Friends of the Earth failing Greens and climate change?

Friends of the Earth have been running a campaign to target Parliamentary candidates - I mentioned it here - it is great stuff - seeking real commitments on climate change. This campaign was launched a while back now with the election one week away they have set up an email campaign to target the candidates: http://election.foe.co.uk/PPCFollowUp

But where are the Green candidates? It seems that FoE have ignored Greens - yet when people vote for policies Greens are still leading the field - see here - and remain the only party with policies that will tackle climate change to the level scientists are saying we need.....

I did manage to find in the FoE blog this statement when they launched balloons to represent the candidates who had signed: "So far, the Lib Dems are on 156, Labour on 85 - and just two lonely blue balloons representing Conservative candidates. For the record, 285 Green Party candidates (out of around 300) have signed the climate pledges - but we couldn't find enough green eco-balloons to represent them."

How on earth can we get the change we need if Greens are ignored by those that are supposed to be seeking the same things? FoE you can do better! Surely by pointing to the Green party more clearly FoE could also be pressurising the others to wake up to what is possible. Solid support for real Green policies could bring about the changes we need to tackle climate change.

Here is another example of a recent FoE press release which at least acknowledges the main parties failings: "The Liberal Democrats have the most ambitious green manifesto policies of the three main parties - but all parties must make climate a bigger election issue, an assessment by Friends of the Earth of the main political party manifestos reveals... The Liberal Democrats have the most ambitious and integrated environmental commitments of the three main parties, with Labour and the Conservatives lagging behind. But none of the main party manifestos are bold enough to meet the challenge of tackling climate change and seizing the huge economic benefits of creating a greener, safer future."

And they do at least acknowledge: "The Green Party had the most ambitious environmental policies of all."

But that Green party bit got zilch publicity. Indeed it seemed to be FoE attending the press conference and endorsing Lib Dems as the best of a bad bunch? Anyhow FoE have extended their campaign to try and get more Tories to sign up - see here - only two Tories so far!!

And as for publicity? Well at least local papers seem to be fairer - but the BBC has failed dismally locally - will post on that v soon - it does seem shocking that so little time is given to the Greens - how can you really debate the issues and have real choices when the three main parties agree pretty much.

I did mention in an earlier blog that a coalition Government could be a good thing - see here - billionaire Rupert Murdoch is still pushing that that it would not be a good thing. 40% of the British press is owned by Rupert Murdoch alone. Reinforced by a handful of media proprietors, editors and millionaire donors, his hacks have repeatedly sought to tip the balance of our democracy and to bolster their own power. Avaaz has now joined in on this issue - see their petition at:
www.avaaz.org/en/the_kingmaker/?vl