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We've just returned, as you do, from a meeting with Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street. Trumpet-blowing aside, it was a fascinating chance to get an energy-saving message across to the PM and hear his views on climate change. But why were we there in the first place, and did we get to meet Sybil the cat?
SmartPlanet was invited along by the Energy Saving Trust, which -- in case you didn't notice -- has been running Energy Saving Week since yesterday. We were one of the Trust's 'C8', the faces of eight carbon-cutting communities across the UK. While we were representing the online green world -- which makes us indebted to every UK green blogger, sustainable Facebooker and eco forum poster ever -- our seven fellow energy-savers repped the Church of England, the Women's Institute and big business.
After stepping through the door of 10 Downing Street into the famously Tardis-like interior, we first enjoyed a chat with MP Joan Ruddock in the Cabinet Room. The basic message we were delivering, along with the rest of the C8, was that word of mouth counts -- which is why green blogs and interweb social networks such as Facebook, Tree-Nation and others are so influential.
A campaigner by background, Joan seemed genuinely interested in stories such as the WI's work to get 600 members and their families to cut their bills and carbon emissions. It turns out Joan washes at 30 degrees but doesn’t use Ariel (we didn't get a chance to ask if she was an Ecover fan). One of Gordon Brown's advisors pointed out that the chandelier lights above us were energy-saving compact fluorescents.
Then, fresh from a summit with the Turkish PM and en route to the Israeli PM -- a light-hearted morning -- the Prime Minister walked in. We weren't expecting long, and we didn't get a chance to ask Mr Brown what his last energy-saving action was at home, but we did get a very enthusiastic handshake and a hello, plus the photo above (we're in the back row, to the PM's right). We'll try to meet Sybil next time we pop in.
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