Help MCM

Money is nice. But we don’t particularly need much at the mo’. If that changes, we will let you know… But free printing is always nice.!

Tell us when (not “if”) we screw up.
It means we are marginally less-likely to make exactly the same mistake again…

Stuff to report on
First and foremost, the way you can help MCM is by being out there doing local climate change and resilience stuff. Then tell us (and everyone else) about it.

Tips/leaks etc
If you hear of a story/snippet/outrage, send it in. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume it is anonymous. We will not reveal our sources (but we’re not gonna take your word for it, either and print any old thing. We could get sued! And we’re not gonna cover the internal party feuds, so use someone else for your leak wars).

Lobbying your local government
A big part of MCM is about cajoling, critiquing and (when it’s due) praising local government. They can blot out a few folks as ‘self-appointed busy-bodies’. That’s harder if there are dozens and dozens, nay, hundreds, of people contacting them at their surgeries, on their emails, about these issues. One thing you can do right now, asides reducing your carbon footprint, is increasing your political footprint.
Go here [link] to find out who your local councillor is. If you need something to talk to them about, have a look – as of March 2012 – at the MCMonthly’s Climate Communiques…

Reporters
We will train you up if you need it. But we need you to commit to a minimum of 4 months of writing for us (a few hours a month – no biggie).
We might send you to a council meeting (the stay-awake caffeine tablets are on us), to interview a campaigner, to do a “vox pop” in your local shopping centre.

Commenters
So many of our web stories look lonely. It would be great if you’d comment, telling us what was good/bad, what questions we haven’t asked etc

Inviting us to your meeting to help do an interactive climate briefing
MCMonthly folks would love to come and do a short/long interactive discussion about what is and could/should be happening in Greater Manchester about climate change. If you can invite us to your church/mosque/sports club/union/residents’ association/other group, that’d be great…

Distributors
Both “in real life” and on the net.
Taking copies to your local community group/sporting club etc.
Reposting stories (with a backlink). Getting folks to read our stuff by posting it on facebook, twitter etc.

Post-mortemers
Every month we do a systematic review of the previous issue. We want to know what a “normal” person, who isn’t into climate change at all, thinks of MCM. You have friends and family who fit that bill. Could you get them to read it, and report back to us their thoughts and comments.

A data dump from the first draft of the strategic plan –
7. Help MCFly

We can’t do this alone. Some of the ways we hope the people and organisations of Greater Manchester will help –

Do stuff locally about climate change and tell us about it
Send in information you think we should know
Hold any group that you are part of to account for the quality of their meetings and how welcoming they are to potential new members. Encourage groups to improve, give them examples.
Forward on stories that appear on the MCFly website to people who you think would be interested in them, with a cover note saying “these guys are fantastic, and you should definitely subscribe”.
Hold a meeting in your house for your friends and neighbours who want to take practical action on climate change. We will – if you want – publicise the meeting, and attend (again, if you want us to.)
Write for us, regularly or irregularly. We prefer your real name on stuff, but we also understand that people have to be anonymous sometimes.
Proof-read before a paper issue comes out
Do a “post-mortem” on an issue that has come out. What worked in it, what didn’t?
Lobby your local councilors about what support the Council is giving to people trying to take action on Climate Change in your ward.
Other things you can think of!