have a more effective ground game.\u00a0 In the case of Get Norfolk Greener, although we were admittedly an unknown quantity, despite contacting NGOs, we struggled to find three Constituents in each of nine Constituencies, who were prepared to sign a letter asking to meet with their MP.<\/p>\n

So, how ambitious would it be for national NGOs to set up a reliable pool of say six people in each Westminster Constituency prepared to meet with their MPs to press the environmental case at a Constituency level?<\/p>\n

There are 650 UK Westminster Constituencies. \u00a0650 x 6 = 3,900 people. \u00a0The average number of voters per Constituency is 74,000.\u00a0 Six would be 0.008% of the Constituents.\u00a0 Not a very large proportion.<\/p>\n

In his recent book Reflections<\/a><\/em> former RSPB executive Mark Avery argues that the much quoted nominal 7m combined memberships of conservation NGOs in the UK probably actually represents about 500,000 individuals but that is still a large number.<\/p>\n

If Mark Avery is right and the real number of \u2018committed wildlife conservation supporters\u2019 is about 500,000, finding 3,900 committed enough to meet their MP when needed would mean persuading 0.78% of them.<\/p>\n

But of course there are other people who might \u2018strongly agree\u2019 that their MP should act on a cause they care about \u2013 in WtW\u2019s case for example, the agenda is much broader than just that of environment groups. \u00a0In reality, building such representation is also not just about asking people who are paying supporters of cause NGOs. \u00a0In the case of Get Norfolk Greener some of those who did contact their MPs did so because I know them as friends, and I asked.\u00a0 The same was true of some of the friends of students.\u00a0 Activating those strong social bonds cannot be done just through mailing lists and social media.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true that in some of the national UK NGOs there are people whose job is to organise in this way, although not always with contacting MPs in mind. \u00a0Plus there are often just one or two of them, far fewer than devoted to other tasks.\u00a0 Some national NGOs make a virtue of working closely with the many existing (and new) local campaign groups at the \u2018grass roots\u2019, which is a good thing so far as it goes but it can be a very lop-sided relationship, where the volunteer locals gradually burn out as they are left to do too much of the groundwork, especially in evenings and at weekends, with little or no access to the resources of the established NGOs which have been accumulated through marketing and fundraising.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how true this is in other countries but in the UK at least it seems to me that one reason there is such a gap between public opinion on issues like climate change, and the actions of politicians, is that the expressed opinion captured in polling or manifest online is not sufficiently expressed face to face.<\/p>\n

It’s long been said said that \u201call politics is local\u201d and that remains true, even when it comes to tackling global issues like climate change.<\/p>\n

Thanks Due<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UEA Activism project had useful \u2018remote\u2019 support from Uplift, Green Alliance, End Fuel Poverty Coalition and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT), and collaborated with the Greenpeace group in Norwich on the Affordable Energy Calculator home visits.\u00a0 \u00a0Nick Acheson, an Ambassador for NWT spoke to students about nature in Norfolk, John and Rory Scott of KSBR gave an introduction to the techniques of qualitative research, John Tully of UEA ran a session on project management, Dr Jeff Price shared his research, and Jenny Kirk organised interview practice with \u00a0UEA Broadcast Journalism students.\u00a0 Thanks to them all and the UEA Broadcast House facilities team without whom I would have thoroughly failed on IT.\u00a0 Finally thanks to all the students, who taught me a lot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some of the UEA 2023 Activist Campaigning module students<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A qualitative research training session with KSBR<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

UEA wrote up the project here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Given the effort invested in creating the WtW coalition, I\u00a0 suspect it\u2019s likely to continue in some form until the next UK General Election, and will try to build on that bridgehead of 47 MPs.<\/p>\n

*The groups being: 350.org<\/a>, 38 Degrees, <\/a>ACRE – Action With Communities in Rural England, <\/a>Ashden, <\/a>Bioregional,<\/a> CPRE, The Countryside Charity, <\/a>Centre for Sustainable Energy, <\/a>Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, <\/a>Chartered Institute of Housing, <\/a>Citizens UK, <\/a>ClientEarth, <\/a>Climate Cymru, <\/a>Debt Justice, <\/a>End Fuel Poverty Coalition, <\/a>Fair Energy Campaign, <\/a>Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, <\/a>Fuel Poverty Action,<\/a> Global Action Plan,<\/a> Global Witness,<\/a> Green Alliance,<\/a> Green Christian,<\/a>Greenpeace UK,<\/a> High Peak Green New Deal, <\/a>Hope For The Future, <\/a>Hope Valley Climate Action,<\/a>Intergenerational Foundation,<\/a> Islamic Relief,<\/a> Make My Money Matter,<\/a> Moorlands Climate Action,<\/a> NEON, <\/a>New Economics Foundation,<\/a> Northern Housing Consortium,<\/a> Operation Noah,<\/a> Oxfam GB,<\/a> Parents for Future UK,<\/a> Possible,<\/a> RSPB,<\/a> Save the Children, <\/a>Stand As One,<\/a> The Climate Coalition,<\/a> The Wildlife Trusts,<\/a> Uplift, <\/a>WWF UK, <\/a>We Care Campaign,<\/a> Women’s Institute<\/a><\/h3>\n

Chris Rose<\/p>\n

Contact: chris@campaignstrategy.co.uk<\/a> (the opinions expressed above are my own and not necessarily shared by UEA or any of its staff or students).<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Get Norfolk Greener\u2019: A Small Experiment In Localising A Climate Campaign Long blog: pdf here Tiktoks by the UEA student campaign Get Norfolk Greener Earlier this year I worked with a class of 28 third year University of East Anglia … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3004"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3054,"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004\/revisions\/3054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threeworlds.campaignstrategy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}