Blogger: Kim Matthews, Campaigns Officer
So yesterday was a big day for me. Aside from having just about recovered from the lurgy-from-hell that has been sweeping through our office like a viral tsunami, I jumped on an eye-wateringly early (for me!) train to London to take part in my first ever guerrilla marketing action.
Ok so that makes it sound like I was donning camouflage gear and undertaking some James Bond-like free-running through the streets of London, or maybe busting some moves, flash mob style, outside the Houses of Parliament. What it actually involved was a gentle amble to the Treasury department, a green hard hat, a lot of clinging on precariously to a giant banner, and best of all meeting up with a bunch of really nice people from all sorts of different organisations who, like the RSPB, want to see a sustainable future for the benefit of all.
I was joining up with the Stop Climate Chaos coalition to help recreate an iconic image (with a new green twist of course!) from the 70’s that some of you may well remember. It was a Saatchi & Saatchi campaign poster for the Tories which said ‘Labour Isn’t Working’ above a snaking line of people standing in a dole queue.
How fantastic to learn that a third of our economic growth last year came from the green sector, and on top of that there are a million people employed in green jobs already! There clearly is an alternative to growth at any price, and in working to protect the environment we are actually helping our economy too. It is all about balance, and understanding that a healthy environment, rich in species, is essential to our survival. More than that, it is essential for our happiness!
Never mind Where’s Wally, where’s Kim!?
I felt really lucky to have the chance to stand there, with those people, encouraging the government to take their green commitments seriously. There are big opportunities for the government to do so this autumn and you can help by writing to your MP, find out more here.
Next time the newspapers talk about green shoots of economic growth we can all take heart that at least a third of those shoots really are green! I’m no economist and I’m not much of a fashionista either, but it’s like I said, Green is the new black!