Saturday 20 June 2009

The Movement - How Can We Build Effective Collations?

It is important to ask how the green agenda can reach beyond the 'usual suspects' of environmental groups and add other voices to campaigns, introducing a new audience to the need to act.

Sian Berry, Green candidate for London Mayor in 2008 and one of the founders of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s, has been brought in to critique the Green movement but says she didn't realise so many of the movement would be sat staring back at her. She presses on anyway.

Berry argues that one of the fundamental problems with the Green movement is that it is based around so many disparate issues and this makes selecting ones to concentrate upon difficult. Plannning camapigns become too complicated by the different inputs.

She also feels there needs to be more direct action that goes beyond the comfort zone of politicans - a real effort to push things further. Calling to mind the suffragette movement, Berry argues that brave action inspires others to do smaller things, and that is how widespread change can be acheived.

She thinks those who are concerned about climate change need to make sure Copenhagen isn't the be-all and end-all. Berry says there needs to be "an army of people who can be called on to act a moment's notice."

"I'm really excited about this - you don't need Blue State Digitial to make it happen. You can get the message out in lots of way - people need to try these things more. They're worth experimenting with, and we should be doing more."

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