A guest blog by our partner Christian Aid
It’s been five months since we were together enjoying the beautiful sunshine and fantastic buzz that graced Greenbelt festival2017.
Thank you to all of you for getting involved in the Big Shift campaign asking the biggest UK High Street banks to make the Big Shift out of dirty fossil fuels and into to renewable energy instead. From depositing your postcards in one of our giant piggy banks across the site, to pitting your wits against our bank vault escape room, the response to the campaign at Greenbelt was phenomenal!
Since the festival, we’ve sent thousands of signed postcards to the bank CEO’s. We’ve also released two short films (one of them even ended up in the Huffington Post) and a new report exposing dirty fossil fuels projects in developing countries financed by UK high street banks.
Some of you have been keeping busy and have taken the Big Shift to the heart of your local churches and communities, visiting your local bank branches and taking part in Big Shift workshops across the UK.
All four banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS) have now responded to campaigners in some way, so we know they are listening. But they have yet to publish the kind of ambitious plans needed to protect and preserve God’s earth.
But the Big Shift campaign must go on!
We’re busy developing the next stages of the campaign and are exploring how we can stop UK banks funding new coal power stations in South East Asia. (Get the latest info by signing up to receive our campaigns emails here.)
Until then, you can get involved in our “we’re heartbroken” activity ahead of Valentine’s day in February. Send the banks a Valentine’s card outlining your concerns for God’s earth. Find out more here.
