A lesson for the eco-friendly, learned from the Liberal in-fighting

I’ve been following the Liberal party’s meltdown about the emissions trading vote over the last week, mostly by following the #spill tag on Twitter and reading the updates at Larvatus Prodeo. It may end up having important consequences for Australia’s CPRS, but if not, it’s still revealed an interesting fact for those of us who care deeply about making a bright green future for Australia.

The whole kerfluffle is based on simmering resentments of long-term party members, but the current dust-up was triggered by a phone-in from people who opposed the CPRS. Apparently, Liberal MPs and Senators received a barrage of phone calls asking them to withdraw their support for the ETS.

It’s not received much coverage in the news, because the soap-opera style tantrums and backstabbing are much more entertaining to report on. But I was struck by the fact that it was phone calls from party members and the public which gave the politicians the motivation to finally act.

If phone calls can make such a difference, why should we leave it to the dinosaurs who oppose any action on climate change? We eco-friendly people should be doing it too, calling up and making it crystal clear that we want at least 40% cuts in emissions by 2020. There’s more of us than there are of them, but they’re speaking louder and more directly to the people who can actually make a difference.

It’s very difficult to ignore a phone call from someone, and apparently our opposition have learned this lesson well. If we want action, we need to demand it.

I’ve long been a fan of writing letters to politicians about environmental issues. It will always have more effect than me ranting on my blog, or to friends. But I also stick to it because I’m I’m good at it. When writing, I can edit and review my words before sending them on, checking that I’ve said exactly what I wanted. I’ve even written up some letter-writing tips for other people to use, because I’ve had good results from my way of doing it.

Unfortunately, I’m awkward when talking to people in person, especially someone who disagrees with me. I get tongue-tied and never remember my (obviously excellent!) points until half an hour after the conversation has ended. I’ve only once called anyone about the environment, and that was just to leave a message with a secretary.

But not everyone is the same (thank goodness, how boring would it be if we were?). If you’re good at chatting with people in person about topics you care about, have you got any tips for me and others who need a little help? We all need to do what we can over the next few months to ensure we get strong action on climate change. I just think I could be better at the ‘talking to people’ part of it!