In 2009, Friends of the Earth Scotland was one of the driving forces in Stop Climate Chaos Coalition Scotland’s (SCCS) mass lobby to push for the strongest climate legislation in the world, The Scottish Climate Change Act.
In July 2012, the Scottish Government failed to meet its first, and not very challenging, target to reduce emissions under the Act. In the light of that, SCCS decided to call for a second mass lobby to tell the government to turn the Act into Action. People from all regions of Scotland travelled to the Scottish Parliament yesterday to speak to their MSPs.
Friends of the Earth Scotland engaged in both the national and regional media work to promote the event, and Friends of the Earth Scotland activists and local group volunteers were part of the lobby. The group sent a detailed briefing to everyone who has registered to come to the lobby. A short video was quickly produced in the run-up to the event, featuring clips of Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond telling the world how good the Scottish climate law is.
Places for the event were limited, so there was also a ‘Twitter storm’ for people who were not able to attend in person. The tweets all included the hashtag #gyat (Get Your Act Together), and were shown on a large screen in the Parliament while the event took place. Some MSPs attending the event also replied directly to questions via Twitter.
