26 March: CEE BILL UK-WIDE BANNER DROP & TWITTERSTORM

This briefing document has been written by the Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill Alliance and is for the purpose of local campaigners around the UK.

The activity outlined below should be carried out in accordance with the current coronavirus regulations. It is imperative that you check the relevant Government guidelines for your area before delivering offline events. Government guidance can be found via the links below:

Scotland - https://bit.ly/3fqeXWJ

Wales - https://bit.ly/31kjm8L

Northern Ireland - https://bit.ly/3gI7jJ3

England - https://bit.ly/2ECnn0F

Specifically, the action should only be carried out by households/bubbles and you should get permission from the owners/authorities if the banner is not being dropped on your own property. When visiting a banner drop to take photos/make a video for Twitter, it is important not to gather at these locations. Should you see other people, make sure that you maintain social distancing at all times.

Join this telegram chat for updates and sharing content on the day: https://t.me/ceebill

Campaign context

Since the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill was tabled in Parliament last September by Caroline Lucas, we’ve seen the Government announce weak climate plans to a backdrop of continuing climate collapse. The Government’s current net-zero by 2050 gives us only a 50/50 chance of not going over a critical rise in global temperature - and this is if the whole world does the same! These are terrible odds. And yet they are not even bothering to reach their own targets.

2020 was not only the hottest year, but also the end to the hottest decade on record. Massive wildfires scorched Australia, Siberia, and California, and the ice cover continues to shrink as melting seasons are getting longer. Climate change is no longer a prediction, it’s a reality. We are in a climate and nature emergency. The sixth mass extinction is happening today. Never in our history has there been a more pressing need for radical new legislation. We can use the levers of government power that already exist to protect the future of life on earth.

That's exactly what we have in mind with the CEE Bill. It was presented to Parliament back in September 2020 as a Private Member's Bill, i.e. a law proposed by MPs who are not in Government. We were given a date for the Bill to be debated in the House of Commons - initially, Friday, 12 March, which was later put back to Friday, 26 March. And then, due to the pandemic, Friday sittings in Parliament were suspended from the beginning of this year. These sittings are the only opportunity for Private Member’s Bills such as ours to be debated. In a further twist, Friday sittings were recently reinstated. However, the CEE Bill has a very low chance of getting a second reading in this Parliament. This is because the pause in Friday sittings created a backlog, and now only those bills that had reached a more advanced stage than ours will be given priority.

DO NOT FRET. Second readings for these kinds of Bills are actually always a bit of a damp squib. Placed at the end of the agenda, they are rarely debated. Of course, we knew this already, it’s all built into our campaign strategy. To have the Bill on the ‘books’ gets our foot in the door. It means we can ask MPs to table debates, put forward questions in Parliament, raise the profile of the Bill within Westminster and around the country - and eventually convert this groundswell into ground-breaking legislative change. This is exactly the logic that led to the Climate Change Act 2008, which started life as a Private Member’s Bill backed by a mass movement of grassroots campaigners. This is where you come in...

What are we asking you to do?

The purpose of this action is to elevate the CEE Bill to the top of MPs’ agenda. We’ll do this with a sudden increase of posts on Twitter about the Bill, sparking a frenzy and thus creating a ‘Twitter Storm’. We’d like each of you to record a video message and tweet it to your MP asking them to ‘back the CEE Bill’. But that’s not all, along with a Twitter Storm, we’d like local groups to do a banner drop in your local area, using the banner as the background for your Twitter video messages. To guarantee a big impact, preference is to send Twitter videos to MPs as these can be more personal, however an alternative option is to send a picture of you, at the banner drop location with your personal message along with the hashtag. We recognise that due to the pandemic not everyone feels comfortable going outside. If that’s the case for you, record a video message from home or in your garden.

How to do it

There are three parts to this action:

1) Make a banner

2) Drop the banner

3) Share the banner (along with your video message to your MP + Councillors on Twitter using #CEEBill and @CEEbill_NOW)

You can also share your images and videos on this Telegram Chat: https://t.me/ceebill

We encourage you to collaborate with other local groups in your area to deliver this action - local Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, plus hyper-local groups relevant to environmental issues. To help unite individuals and groups, please log your banner drop on the Bill website and pin the general location of your banner drop on our 26th March event page. Not only will this allow other groups to see where actions are happening but it will also encourage others to join in with your event.

After the banners are dropped, record a short video to your MP telling them why we need the CEE Bill. This should be a personal and emotive reason connecting the climate and ecological emergency to local issues eg. flooding, air pollution, green spaces, biodiversity loss etc. If you are happy to go outside, use your right to daily exercise under the Covid-19 restrictions to visit your local banner drop site and record your video with the banner in the background. If there isn’t a banner drop in your area, or you would prefer to stay indoors, then please record a video anyway using the guidance below and tweet it to your MP. If you’re not in the mood for getting camera-ready then simply send a written tweet to your MP using #CEEBill.

Throughout the day on 26th March we encourage activists to ‘like’ and ‘retweet’ other activist video tweets by searching #CEEBill on Twitter. The Bill team will ‘like’ and retweet your posts to build and maintain momentum. The ultimate aim is for #CEEBill to trend on Twitter on the 26th – this will only happen if we have enough people tweeting and retweeting content.

Objectives:

  • GET #CEEBILL TRENDING ON TWITTER
  • Raise awareness of local cross-organisation support for the CEE Bill to your MP
  • Through your personal video messages to MPs, highlight how the climate + nature breakdown will impact your local area
  • A recruitment opportunity for local groups
  • Forge connections with other local organisations (Friends of the Earth etc)

The following banner guidelines are provided by our friends at Extinction Rebellion:

Banner Design

  • Banner designs should be clear and simple. They should only say:

BACK THE CLIMATE + ECOLOGICAL EMERGENCY BILL

  • Do not include any logos - the aim is to show broad support of the Bill without having it pushed by one particular group. That is why building local alliances is important

Banner Making

  • See these images for some inspiration of banners in action: Banners
  • Watch this video for tips on how to make a banner using a projector, and how to make a banner using the letter stencils: How to Make A Banner (these are just guides, don't be put off if you haven’t got the materials to make one like this, small DIY banners and placards in handwritten fonts make a big impact too!)

  • To print the font as letter stencils in three different sizes: Download here
  • We suggest using household emulsion or acrylic paint
  • Handy tips for how to make a banner: Download here

Banner drop

There are loads of places you could consider for your banner. Here are just a few suggestions - but we're excited to see what you come up with! You could ask a local business or public institution if they'd be happy to display it on the day. Think of cultural hotspots like galleries, theatres and cinemas. You could even ask at the local town hall, especially if your council has passed a motion backing the Bill - and if they haven't this is a great way to open up the conversation. (Find out more about our local councils push here.) We've already heard of a couple of churches that will be displaying the banner on March 26th. If you're in the countryside, how about talking to a local farmer about displaying it on a row of haystacks or a large tractor that can be seen from a busy major road? Or you could talk to the headteacher at your local school... And if you're at uni, how about asking the student union? Again, the banner is a great way-in to talking to these institutions about backing the Bill (remember orgs can sign up to campaign on our website here.)

How to hang a banner: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14goTCWSGL6nmPeM2VoA6lpzMitEyNg2b/view

*When taking pictures of the banner drop please ensure no more than two people are holding the banner to comply with Covid-19 regulations - see link at the top of this Brief

Twitter Storm - 12pm LAUNCH

Designed to create a sudden spike of noise about the CEE Bill, raise awareness with local MPs, and get #CEEBill trending. But hold back your Twitter posts until 12pm for maximum impact. We will send a message on the day to remind you.

Record a video message

Filming a personal message to your MP will show just how important this issue is to you. Here are some top tips to keep in mind when filming your message:

  • As mentioned, this action is for everyone – those who want to record a video message at the banner drop site, and those who prefer to film from home – it doesn’t matter, so long as you tweet it to your MP
  • If video isn’t for you, take a picture of the banner and / or simply write your personal message in a tweet to your MP
  • If you don’t use Twitter, you can email your video message to your MP – although this won’t contribute to the Twitter Storm, it will deliver your message to your MP which is important. Find your MPs email address https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons
  • In your video message talk about why the Bill is important and why it’s a local issue - local flooding / air pollution / green spaces / biodiversity loss etc
  • We want to recruit more people to support the Bill so in your video please invite your ‘followers’ to join the campaign at ceebill.uk AND ask them to retweet this video tagging their local MP
  • Film landscape (turn your phone on its side), rather than portrait
  • If someone else is around, ask them to film you, rather than doing it yourself (the selfie camera isn’t as good as the one on the front of your phone)
  • Careful not to put your thumb or finger over the microphone on the side of your phone (maybe do a test version for sound)
  • Try to have the phone close to the subject (you) as the in built microphones aren’t very good
  • Frame yourself (shoulders, upper arms, head only) so you fill most of the screen/image, but not so close there isn’t some space between the top of your head and the edge of the frame
  • Try to film somewhere without background noise such as traffic, a fan, music, etc but prioritise having the banner in the background
  • If possible, have the light behind or around the camera, so it lights up the subject
  • Keep your video length under 45 seconds
  • If you decide to visit your group’s banner drop, make sure the banner is behind you and visible in the video
  • If you have a problem uploading your video on twitter contact the campaign team

Tweets

Below are suggested tweets you may wish to copy and paste, or use as a guide to write your own. Whichever you decide please always include the two hashtags #CEEBill #ClimateEmergency and @CEEbill_NOW

  • Please prioritise using the hashtag #CEEBill as this is already an existing hashtag for the CEE Bill and is most memorable for campaigners.
  • #ClimateEmergency is a popular hashtag and will therefore make the action more discoverable by the broader Twittersphere
  • @CEEbill_Now will encourage people to follow us on Twitter and sign-up to the campaign by clicking through to our website

Please post from your group Twitter accounts, and your personal ones - if we are to create a storm we need to generate enough wind!

Tweeting your MP

A number of MPs are already backing the Bill and it’s important you’re aware of your MPs status before tweeting them - you can see which MPs back the Bill here. Below are some example tweets depending on your MP status. These are just guidelines so feel free to create your own - just remember to use the hashtags and tag your MP.

Example tweets:

  • I/We have joined a UK day of action to support @CEEbill_NOW. The CEE Bill was tabled last year to address the #ClimateEmergency and is still waiting to be debated in parliament. Will @YourMP listen to constituents and meet with us to discuss #CEEbill?

  • Check out our banner drop today in support of #CEEbill. Drafted by climate scientists + ecologists to address the #ClimateEmergency. Backed by over 100 MPs but still hasn't been debated in parliament. It’s time to back @CEEbill_NOW @YourMP

  • We are in a #ClimateEmergency. In [YOUR TOWN] we already see [INSERT LOCAL ISSUE]. This is why I back the #CEEbill and ask @YourMP to do the same - for everyone, everywhere @CEEbill_NOW

  • We are in a #ClimateEmergency. In [YOUR TOWN] we already see [INSERT LOCAL ISSUE]. As our representative in Parliament we need @MPName help to keep the @CEEbill_NOW at the top of the agenda. Can we talk? #CEEbill

….if your MP is already backing the Bill:

  • .@YourMP thank you for backing the @CEEbill_NOW This is a #ClimateEmergency. What now? Can you help get the #CEEbill debated in Parliament and ask other MPs to back the Bill?

Local media coverage

We have two press release templates which both include guidelines on how to take a good image for media:

  1. Your MP DOES NOT currently back the Bill
  2. Your MP DOES back the Bill

Summary: Key actions

  • Sign-up to the CEE Bill campaigner updates
  • Join the telegram chat:  https://t.me/ceebill
  • Identify and contact other local organisations to form a local coalition (share this briefing doc with them)
  • Identify an area for your local banner drop
  • Reccie your banner drop site
  • Make your banners
  • Find your local MP’s and Councillor’s Twitter handles and make sure everyone in the group has these ahead of action. You can find their twitter handle here

26 March:

  • Drop your banner from a key location in your local area
  • Create your video message to your MP
  • Tweet your video message to your MP with #CEEBill #ClimateEmergency @CEEBill_NOW
  • Search #CEEBill on Twitter and retweet other activist videos
  • Update the press release template and send to your local media with a couple of great images

Over the coming weeks you will receive update messages to help you prepare for the big day but in the meantime if you have any questions, about the banner drop artblockers@gmail.com / about the Twitter Storm campaign@ceebill.uk.