action pack: day of climate action, 10 oct

FUNDING

STOP FRACKING

JOIN THE CLIMATE DAY OF ACTION ON 10 OCTOBERACTION PACK

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For the latest info online: www.foe.co.uk/go/climatedoa

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Part 1 – Introduction

The international day of action

On 10 October, people from all around the world will be taking action on climate change, on one of the biggest and most vibrant days of action and global solidarity we’ve seen for a long time. We hope you want to be a part of it.

There are many ways you can be involved depending on what you’re most interested in and what’s happening in your area. Nationally Friends of the Earth will be focussing on Barclays and fracking but there will also be a number of events happening on the day – including actions to stop the third runway at Heathrow and on TTIP. If you have an issue that’s particularly relevant in your area, such as a fossil fuel proposal you want to stop (for example, opencast coal, fracking or coalbed methane) – or a community energy project that you’d like to support, we encourage you to take action on these issues on 10 October.

If you haven’t already, please sign up to stay in touch with the latest news about the day: www.foe.co.uk/go/10octsignup

And please do let us know what your plans are so that we can help connect the dots, and share the news of your actions far and wide.

Targeting Barclays

On 10 October we invite you to join us in putting pressure on Barclays. The bank is investing in fracking in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.

Barclays owns fracking company Third Energy, who have recently submitted a planning application to frack in Ryedale. The area is set to be the next big hotspot for anti-fracking campaigning. If we can beat fracking here it will not only be huge boost for the local community, who are already fighting against this dangerous technology, but it will help to halt the progress of the fracking industry in Ryedale and help keep fracking out of the UK.

Together we can put pressure on Barclays to stop funding fracking in Ryedale. We can get the message across that people across the country don’t want fracking and show Barclays that it’s a risky and unpopular investment.

If enough of us take part on 10 October – by visiting Barclays branches, talking or writing to bank managers, sharing our message on social media, closing bank accounts, or organising a visual presence or stunt at a Barclays branch – we know our message can’t be ignored.

Part 1 – Introduction

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Day of climate Action Guide

Fracking and climate change

Water and toxic chemicals are pumped underground at high pressure through a risky technique called fracking to extract shale gas, a fossil fuel. Coalbed methane, another controversial fuel, is also sometimes extracted through fracking.

Not only does fracking put the health and homes of local people at risk and devastate the local environment, it also goes against everything we need to do to tackle urgent climate change. To stay within safe levels of global warming, 80% of fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. We should be investing in clean, safe renewable energy and energy efficiency instead of scraping the barrel for

more fossil fuels we can’t afford to burn. Local campaigners like Barbara and Ian, who’ve been fighting fracking in Lancashire for years, have no doubt about the risks it creates for our climate. We’ve supported campaigners in Lancashire as they faced planning applications for fracking, now let’s do the same for Ryedale – by helping to pull the rug out from under the fracking industry’s funding.

So please get involved! Here are some ideas for what you can do on the day.

Water table

How fracking works

Gas flows out

Gas flows outWater,

sand and chemicals injected into well

Shale

Hydraulic fracturing

Fissures

Well

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Part 2 – Choose your action

This action is about making sure as many Barclays branches as possible hear from customers and members of the public directly. We know that if you can get the attention of the local bank manager, this information will be passed on up through the company – so it’s a great way of getting our message across.

There are a few ways you can approach this one…> The simplest option is to hand in a personal letter into

the bank branch, addressed to the bank manager. We’ll provide an example, but of course you can write your own.

> If you don’t have a Barclays account, you can ask for a meeting to discuss becoming a Barclays customer, but put forward concerns about why you do not wish to open an account that’s linked with fossil fuels. You can ask for full disclosure of Barclays’ investment in any fossil fuel activity including fracking, before you are willing to open an account.

> If you do have a Barclays account, you could consider closing your account and handing in a letter of explanation to be passed to the bank manager. Or if you want to make even more impact, you can ask to speak to the manager directly, to explain your reasons for closing the account.

Whichever of the above approaches you go for, you can take a copy of our Day of Action poster and take a photo of yourself outside the branch with it, before you take your message inside the branch (see Action 1).

Just sign up for the day of action online and we’ll send you a digital version of a poster you can print yourself. You’ll have an easier time taking the picture if you mount it on some card or board – especially if it’s windy.

We’ll let you know nearer the time where to upload your photo to our online ‘No fracking’ gallery, and you can share it on social media. There will also be a petition to the Chair of Barclays which you can sign and share, too.

Let’s spread the word far and wide that Barclays should stop backing fracking.

Print off our poster and take a photo or selfie outside your local Barclays branch to help share the messages: Barclays – stop funding fracking.

People needed: 1+

What you’ll need: Print-your-own poster and camera.

Take your message inside the bank by handing in a letter. You can also have a chat with the bank manager and/or close your Barclays account if you have one.

People needed: 1-2+

What you’ll need: We’ll email you a suggested letter you can personalise and hand into the bank, plus all the info you’ll need for a conversation with the bank manager.

Part 2 – Choose your Action

Action 1: Add your voice – send your photo and message to our online gallery

SUMMARY SUMMARY

Action 2: Take your message to the bank manager

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larger group of you, you could even send a stream of people in one by one, to help increase your impact.

Fracked water – We’ve found that one of the most attention-grabbing concepts around the fracking campaign has been the impact it could have on our water supplies. The fracking process uses enormous volumes of water and chemicals, which are pumped underground at high pressure. This creates toxic waste water which is difficult to treat and dispose of safely, and if there are any cracks in the well it’s possible that the water can leak into groundwater or aquifers.

Some groups in Lancashire have successfully won people’s attention by giving out samples of ‘fracked water’. This is of course normal water that has been dyed or muddied to look like fracked water.

You could have some examples of this fracked water on your stall, and offer it to passers-by, asking them if they’d like to try it and explaining the ingredients:

“No, you don’t want to try it?

Okay, well these are the chemicals that could be contaminating our water around Britain, and it could happen in Ryedale where Barclays are funding fracking.

And if you’d like to help stop this, then please sign our petition to the Chair of Barclays. And if you’re willing to go one step further, here’s a letter that you can sign and deliver or send to the bank manager.” … you get the idea!

Planning your action – This action is a bit more complex than the others, so we’ll be including more detailed guidance in the final action pack to help you with your planning, and you can also see Part 4 (page 9) for some more information and ideas.

Sharing your action – Good quality videos and/or photos of your actions can help you reach a much wider audience. If you can, find a good photographer or someone who can film your activities – including your meeting with the bank manager. If you are struggling to find someone, then let us know at [email protected] as we might be able to help.

This action is for you if you are able to get a few friends, family or colleagues to help you out, or are a member of an existing group that wants to take part. Here are some ideas for what you could do, but please do also feel free to get creative and explore other ideas!

Outside the bank – Those of you that are outside can talk with passers-by and customers as they come in to the branch. We’ll send you visuals that you can hold up or attach to a table to help catch people’s attention, as well as petition sheets for passers-by to sign and letters you could suggest they take into the bank too.

Inside the bank – One or more people can head into the bank to meet with the manager about why you’re there, and to hand in a letter from the group. You can also close an account if you have one (as in Action 2). If there is a

Outside the bank, talk to people on the street (eg. by offering them ‘fracked’ water to show the local impacts of fracking) as well as encouraging them to sign the petition to get Barclays to stop fracking in Ryedale, Yorkshire.

If you like, you can also combine this with Action 2, and send one or more people to take your message inside the bank too.

People needed: 3+

What you’ll need: We’ll post you a resource pack including a petition for gathering signatures, labels for a ‘fracked water’ display, eye-catching visual materials, letters for the bank manager and an FAQ so you can be well-prepared for conversations with staff and the public.

You’ll also need some pens, ‘fracked’ water bottles and cups, a tray, trolley or table, and ideally a camera and/or video camera.

Action 3: Hold a stall or stunt outside your local Barclays branch

SUMMARY

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Action 4: Something different – this could be targeting Barclays or one of the many other actions happening on 10 OctoberSign up for the day of action and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear about all the events happening on the day. And if you’d like to get creative and design your own activity, please do and we can still help you to publicise it. Just tell us broadly what you’re planning to do on the signup form, and we’ll be in touch nearer the time for more details that we can promote.

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Part 3 – How to sign up

Would you like to take part in the Day of Action? Fantastic!

Here’s what happens next:

1. Please sign up here: www.foe.co.uk/go/10octsignup

2. We’ll send you a pack of resources that you can use – please choose the type of action you are interested in when you sign up to ensure you receive the most useful materials

3. On and after the day, please share any photos, videos or news of your actions with us by:

> Tweeting @wwwfoecouk (we’ll let you know the best hashtags nearer the time)

> Emailing [email protected]

> Add them to our online ‘No fracking’ gallery (link coming soon)

> You might also like to share your photos with other international groups at reclaimpower.net

If you have any questions please do get in touch. Best of luck in planning your day of action.

Part 3 – How to sign up

Moorland, Yorkshire, UK

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Part 4 – Info on holding a stall or stunt (Action 3)

Resources

We’ll be providing labels for your water to help you make this as effective as possible. There will also be a petition, sample letters and a fact sheet – both for those of you that are talking to people, as well as anyone that’s interested in the issue and would like to find out more.

For the water itself, we suggest that you source some large, used plastic bottles as an eye-catching water store (and to put the labels on) plus a number of clear cups – choose re-used, recycled and/or biodegradable cups if you can.

We’ll also be sending you a large landscape image of Ryedale, helping to emphasise the beautiful natural environment that is threatened by fracking.

How fracking could affect our water supplies

Fracking could threaten our drinking water aquifers – luckily this isn’t the case in Ryedale, so you’ll want to avoid suggesting that fracking in Ryedale could contaminate our drinking water. However, the chemicals used for fracking could affect groundwater, rivers and the environment more broadly, particularly if the wells for fracking are drilled through aquifers or the waste water leaks from sites. We’ll include more info about this in the FAQ so you can talk confidently about it.

How fracking affects people living nearby

The impacts on people living near fracking wells that have been recognised by councils refusing fracking development are the noise (24-hour drilling which can take place over months), transport (lorries carrying materials to the site and waste water away from it), and visual impact (the drilling rigs can be quite tall and are lit at night, as well as having hoarding to try and reduce the noise impact; fracking also frequently requires flares to burn off the waste gas).

Our visuals and information for the day of action will help you explain these impacts, and we’ll include more info on this in the FAQ.

Practicalities

A couple of things to bear in mind with this action are:

> Stay in a public space. Be aware of the legalities of having a stall or presence outside the bank branch. You should be able to avoid any issues by situating your activities in a public area or street in front of the branch, staying away from steps or the immediate area in front of the branch which may be Barclays’ property.

> Check what permissions you might need. Different local authorities have different approaches to this, so check your council’s website about their policy or speak to a council staff member before you finalise your plans. Some councils will allow you to arrange permission for a stall in advance, occasionally for a small fee – however the location may be restricted. A common policy in city/town centres is not to allow flyering, so this means in most places you should be able to have a presence that involves encouraging people towards a stall, and allowing them to pick up information if you’ve had a conversation with them. However we don’t suggest that you hand out leaflets or flyers to members of the public as there can be fines for this activity.

> Stay mobile. If you can plan for your outdoor presence to be flexible and easily moved, you should be able to make the best of any situation. Keeping things moveable also means that you can easily visit more than one branch in one day, if you’d like to. You can create an effective ‘moveable’ stunt with bottles or glasses of water on a tray that you can carry. You may be able to bring a small fold-up table or trolley with you which is easily carried, and can allow you to put the tray down whilst you talk to people. You can also bring clipboards or pieces of board for people to rest on whilst they’re signing petitions or letters.

> Make an appointment with the bank manager in advance. You are more likely to get to see your local branch manager if you make an appointment in advance so consider doing this.

Part 4 – Info on holding a stall or stunt (Action 3)

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General & legal tips

In all your dealings with the branch, their staff and any security, make sure you stay polite, positive and keep a sense of humour. Your aim is to get your action reported ‘up’ and win the attention of the Barclays’ Chair and Senior Management team who are responsible for Barclays’ investment choices. Staff members and Branch Managers may not be fully aware of Barclays’ investments and nor are they directly responsible for them, or the risks associated with fracking, so this is a great opportunity to have this conversation and get them on your side.

If they feel there is a reputational risk or they are worried about the situation escalating, the branch may take the decision to close. This is fine, as long as this is a precaution that they have chosen and you have not forced this to happen directly through your actions. Make sure you don’t cause an obstruction or a level of disruption that leaves the bank with no choice but to close.

Generally speaking, you have no right to be on private property. Banks are private property. So if the bank staff (or security, or the police) ask you to leave their premises, you must comply. If you do not comply, or if your behaviour could be regarded as intimidating or preventing people undertaking their business, then there is a risk of arrest and prosecution for aggravated trespass. So it’s important to ensure your activities are non-threatening.

You need to be conscious that if you set up a stall on the pavement outside the bank, this is a public thoroughfare and the police may well have views on a whether you are causing an obstruction.

Thank you for taking part in the day of action. You can also find the latest info online at www.foe.co.uk/go/climatedoa

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions or things we can help with. Good luck.

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Useful contactsBrenda Pollack Regional Campaigner – South East [email protected]

Chris Crean Regional Campaigner – West Midlands [email protected]

Jenny Bates Regional Campaigner – London [email protected]

Mike Birkin Regional Campaigner – South West [email protected]

Simon Bowens Regional Campaigner – Yorkshire, Humber and North East [email protected]

Fergie Naeem Regional campaigner – North West [email protected]


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action pack: day of climate action, 10 oct

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