Letters for Change

Getting involved in politics is a key part of any sort of activism, marine conservation included. Ocean Advocates were proud to deliver a lecture on political letter writing as part of University of Stirling Marine Conservation Society’s Ocean Action week. In case you missed the talk or just want to catch up on some of the resources we shared here’s a summary of what was presented.

Scotland has an election coming up on May 6th so we’ll be sharing some resources for voting and contacting candidates as well as elected representatives once the election has passed.

First of all, who can vote in the Scottish election and what is the deadline for registration?

Anyone 16 and over who is; a British or Irish citizen, a commonwealth citizen who has leave to remain in the UK or who does not require leave to remain in the UK, a citizen of another European Union country, or a qualifying foreign citizen who has leave to remain in the UK or who does not require leave to remain in the UK can vote in this election.

If you aren’t registered to vote already, you can visit https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and register by April 19, 2021. All you will need is your name, address, National Insurance Number, and five minutes of your time. After you register you will receive a poll card which will provide more information on how to vote in Scotland.

Once you’ve registered how can you find out who to contact and what to say?

A key resource for reaching out to your representative is WriteToThem. Simply enter your postcode and WriteToThem provides you with a list of your constituency and regional representatives. Just select one or all of the MSPs listed and WriteToThem provides a space to write out a message and fill in your contact details. Even better, WriteToThem will send your message for you. But don’t feel limited by already elected officials, reach out to candidates as well!

Struggling to decide what to contact your representative about? We recommend using the resources provided by the Marine Conservation Society and Scottish Environment Link’s Ocean Recovery Plan.

We know that writing a letter to a representative is daunting which is why templates such as this one by UK’s MCS are helpful if you don’t know where to start. These templates give a great place to start but letters are always more impactful when personal touches are added, so try to include something about why the issue is important to yourself!

So why is it important to vote and contact your representatives about issues of marine conservation?

Scotland is home to over 60% of the UK’s waters and it is important that Scottish representatives are aware of and know the importance of the issues that these environments face. By writing to candidates and representatives we bring awareness to the issues we are passionate about and emphasize the importance of marine conservation. And by voting we can ensure that our representatives truly represent our views on environmental protection. Every election provides an opportunity for us to take a positive step towards the conservation of our oceans.