Who is making deals with our government?
The oil companies, supermarkets, airlines, petro-chemical firms to name a few. They are currently spending millions undermining environmental policy. They spend this in advertising and PR telling us how they’re doing their bit for the environment but, behind the scenes they’re holding back progress on the environment.
Airlines spend money trying to expand airports. Oil companies fund “independent think tanks” designed to undermine climate change research, petro-chemical companies block environmentally friendly measure due to the cost of implementing them. And they all do this for… profit!
Kyoto and Copenhagen were sabotaged and crippled in 1999 and 2007 by the power of big business and its lobby groups.
But environmental groups can succeed against those odds. In 2007 they lobbied against’ Shell’s use of UK taxpayer’s money to build a new pipeline in Russia, and won. In 2008 the UK Government introduced a Climate Change Bill after 4 years of hard campaigning and this was followed a year later with the Scottish Parliament passing their own Act.
Big business may have huge budgets, teams of lawyers and powerful lobby groups whereas environmental groups have to get by on donations, hard working individuals and getting an activist base willing to write, email, tweet politicians.
If you want to know who is lobbying the UK Government check out this site and read up about it here. Then join an environmental group.
