BLACKOUT VOLUNTEER

VOLUNTEER VACANCY
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TITLE : TEMPORARY CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR
CONTACT : blackout2050 [at ] gmail . com
TELEPHONE : +44 777 60 62 65 1

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PERSON SPECIFICATION
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You're full of life, chatty and there's nothing you like more than a special night out with your best mates.

You're grown up, but you haven't settled down.

You're between jobs, and you're wondering what to do next, and whether it will mean a lot to you.

You have been educated to at least "A" Level or equivalent standard, and have good, creative, writing skills in English.

You have great social skills, and you can network just as well in person as online.

You have a positive, helpful and enthusiastic telephone manner, and you take the initiative in contacting people.

You're good at digging out the names and contact details of people you would like to get in touch with.

You care about the Environment, and you ride your bike, and you re-use and recycle.

You've always known that Climate Change is coming, and that some things will be OK, but other things will be awful.

You really wish that we could all pull together to sort it out.

You laugh at some of the public speeches made by politicians and business executives.

It's like they can't see what's really going on : the world as they know it is falling apart.

You know we have to stop wasting Energy, and that wind farms are beautiful.

You enjoy a relaxed, stress-free, Low Carbon life, and it feels good.

You think that other people will enjoy it too.

And you love it when a solid plan comes together.

So, be Planet Positive, and get Carbon Active !

On 21st March 2008, Planet Positive are calling for an international BLACKOUT, and you can be a part of making that happen.

The Planet Positive collective are seeking a Volunteer Campaign Coordinator to give their best for 3 months, starting at the very latest on 1st February 2008.

There will be three styles of BLACKOUT to promote, and full guidance and written information for each will be given to you.

You'll get basic expenses for communications and travel and other unavoidable costs, and end up with a good work reference and great personal pride in your power to network for change.

You will gain no financial reward, only the satisfaction of being part of a team that shows the Zero Carbon way forward.

Everybody will know about the BLACKOUT when you have finished your work, so when people see BLACKOUT on your CV or resume you can sure they will be impressed.

The BLACKOUT will be just one event in a Long Good Fortnight of actions to protect Life on Earth from dangerous Climate Change.

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JOB SPECIFICATION
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You must be living or staying within Zone 1 to 4 in London, England for the duration of the role, to help you meet all the right people.

You will probably already be a member of one of the organisations that form part of Stop Climate Chaos, in order to get deep access to this network : http://www.stopclimatechaos.org

You will already have constant access to the Internet, a landline telephone and email.

You will be researching who should be invited to take part in the BLACKOUT, and contacting them by telephone and email.

You will make both introductory and follow-up calls to important partner organisations.

You will start with organisations and individuals in the United Kingdom, but you will also get in touch with people all over the world.

You will invite people to join a group email list to keep them all up to date with news and views.

You will manage a database of contacts and sign-ups to the campaign.

You will send out occasional emails to the group list, using a common central online email address.

You will write copy for the BLACKOUT website on an occasional basis, rather like a blog.

You will write Press Releases to help you communicate with the media.

As people show interest in joining the campaign, you will need to manage anyone who volunteers to take on some of the work.

You will design simple digital artwork to go with all the emails, and to go on the website.

You will keep a paper log of all your activities and costs.

You will receive agreed amounts of reimbursement for expenses.

You will not receive a salary or benefits in kind.

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TERMS & CONDITIONS
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Taking on this role will not guarantee you further work with our organisation.

Volunteering with us will not lead to paid employment with us.

This role can be part-time or full-time : in fact, we can decide the exact hours between us.

It is expected that you will work as independently as possible.

One person from our organisation will need to stay in touch with you, to keep up to date with what you are achieving, and agreeing with you what needs to happen next, and when it needs to happen by.

This same person will launch you into the role, with full guidance and any essential materials you need.

This one person is the only person you will have to please regarding your work.

If this person is not satisfied with what you are achieving, we reserve the right to negotiate a termination of the role, in a nice, friendly way.

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HOW TO APPLY
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Please email your CV resume to : blackout2050 [at] gmail . com by 28th January 2008.

Also, please email us a short letter, telling us in roughly 750 creative words why you are the most brilliant for the campaign.

Plus, we really need you to telephone : 0 777 60 62 65 1 to arrange a day and time for a short telephone interview.

It's so hard to choose, so be kind to us if we take a couple of days to decide if you are appropriate for the role.

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BLACKOUT STYLES
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1. BLACKOUT INTERNATIONAL - LIGHTS OUT EVERYONE - 7pm
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Join the international rolling BLACKOUT at 19:00 or 7pm wherever you are.

BLACKOUT FLASH - for a hot five minutes to show you care.

BLACKOUT VIGIL - for an hour to enjoy the chill.

BLACKOUT PARTY - for three hours, light some candles and have Zero Carbon fun and games with your nearest and dearest.

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2. BLACKOUT INTERNATIONAL - FAIR CARBON SHARES
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On Equinox, 21st March 2008, the date when day equals night, we want to demand Equal Carbon Rights and Global Energy Rations.

Until now, the BLACKOUT format has been to call for all the lights and unused electrical appliances to be switched off.

Spring 2008 will be a time for a new kind of event combining human rights and ecological responsibility.

People need access to Energy, but not too much or the Planet dies.

Each person should only take their fair share of the atmosphere - their Fair Carbon Share.

We will be asking everyone who takes part to use only their Fair Carbon Share for the day.

Can you live within your Carbon Ration for a full 24 hours ?

The sustainable Carbon Budget for the whole Planet for the year 2008 has been calculated at roughly 500 grams of net Carbon Dioxide to air for every hour, for each person.

Or to make it more easy : one gasbag every hour for each person.

That's your Fair Carbon Share.

Can you stick to that ? For a whole day ?

Your Fair Carbon Share is 24 gasbags a day.

To get an idea of your annual share, 2000 gasbags make one Purple Balloon, and your Fair Carbon Share for the whole of the year 2008 is roughly four and a half Purple Balloons.

For pictures of Purple Balloons, and the psychology of Purple, ask the Carbon Coach : http://www.carboncoach.com

Here are some of the areas you need to consider in keeping to your Fair Carbon Share :-

Electricity : Grid electricity in the United Kingdom is rated at somewhere between 430 and 450 gCO2/kWh.

What is a gCO2/kWh ? That's grams of Carbon Dioxide per kilowatt hour, or very nearly one gasbag for every thousand Watts of power used in an hour.

An electric kettle burns about 3 thousand Watts when it runs.

For most people that means that your electricity use at home would use up virtually your whole Carbon Ration for the day.

Are you going to shutdown the refrigerator for the day ? Defrost the freezer ? Refuse to watch TV in the evening ?

What are you going to do instead of burning electricity ?

Heating : The largest amount of Energy you use at home every day is to heat the place up.

Can you live for a day without turning the Central Heating on ? Do you have a favourite old winter jumper to hand if the weather turns Siberian outside ?

Hot Water : A large ticket item on your Carbon Bill - can you wash in a bucket of tepid water - run the night before from the cold tap and left to get less chilly ?

How are you going to do the washing up ? Or the washing ?

Transport : You might need to forget about driving a car for the day if you want to keep within your Carbon Ration.

The greenest car will pump out around 180 gCO2 per kilometre (about a third of a gasbag for every thousand metres). So you can only drive around 3 kilometres every hour to take up your whole daily ration.

Stuff : The things we buy account for a lot of Carbon Dioxide emissions, often in other countries where they were made. Best to buy only secondhand things for one day. Or join Freecycle. Or Buy Nothing.

Food : It's best to cut out the food miles and eat local and organic, where you can.

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3. GOOD FRIDAY - CLEAN ENERGY - GREEN EASTER
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The religious festival of Easter is central to those of the Christian faith.

On the Friday when Jesus died, the Bible account records that the light of the Sun was lost for three hours.

This day is known as Good Friday, and we will be asking Christians everywhere to make the switch to Clean Energy on this day.

Good Friday - it's not just about bunnies, eggs and chocolate.

Switching to Green Power is a celebration of the principles of the Christian faith, the triumph of Love over Hate, the triumph of Life over Death, of Tidy over Messy, and Clean over Murky.

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ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
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Planet Positive is a small collective group of Climate Change and Energy Campaigners.

In 2006 and 2007 Planet Positive held public workshops to encourage and inspire Climate Change action.

http://www.planet-positive.org.uk

BLACKOUT BRITAIN is a small campaign, a not-for-profit organisation, and we survive on free gifts of time and skills.

BLACKOUT BRITAIN is part of an informal worldwide network, promoting cuts in the use of Carbon Energy, through events with names such as "BLACKOUT", "Lights Out", "Powerdown" and "Switch Off".

http://www.blackoutbritain.org.uk

Information about other similar events that have already taken place can be found here :-

"BEST OF BLACKOUT WORLDWIDE" http://www.blackoutbritain.org.uk

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THE LONG GOOD FORTNIGHT

This list is not yet complete. This version is dated : 17 JAN 2008

21 MAR 2008
BLACKOUT INTERNATIONAL
BLACKOUT - FAIR CARBON SHARES
GOOD FRIDAY - CLEAN ENERGY - GREEN EASTER
http://www.blackoutbritain.org.uk/html/blackout_world_2008.html

22 MAR 2008

23 MAR 2008

24 MAR 2008

25 MAR 2008

26 MAR 2008

27 MAR 2008

28 MAR 2008

29 MAR 2008
Lights Out America
http://www.lightsoutamerica.org

Earth Hour
http://www.earthhour.org http://www.wwf.org.uk

30 MAR 2008
Stop Climate Chaos : Week of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org
http://www.icount.org.uk

31 MAR 2008
Stop Climate Chaos : Week of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org
http://www.icount.org.uk

01 APR 2008
Fossil Fools Day
http://www.fossilfoolsday.org

Stop Climate Chaos : Week of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org
http://www.icount.org.uk

02 APR 2008
Stop Climate Chaos : Week of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org
http://www.icount.org.uk

03 APR 2008
Stop Climate Chaos : Week of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org
http://www.icount.org.uk

04 APR 2008
Purple Day
http://www.comeoffit.org.uk
http://www.carboncoach.com

Stop Climate Chaos : Week of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
http://www.stopclimatechaos.org
http://www.icount.org.uk

05 APR 2008
Day of Action on UK Climate Change Bill
Friends of the Earth
http://www.foe.org.uk

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