Friday 15 April 2016

Easy and nice ways to campaign.

This month's issue of Vegan Life Magazine has a super interesting interview with Robbie Locke, who created a huge campaign against some restaurant advertising that wasn't very vegan friendly.  

I've done my fair share of big campaigning in the past (when I was much younger!  From organising transport to animal rights demos to speaking on the radio) but now I'm more about the low key, every day, do-able campaigning.  

Issues close to my heart are to do with looking after the environment, animals and people, but these tips will work to raise awareness in a non-confrontational way for whichever causes you like.

Easy and nice ways to campaign. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com

Wear pins and badges.
This is my favourite because I like wearing badges anyway!  At the moment I'm wearing a pin supporting a campaign to save services at my local hospital, on my lanyard at work.  Loads of people have asked me about it and then I can tell them about it and point them towards the right resources.  I like to spot people wearing badges too, even if I'm just passing them on the street, because I'm like 'yey, there's another vegan, I'm not alone!'.

Sign petitions.
Petitions are great for raising awareness.  The recent petition to ask for Jammy Dodgers to be vegan again got over 7000 signatures which lead to it being featured in the Metro and the BBC amongst others.  If you want to start your own petition try using change.org or gov.uk

Live according to your principles.
I think this might be the best way of campaigning because you can show people what you believe in without saying anything.  I put a compost collection caddy in the staff room at work, I take home snippets of paper from my Rainbow Guides group to recycle, I don't buy plastic bags at the check out, I eat vegan food.  The people around me see what I'm doing and sometimes think about why, or ask me why (I had an interesting discussion about sea turtles eating plastic bags with a shop lady the other day while refusing a bag!).  It's all good. 

Easy and nice ways to campaign. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com

Share resources.
I donate to some eco charities and get sent their magazines from time to time.  I pass the mags on once I've finished with it so the ideas in them keep in circulation.

Share your thoughts online.
If you use social media it's really easy to share or post articles or petitions onto your accounts.  This can be daunting if it's not something you usually do, I never used to share them, because my views aren't the accepted norm I was worried I would be ridiculed or questioned about my posts.  What actually happened was I discovered which friends had the same views as me, through a quick click of the 'like' button.  Hurrah.

Blog about it.
Go a step further than social media and include campaigns or causes on your blog (or start a blog!?).  I do a monthly round up post of online articles and actions with an eco friendly angle and it's easy enough to do the same for stuff you care about on your own blog!

How do you show your support for causes and campaigns you like?

Disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing it and writing about it monthly.  You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally or via their app for digital subscriptions.  I only write about stuff I like, and I like Vegan Life Magazine.




5 comments:

  1. It's a great post, Susie! I also think these small everyday things are very important (and I also wear badges and share vegan food with my co-workers)!

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    1. Thank you :D I think sharing yummy food is definitely a good way to show people veganism isn't scary!

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  2. This is great Susie, I'm for all of these!!! I actually want to start a recycling bag at school which I will take home as I'm sicj if everyone dumping their tins and plastic bottles in the bin (I always clean and take mine home). The reason I haven't done so before is because of my long commute via 2trains and walking, but if I make the effort, despite the arduous journey, it might make others take.their own recycling home instead of being lazy!Xx

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  3. Sick of (noticed the typos)
    Oh and I too am rewatching Dr Who and I agree, earlier ones are better!!!x

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    1. That's a really great idea, bit of a pain on the train (I always used to end up walking home with loads of recycling after Rainbows, but after I persisted a while one of the other ladies started taking it home with her in her car!) Good luck with it :D

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