Another piece in the recent Resurgence & Ecologist worth noting. Charles Secrett (former Director of Friends of the Earth) feels that “the UK’s green groups have hit a new low: virtually invisible, largely ineffective and mostly ignored by both government and the electorate.” He expresses frustration that the major organisations (CPRE, FoE, Greenpeace, RSPB, WWF, etc.) have major resources in term of income, membership, skilled staff and so on, yet they operate in an uncoordinated way and seem to have lost their campaigning edge.
“Campaign staff are no longer community organisers. They sit in offices. They are expert researchers who write elegant press releases and reports that 99.99% never read. They are policy wonks, tweeters, media commentators and lobbyists, happiest in front of a computer, and only ever leave their desks for conferences, interviews or internal meetings”.
He draws attention to the impact on government plans when the National Trust mobilised its membership in opposition to plans to ease planning restrictions. He proposes that the green NGOs must forge alliances, pool skills and resources, develop a shared agenda with inspiring, convincing and practical policies for reforming the economy. All this coupled with jargon-free positive messages about how life could be different and better in a sustainable world (a recognition that doom and gloom scenarios may well be accurate but they tend to provoke fingers in the ears rather than inspire positive action). But above all, his priority is for NGOs to “Get out of the office and hit the road”. His conclusion:
“Most importantly of all, it’s time for NGOs and activists to move from the defensive to the offensive and collectively promote a compelling vision about what life can be like, with wealth created and shared, markets working for people and Nature, communities empowered, and politicians honest and capable.”