Marchers' blog

Breakfast with Ecotricity

Elise: Today we had a very interesting meeting with Ecotricity, the company which supplies Christian Aid with green electricity.

We met the CEO of Ecotricity Dale Vince, at the Ecotricity wind turbine. He explained that his vision for tackling climate change was to encourage householders to do something.

He has invented a windmill which you can use on your house. He demonstrated this to us and said that he hopes that it can be mass-produced in a few years time.

At our picnic breakfast, we also met children from Nailsworth primary school. They presented us with signed carbon footprints and said that they are learning more about climate change at school.

We then had a long march in beautiful countryside following the Cotswold Way. We saw green fields, thatched cottages and lots of sheep.

Fraser kept us going with some new songs.

After walking a mile up a hill, we walked even further up a dark tower, the Tyndale Monument which was built in memory of the bible translator William Tyndale.

Dwijen and I visited Castle School in Thornbury, Alexander Hosea School and Rose Hill School where we were surprised and impressed by how well-informed and eager the children and young people were to take action about climate change.

Leaving Wales

Dwijen: Today we left Chepstow in Wales and headed back to England.

In the last few days we have had some very good events and met lots of campaigners and MPs in Wales.

People are very supportive of the campaign. They’re committed to reducing their own carbon footprints and also to taking the campaign to their local MPs to demand at least an 80 per cent cut on 1990 levels of CO2 emissions in the Climate Change Bill.

We felt very sad to leave our friends in Wales because they worked very hard to organise the events in Cardiff and local events in Newport, Chepstow, Govilon and so on.

And so we crossed the Severn Bridge into England. It is an amazing structure with a very big, wide footpath. I was very happy to see the walkway and the cycle path, but unfortunately more people were driving than walking across like us.

After the bridge, local Christian Aid staff gave us a warm welcome, along with Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb. He was encouraging and said that he would work for a carbon neutral UK.

He also supported at least an 80 per cent reduction by 2050 in the Climate Change Bill and said businesses should declare their carbon emissions.

I talked to him about the impact of climate change in Bangladesh and the fact that people who are not responsible for climate change are the ones suffering the most. 

I also mentioned the rise of supermarkets and the fact that they usually don’t provide access to public transport.

We also met students and teachers in two schools – Angela and Chira spoke at Oldbury primary school.

I went with Stuart and Elise to a secondary school, Rednock, in Dursley.

The pupils were very interested and are going pass the climate change message onto their families and friends.

They are our future! If they take it seriously, we will have a better world.

Striving for world domination

Angela: Yesterday Dwijen, Mohamed and I joined Sharon and went to meet Felix Gummer, Tesco’s corporate affairs manager.

We think that because Tesco is a major player in the UK and international field, it is very important to engage with them as one of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions in the country.

We pointed out that currently Tesco publishes global emissions of greenhouse gases amounting to around 4.13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.

This is a vast amount - greater than the annual emissions of poor countries such as Liberia (3.2 million tonnes a year) and Mauritius (3.8 million tonnes). (Source: World Resources Institute Climate Analysis Indicators Tool.)

Dwijen pointed out that in Bangladesh each person emits only 0.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide while those in rich countries are contributing the most to climate change. (Source: World Resources Institute).

It was very clear to see that economic growth and trying to get onto the world’s markets was the main quest for Tesco and environmental efficiency measures were only a token gesture.

Tesco failed to commit to declaring the emissions, for which it is responsible, from its global supply chain and waste from its products.

They also failed to acknowledge the role they play in making our cities and towns more and more car dependent by building new supermarkets that encourage people to drive out of town.

They can hardly claim to be supporting the community more committed to addressing climate change.

What matters most to Tesco is its commitment to expanding the business overseas and to driving for greater domination over our food retail market.

Our march has shown not only that supermarkets are a disaster for small local business but they are also not prepared to compromise their profits nor work together to achieve big carbon reductions.

The more people that use local shops and become less reliant on supermarkets the better it will be for our nation.

Cardiff, Meeting Tescos and more singing

Neil: The high level of hospitality was continued by our hosts in Newport.

Nothing was too much trouble for them and it was yet another reminder of the fantastic local support we have received throughout the march.

The march group has lost another marcher with the return of Pierre to Mali. The gentle giant as we knew him, lifted our spirits daily with his eternal smile.

This morning we visited Milton’s infant school where the children were excited to hear about the problems of climate change in Kenya and to endure our tuneless singing.

We await with anticipation to hear from our marchers who have lobbied Tescos and challenged the supermarket chain’s commitments to declare and reduce their carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Kevin from the Campaigns team brings the Irish number of participants to two which has meant another increase in the total IQ of the group!

On Saturday, we had a fantastic rally in Cardiff. It was well supported and we had great weather. Check out this great video clip from ITV Wales.

Everyone had a fantastic time in the relaxed atmosphere.

Cassia from MST and Geanis from FASE spoke, as did John, as the Welsh representative. 

Entertainment was from Terra Naomi and folk singer Gwyneth Glyn plus appearances from Hollywood star Greta Scacchi, and the whole thing was hosted by BBC Radio One's Beth Elfyn and Maggot of Goldie Looking Chain fame.

Make sure you support the marchers by coming to the London rally on Tuesday 2 October

Protesting against Shell

Simon: Today we stopped for a break at a Shell petrol station, an outpost for the perpetrators of climate change.

The oil industry is, after all, based on the extraction and use of oil for our over consumption that has created and perpetrated the problem of climate change.

Me and one other protester decided to raise awareness of this by singing a quick protest song outside the outpost of the oil industry to encourage people to be conscious of the end results of their collective decisions to support Shell.

That end result is climate change already affecting poor people worse and hardest.

The steps oil companies like Shell take to improve their image are far outweighed by the damage their industry is allowed to do by the government having no clear targets to reduce company emissions.

Therefore the government is encouraging the exploitation of resources and the adverse effects this has on the poorest as a result of climate change.

Our protest had two police cars called to it which in my opinion highlights the fear these companies have of having the true extent of harm their operations do being exposed.

This was an example of using instruments the government has to protect us, the people, used instead to protect the companies that threaten the lives of people all over the world.

Happy birthday Dwijen!

Dwijen: It is my pleasure to celebrate my birthday in the UK, in a different society and culture.

I feel very warm and homely when friends from different countries - Mali, Kenya, Brazil, El Salvador, South Africa, DRC and from all over the UK send me all their warm wishes and love from their hearts.

They also gave me a very nice birthday card containing very kind words for me. I’ll remember this event for the whole of my life. I will treasure this great experience and tell all my family and friends when I’m back in Bangladesh.

It is great that today we met MP Don Touhig (Islwyn, Lab) and also a group of children who expressed a great interest in our march. It appears people are very committed to taking initiatives to personally cut their carbon emissions.

At the same time the MPs we meet are also very committed to taking our message to parliament, in support of Christian Aid’s demands for a bigger commitment to cutting carbon emissions in the UK.

That is the great thing I experienced today on my birthday. A good start from Britain means we can have a big change in the future and a better world.

I hope that in my lifetime we will address the climate justice issue and see a better world where no one suffers from climate injustice anywhere either in the developed or developing world.

This is why I am so happy to be on this historic march and so happy to express my solidity and unity with it.

Exposlade and chip butties

Stuart: Today we walked off road and on a canal path which pleased our group immensely. The weariness of the roads behind us meant that we could once again experience the freedom that our canals give us.

On the march there have been many different canal paths that we have walked along, each of them individual and impressive in their own way.  Just like our team!

But like our canals our team has the same purpose, despite being so diverse. The purpose of our team is to preserve the beauty of our planet from the threat of climate change.

Lots of chocolate at lunch cheered me up immensely and we discovered exposlade which is like lucozade but different!

We beat Thea Palmer, campaigns team member, at ‘spoons’ (card game played with beer mats) in pub last night.

Good pub quiz last night that Rachel did very well at, she answered many questions correctly including questions on Big Brother  and knew correctly 'How long can a recycled tin can power a TV?' - 3 hours.

We all had chip butties at the break.

Canal freedom

John: Cerdded ar hyd y gamlas o Drefynwy i Bontypwl. Bendigedig! Wedi cyfarfod criw o ddeifwyr yn trwsio’r gamlas rhag iddi ollwng.

Llawer o ddiddordeb yn ein taith ganddyn nhw ond yn amau a fyddem yn cael y maen i’r wal efo’r gwleidyddion.

Redden nhw’n gweld mwy o obaith inni gael ein neges drosodd wrth gwrdd â phobl gyffredin ar hyd y daith. Wedyn dyma nhw’n diflannu i’r dyfnderoedd i barhau’r trwsio. Pawb o’r criw yn mwynhau cerdded yng nghysgod y coed a gweld golygfeydd godidog y rhan yma o Gymru.

Mae sŵn cerbydau i’w clywed yn y pellter ond maent yn ddigon pell i beidio tarfu arnom. Cerdded yw’r hamdden fwyaf poblogaidd, ond mae angen gwella’r cyfleusterau ar gyfer cerddwyr yng ngwledydd Prydain.

Mae llwybr y gamlas yma’n enghraifft o rywbeth da ac amgylcheddol-gyfeillgar y gellir ei wneud i alluogi pobl i fwynhau’r awyr iach. Ymlaen i’n picnic ym Mhontypwl nesaf!

English translation:

Walking along the canal from Monmouth to Pontypool. Fantastic! Met a group of divers repairing the canal. 

A lot of interest in our march but they doubted whether this would have any impact on the politicians. 

They thought that there was more chance of us getting the message across by meeting local people along the way. 

The divers then disappeared back to the depths to continue with their repairs. All the group are enjoying themselves walking in the shade of the trees and seeing the magnificent views of this part of Wales. 

The sound of vehicles can be heard in the distance but they are far enough not to impose on us.  Walking is the most popular past-time, but we need to improve the facilities for walkers in Britain. 

The canal path is an example of an environmentally friendly activity that can be done to allow people to enjoy the fresh air.

Pierre's thoughts

Pierre: Yesterday we slept in a small village called Ewyas Harold, we had a very good meeting and Simon and Rosalia spoke.

Today we walked for two miles to get to the border with Wales.

Then after the morning break four marchers went to a meeting with Jane Davidson, Welsh Assembly minister for environment and sustainability.

According to the report back they had a very good meeting and Chira, Rosalia and Geanis spoke about how climate change is affecting their countries then the discussion moved around to the sustainable development plan for Wales.

The minister was very keen to see young people interested in the issue of environment. She was also aware of the danger of biofuel production which can lead to food insecurity.

During the afternoon break we met with Charles Abugre, who is Christian Aid’s Head of Global Policy and Advocacy.

In the morning it was very cold for those of us from Africa but in the afternoon it started getting hotter which cheered us up, though those from the UK were not so comfortable!

It was very exciting to get to Wales as wanted to see it before I go back to my country.  I am really enjoying the beautiful landscape.

The invasion of Wales

Neil: Wales was invaded at 11.41 this morning by a multi-national team representing Christian Aid. Wales is used to such invasions, but this was a peaceful one.

We are not only worried about climate change in El Salvador, Mali and Bangladesh, although these are of great concern, we are also concerned about the future for the people of Wales.

We came with a message of the climatic disasters which are already affecting developing nations but our message is also one of hope - that by raising awareness of what is going on it is not too late to do something about it.

One of the ways, of course, is to support Christian Aid’s duel approach of strengthening the present climate bill and encouraging the government to legislate to make all British business give a genuine account of their true carbon footprint.

Today we opened a packet of penguin biscuits which had been given to us as a gift. The first wrapper had a joke on it: ‘What is a penguin’s favourite relative?’

What do you think the answer was?

Ant Artica!

Which is very relevant considering penguins live there – but if present trends go on Ant Artica will soon be a dead relative.