My farewell blog
Submitted by Gareth Hughes on Fri, 29/01/2010 - 09:55
[...]
Much of my early work for the campaign was planning, researching and
meeting various people to get their ideas on how we could run the most
effective campaign possible. Approaching high-profile New Zealanders to
become Sign On ambassadors and the face of the campaign was
interesting, exciting, and a little daunting too. I was pleasantly
surprised by the level of enthusiasm immediately demonstrated by the
budding faces of Sign On, and we ended up with a great, large team of
trusted, high profile Kiwis from really diverse backgrounds. Actors,
business people, mums, sports stars, a scientist... they all
contributed hugely, from writing opinion pieces in newspapers, to
dressing up as nurses at climate emergency stalls, to school visits, to
meeting climate impact victims, to giving speeches, lobbying
politicians, using their voice to speak up in the media and of course
appear in a TV ad that brought the urgency of the issue direct into
people's homes. They all stuck their necks out. Some even very nearly
got them chopped off. Lest we forget John Key's politically dense
comments about how Keisha Castle-Hughes should stick to acting.
I was pretty anxious when we officially launched the campaign at Lucy
Lawless' house - what reception would we get in the media? Would people
get the campaign? Would people actually Sign On? And would we be able
to actually get that beautiful, antique and heavy-as-hell boat into
Lucy's pool for a photo shoot? It all went well: got the boat in
(despite Rhys Darby trying to tip it over) and the reaction from both
the public and media was overwhelming.
[...]
A simple, clear message was a mantra of the campaign team. However Lucy Lawless said it best: there is no Planet B.
[...]
If there is one image that for me sums up the campaign, it's the photo
of thousands of people marching in Auckland on the Planet A march just
days before the start of the Copenhagen talks. It was incredible to see
up to 5,000 marching in Auckland and 2000 marching in Wellington making
the day the single biggest climate event ever in NZ's history. It's so
empowering to be walking shoulder to shoulder with other people calling
for a positive solution - C'mon John the climate needs us. The Planet A
march was followed by a concert in Myers Park with Opshop, Midnight
Youth, Don McGlashan, Lucy Lawless and Band, the Sami Sisters, and the
irrepressible Rhys Darby as MC. For me, it truly was a moving
experience when everyone got on stage and sang John Lennon's Instant
Karma, with reworked lyrics, "...and we all Signed On, like the moon, and
the stars and the sun." There was little more we could do to influence
the talks in New Zealand, now it was up to the delegates at Copenhagen.
[...]
Source.
News submitted by Barbara Davies.