David Levy – Don’t Feel All Alone – Mar 25

When I think about all of our members in Marinet and how you live and experience life throughout the United Kingdom, I understand how alone you can feel as you try in your own way to influence and affect the environment where you live. Building networks of volunteers, politicians, and scientists whilst engaging with local and national issues can easily leave you feeling as if you are alone.

Change in this country used to happen, and some of us were privy to seeing those changes. For my particular local issue it took over fifteen years until the changes came and I gained solace from seeing the polluting chimney at the Westbury cement works come crashing to the ground. A person can make a difference.

Since that time the bureaucratic machine of local and national government has closed down avenues of information to the public, and polluting companies now self-report on their activities. This has taken over from monitoring by the likes of the Environment Agency, and taking action against companies over breaches in their licensed activities is much more difficult as a result. We are in a far worse position now than decades previously, and finance is at the centre of this deterioration.

Not good news then, so why the optimistic attitude?

The answer to this comes back to the individual, and the amount of effort you are willing to put into a cause. Success came for me after writing every week to the local newspaper and holding public rallies and public meetings where all viewpoints were heard. Library exhibitions and school projects kept my local group of environmentalists engaged and busy. Most of the work fell to one person organizing the group; the focus remained fixed, and by delegating and not over-extending into family space, we remained together for most of the time.

Marinet has been focused on issues that concern national Government where politicians work within their party’s agenda and on issues of particular interest to them. So the only real way they may help you is if they are convinced that you represent a significant viewpoint within their constituency.

Therefore to ensure that you get your local politician’s attention you must dedicate yourself to the education of your fellow electorate so that they also raise concern about the issue with the politician. You also have to bear in mind that those opposed to you will be writing to the politician. So you need to think about how you respond to their point of view, and particularly if job losses at the polluting company are involved.

Always remember, the real threat to progress remains behind closed doors: secret deals and brown paper envelopes. Not provable of course, but it happens. It’s the opaque world of business, politics and the regulator. These are real issues when you are campaigning.

David Levy