Canadians want immediate action on climate change, but judging from recent statements by Harper and Baird, government still isn't listening. How do we get the message across?
Nothing says "reduce emissions now!" quite like a Valentine. Voters Taking Action on Climate Change (VTACC) is encouraging everyone to send a clear call for action to MP's with our do-it-yourself Valentines Campaign Kit. The kit is available as a pdf download at http://vtacc.org/ and contains eight classic Valentines with climate change sentiments, with messages on the back addressed to Dion, Harper, and Baird asking for deep reductions in emissions now. Plus there is an additional, general call for action to send to [insert your local MP here], because, as we all remember from school, Valentine's Day is only fun if everyone gets one.
The Details
We are getting reports of great success from people printing limited amounts on card stock on their home computers. Print one sheet front and back, find a pair of scissors, and you've got your own campaign. Print two sheets, give one away, and you're a campaign manager! If you want to get into serious production, two sided printing (one colour, one B&W) on 80lb (~12pt) glossy-one-side card stock runs about $35, including cutting, for 25 sheets (100 Valentines) at your friendly local print/copy shop. Don't forget: by law all Valentines go postage free to the House of Commons, so once you've got your stack, you're just left with the pleasure of giving them away and knowing that the federal government is getting a unique call to action.
Here in Vancouver we are handing them out on the street so that people can fill them out and drop them directly into mail boxes, and we are also giving them away at events such as screenings of An Inconvenient Truth. In just one sunny lunch hour on a busy commercial street 325 were snatched up and filled out. Wow! Folks in the Similkameen Valley filled out 800 in just a few days. Cards are now on their way to Montreal and Halifax. And this week SPUD, our friendly to-your-door organic food delivery service, has delivered 2200 to homes in Victoria, Greater Vancouver and Calgary. Happy Valentines Day, Mr Harper!
While Messrs Dion, Baird and Harper are getting their share of Valentines, we are deeply concerned that some MP's are missing out. It just wouldn't be right if some of those members looked into their Valentines holders on the 14th and found them empty, so please consider sending a Valentine in to your own MP. If you do, it would be great if you could also send a brief message to [email protected] to tell us who your MP is and that they have received one. We want to make sure that no MP gets left out!
To that end, if you know people who live in the far corners of this great land who you think might be up for the effort of sending in and possibly distributing more Valentines, please forward them this message. Thanks!
VTACC Voters Taking Action on Climate Change
[email protected]