Motivational Gifts...

Campaigning to prevent the worst of climate change and strive for a better, safer, fairer, more optimistic future may not be easy but I can’t imagine anything else that matters as much.

In the moments before each public talk to residents about the process of extracting shale gas by fracking, I always felt huge remorse. I used to call the talk “The Unwelcome Gift” because I knew that once they each realised the genuine threat to their health and wellbeing, that they wouldn’t be able to un-know it, wouldn't be able to walk out and figure someone would sort it because it was clear, there WAS only us.

And I knew too that once they got involved with one tiny aspect of what fossil fuel extraction does to life on this planet, that a whole world of other environmental information would become evident, and their lives would be changed.

In the next moment (amazing how much thinking you can cram into a moment!), the question in my head would come: “Why am I here?”; followed sharply by an image of my granddaughter’s face (and all the grandchildren’s faces) on the exit door, and that was the place from which I spoke.

When you walk through the door labelled ‘activist’ – it’s a sheer drop and on landing, you find a thousand more doors that need walking through and realise you have probably been in the wrong room most of your life. Green Party of England and Wales IS my activism, the political heart of it and its leadership needs to be dedicated, creative and focused on what all members do agree on – the climate will kill us if we don’t wrestle power from those driving and facilitating the harm.

Since Martin Hemingway and I declared we are standing for the leadership of The Green Party Leadership Election 2021 - Tina Rothery & Martin Hemingway, life has certainly changed. In activism it's all about co-operation, being part of the group, supporting each other to achieve the aim and looking past the differences to get this done; standing against others to lead a party means there's a need to self-promote, stand out from the crowd, strive to be different. Unlike championing a cause or Party, this takes some getting used to.

Online I see members asking candidates what motivates them to run in this leadership campaign and I think it's such a key question; what we do will be driven by our motives.

*The Unwelcome Gift blog 2013: Tina Louise: The Unwelcome Gift