Make your views known: join the climate change Twinge from wherever you are this Saturday

By Ben Furber / @benfurber

Climate change is the hot topic on everyone’s lips. 62% of respondents in a recent Europe-wide survey consider climate change to be the most serious problem facing the world today. The EU will shortly agree its strategy for COP15 ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

This will be the topic of discussion in Southport on Saturday at the local Labour MEP’s National Forum at North West Regional Conference. What does the EU need to do to tackle the crisis?

Luckily for everyone it’s late 2009 and you don’t need to be in Southport at 12.30pm on Saturday to contribute. The event, and panel, has gone Twitter-tastic! All the panellists’ thoughts will be relayed on their own Twitter accounts. Plus, Ed Miliband will be joining the panel via Twitter and I will be on the panel mediating what those on Twitter have to say.

So please get involved. Start talking about it tonight on Twitter, stick #NWEuroForum at the end of your tweets so we can all see them, tweet me (@benfurber) your questions and, most importantly, be in front of your computer at 12.30pm on Saturday to contribute there and then to the discussion.

Many are still cagey and apprehensive about the power that Twitter has as a communication tool for political debate, influence and change within our system; for those of you that are, we hope to move help you understand it on Saturday.

For me personally, I hope the Twinge will show everyone that these things can work on a more local level. People are sending questions in to Arlene McCarthy and myself, a full list of questions will be posted online on Saturday morning, the hashtag is of course publically accessible and though the event will not be streamed, we will be recording it with the aim of it being uploaded as soon as we’re finished

Further details of the event can be found here.

On the panel:
Arlene McCarthy MEP: @EuroMP_ArleneMc
Brian Simpson MEP

Via Twitter:
Ed Milliband MP, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change @EdMilibandMP
Richard Cowell, Executive Member for the Environment, Manchester CC @ManchesterRose
Richard Scott, Baywind Energy Co-operative Ltd, Cumbria
Ben Furber, Twitter Mediator @benfurber

Chaired by:
Louise Baldock, Vice Chair of Labour North West Regional Board @LouiseBaldock

Read LabourList’s interview with @KerryMP, Labour’s Twitter Tsarina here.