I have:
1 minute
Go to https://www.writetothem.com/ Enter your postcode to find your MP. Copy and paste the letter below into the email it opens, fill in your details and hit send
5 to 10 minutes
As above, but edit the template letter to put it in your own words – from just editing the opening and closing sentences to putting the whole thing into your own words. Maybe state why it matters to you personally, perhaps why it matters to you as a Christian, or maybe there are other damaging policies you want to mention, or other asks you want to put to your MP
15 minutes
Handwrite the letter instead and pop it in the post – many MPs take handwritten letters more seriously
Longer
Get a group together for a letter writing evening – either a SPEAK group, another campaign group, a church home group, or just a bunch of friends. It can be a nice social time together, whilst also focussing you all to get your letters written and posted. Maybe you could make your MP a handmade world gift too!
Here's the letter:
'I am writing to you as I am extremely worried about the direction UK energy and climate change policy is currently headed in.
I believe that climate change is the greatest threat our world and our country have ever faced, threatening agriculture, health, security, biodiversity, and the economy both around the world and here in the UK. Impacts are already being felt, and will become harder and more expensive to deal with the longer we wait to make real cuts to our greenhouse gas emissions.
Therefore I am very concerned that the government have not only been dismantling environmental measures since the election, but are actually increasing support for climate-damaging fossil fuels, just when we need to be strengthening policy to allow us to make the necessary emissions cuts we need to prevent disastrous climate change, and the knock on effects this will have on global society.
Since the election we have seen early cuts to support for onshore wind despite it being the cheapest renewable, early and sudden cuts to the solar Feed In Tariff at the start of this year, already causing several solar firms to go bust, reduced incentives for low-emission vehicles, plans for carbon neutral new homes and energy efficiency scrapped, an extension of the Climate Change Levy for polluting power plants to renewables, and a sell-off of most of the Green Investment Bank.
On top of this we see new subsidies and support for North Sea oil, and existing coal power despite it being scheduled for phase out by 2020, and new powers to override local democracy to roll out fracking for gas. There are also currently no firm plans for how the coal phase out will happen. According to the EU we are now set to miss our target of generating 15 per cent of our energy by renewables, and the Committee on Climate Change have said we are not on course to meet our Climate Act targets after 2020. All of this sets our country on an incredibly dangerous, backwards course towards an unstable world of extreme climate change, reliant on dwindling fossil fuels and more extreme extractive methods for obtaining them, whilst undermining UK business, technical progress and our global leadership.
Savings on energy bills from cuts to renewables will be more than offset by the increased money going into fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Surveys have shown most of the public back renewable energy, action on climate change, and more efficient homes, and that most are also opposed to fracking. The measures being taken also go beyond what was promised before the election. So I do not believe this is in the general public’s interest either.
Please represent these concerns to the government on my behalf, and ask them to take emissions reductions seriously by pulling support for fossil fuels and reinstating support for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Thank you for your time.'