Power of the People

Before anyone in power knew what was happening, there were thousands of people standing in the lobby and outside Npower in London. This brought business to a standstill in the few blocks surrounding the building. Security in the lobby denied the people access to other parts of Npower’s offices. Those closest to these security agents began discussing their energy bills with them.

Power to the People

Power of the Poor

The average security guard in a building like Npower in London makes about £22,000, maybe more but probably less. Living costs in London are high. As the flash mob began speaking the security guards and the protesters quickly found common ground. The security guards were just as upset as all the rest of the people. They also knew where all the secure offices were in the building.

It was not long before hundreds of protesters were in every floor and office of the building. Conference rooms were turned into sleeping areas. Offices were used for planning, security, investigations, and so on. The office workers were invited to join the people in solving the drastic problems of energy in the UK. Many joined. Even though they got a 20% discount on their energy bills they were still struggling to make ends meet. They rest were asked to leave the building.

No Power

The Police showed up as they always do. They tried to speak to the ‘organizers’ of the ‘protest.’ This is sometimes very straight forward, other times it is more difficult. There were no actual organizers. People held up their hands and said we are not sure who that is. We were just here when things happened 🙂 The police were not happy about this 🙁

Police with No Power

More of this story in the next blog

Flash Mobs – How to Change the Outcome

Bill paused to rest at this point. He sipped on his drink and looked at the fire for a minute.

Telling the story by firelight

Jeanne shifted about on the ground to show her continued interest in her father’s story. Bill stirred the fire once more and began speaking again: ‘A Flash mob happens when lots of people use their mobile phones and tablets to message each other. The messages say when and where an event is going to happen. The messages get sent out very quickly to everybody at once. Sometimes it will snowball from a few people that send to friends. Their friends send it on to others and so on. Usually when they arrive at a mob site they just do a stunt.

Flash Mobs – Appear Quickly And Without Warning

At a given time, in a given place, thousands of people suddenly appear. This is a flash mob. It appears like a flash and can disappear with the same speed. Flash-mobbing had been used in the past for different reasons. This new flash mob was different. These people planned to stay right where they were until things changed.

After the Occupy movement across the world things had changed.

People knew how to move in and take a place for the long haul. They knew how to do this in large numbers. When occupy London moved into their digs, they were a large enough group of people acting in a peaceful way take over an area and stay.

Occupy Movement Happened Around The World

Flash Mobs Prepare For The Long Haul – Occupy To Create Change

This new energy flash mob was organized and prepared for the long wait that was required. They had their sleeping bags and tents. Kitchens and porta-jons sprang from nowhere. Within 15 minutes the first flash mob was in place with over 25,000 people. They chose to set up camp right in front of one of the big 6 energy companies. Npower was the target of this flash mob.

Occupy London Protesters in their camps

Some of the people going to this flash protest were stopped by police and government intervention. Many messages went flying about to create the flash protest. The phone networks were buzzing with it all. The internet was trending this same message too. It was not long before the government started blocking services to stop the flow of free information. Phone networks started to go down in the London area. Even with this attempt to stop them, the people showed up in their thousands.

Ed interrupts Bill’s narration and says: ‘Bill don’t forget to mention all the stuff they found on the computers. Tell Jeanne about the truth that they uncovered about the lies!’

Read more of this story in the next Blog

Old people die from fuel poverty

Bill Waited a moment for Jeanne to calm down then went on. ‘Jeanne the old people died because the cost of the food and the energy to heat their homes was so high. People had to choose between heating their homes and eating.

Elderly woman huddled by the fire

They had to choose because the companies that sold the energy were making giant profits and did not care about the people. It was not just the old people but the poor, the working poor, and the lower middle class.

Protest about high profits by energy companies

Many people began to spend more and more of their money on heating and lighting. And that’s when it happened. That is when the people had enough.’

Jeanne grew very attentive now. This was the part of the story she liked most. Her father continued ‘It started with one man who refused to pay his bill. He was so fed up with the whole mess that he just stopped paying the energy bill. He had to so he could eat! “Heat or Eat”  that was the motto.’

The energy company took him to court after 6 or 7 months. The corporation won as they usually do. The man had so much debt to pay back that he had to sell his house. Others heard about his problem and got upset about it.

Bill turned to his right and asked; ‘Ed what was that guy’s name again?’ Bill’s friend Ed is short and round. He looks like Santa sitting by the fire. Except he has no beard.

Ed reaches up and scratches his head. ‘I think it was Bishop . . . .’ Bill cut in: ‘Steven Bishop that was it. Yes Jeanne Mr. Bishop lost his home and had to live on the streets.

Bishop was in good health when he lost his house but he died a sick man only 3 months later.

Michael Gething a homeless man who died on the streets

People got very upset about this. Then they started tweeting and messaging each other.

A video of Bishops post-trial interview went viral on the internet. It was after that happened that the first flash mob appeared.’

Read more of this story in another blog.

Is greed more important than truth?

Bill is a tall man. This is hard to see as he sits before the fire.

Bill By the Fire

He leans back and reaches into the pocket of his blue jeans and pulls out a 1 pound coin. The coin is bright and golden in the firelight. ‘Jenny would you like to hear the story or have the money in my hand?’

Jeanne replies quickly ‘I want to hear the story daddy.’

Her father goes on with the story. ‘The whole problem back then was that companies and greedy people were chasing  money. Governments thought this was good and let it happen. The condition of the planet got worse. People started saying that we were killing the planet and all the living things on it.’

His friends around the fire lean forward to listen. ‘No one listened at first. Some who had the gift of clarity saw what would happen if nothing was done. They saw the truth of ecological disaster and climate destruction.

Climate change destroys Philippine cities

These people formed organizations that worked to stop the madness. Others joined these groups as members and helped with the cause. Many small steps were made. Many small victories were made over the stupidity and greed.

Lets all save the planet, OK?

But the victories were too small. The changes started happening faster. Around the planet, the effects of the damage caused by environmental disasters spread further. The companies began to grow stronger and make laws that restricted the people. The people wanted to complain but these undemocratic laws were silencing them.

Laws and governments served the corporate interests not the people. Corporations cared about profit not the environment. The profit they made always had to grow. This is the way of corporations. Grow or die.

The profits came from finding cheaper ways to get oil and gas to the market. This caused more damage to the environment. The profits came from charging more and more money for the electricity and gas.

The people tried to pay the higher prices. Older people with pensions suffered the worst. They had to choose between food to eat or fuel to keep the lights on and the house warm. The elderly were dying by the thousands every winter due to something called “fuel poverty.”

‘Daddy!’ said Jeanne with tears in her eyes.  Jeanne always got upset with this part of the story E – Is For Energy. There is a part of each story in the alphabet revolution that makes Jeanne sad. ‘Daddy did the old people really die because they could not stay warm?’

Read more about what happens next . . in another blog

The story continues – E is for energy

E is for Energy is the story of how we take back the world energy supply from greedy oppressive oligarchs and oil barons. E – Is for Energy describes our energy problems and how we the people solve them.

On the Fifth Night was the Letter E

On the fifth night I had the same dream again.  The weather was as clear and fine as the first night I saw this vision. The stars were just as bright in the sky. The fire was the same. There were a few more  men and women sitting by the fire.

A group by the fire

Jeanne walked up to the fire and sat down just like she had the first night I had the dream. Jeanne is tall for her age, almost 5 feet tall. Her summer dress has a print pattern of animals. Giraffes and elephants mingle with lions and cheetahs on an African savanna. Her hair shines in the firelight.

This time she asks again ‘daddy tell me the story again about how it happened.’ Bill is wearing a T shirt with writing on it. It reads: “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”

Bill starts the same way as before: ‘Jeanne which letter of the alphabet do you want to hear about tonight?’ Jeanne replied ‘E daddy I want to learn hear about the letter E again.’

E – Is For Energy

And so Bill begins his story about the letter E:

‘E is for energy. This story is about how the people rose up and took back control of the energy in the world. It all started back when oil and gas were cheap and plentiful.

Solar energy had been around for over 100 years. All the world used fossil fuels to run cars, heat homes, and run industries.

All was well and lots of money was made.  People everywhere saw that life was good.

Cars were big and roomy. Highways were filled with people traveling places.

The diner experience – Fossil fueled happiness

The skies got crowded with airplanes. People began traveling to the far corners of the planet.

New and exotic cultures were now made tourist destinations.’ bill paused here to stir the fire and add another log.

‘Men began to travel above the Earth. They turned around and looked back for the first time at the planet they came from.’

This is your Home, Your Mother, and your Life!

Here Jeanne grew impatient and interrupted her father. ‘Daddy that was way before the people won back the power. I want to hear about that.’

Read more about what happens next . . in another blog

In a dream or awake

Am I in a dream or am I awake? From far above, I see a scene below me. It is a clear and cool night near to summer. The stars are out in their great splendor. A light breeze is blowing a fire. As My view changes, and gets closer to the fire, I see there are people sitting around this fire.

There are three men here by a fire. No words are spoken as my dream view slowly moves closer. Now I see a small child approaching the circle of light cast by the flames. She is about 8 or 10 years old. She sits by the fire with the other men there. On the other side of the fire is her father, Bill. He remains silent until she asks a question.

How did it happen?

‘Daddy can you tell me how it happened again please?’ Bill stirs the fire and sparks fly into the night sky.

Sparks from the Fire

Bill asks her a question in response. ‘Which letter of the alphabet did you want to hear about tonight Jeanne?’ Jeanne’s golden hair is reflected by the fire light. She responds, ‘can you tell me about the letter A daddy?’

Letter A is For Agriculture

A is for Agriculture

Jeanne’s father begins his story. ‘Each letter of the alphabet begins the story of another revolution by the people. You remember that A is for agriculture Jeanne.  A is for agriculture because that is about the way we took back control of how we grow things. The agricultural corporations that ran things before were destroying our planet.’

Hill farming in Wales

‘They were making servants and slaves of the farmers of the world. Governments were powerless to stop the changes. Genetic modifications made to cereal grains meant that no seed harvest could be saved and replanted like before. All seeds like corn or peas were barren and unable to sprout into new life. Agricultural laws were made by corporations  in one country after another. It got so a man growing a crop of corn had no rights over the ownership of his corn or the land it grew on. The people began to starve and loose hope. Then one day a funny thing happened. The people rose up as one, all at once, and took back control of things. Here is how it all started.’

In my dream, Bill went on to explain all the things that led to the people winning back control of our shared agricultural heritage. In detail he explained to Jeanne how the agribusiness giants were defeated and the food supply of the world was saved from ruin. I will write about this in another book called A – Is For Agriculture.

The story continues

This dream continues night after summer night. Jeanne asks to hear about another letter of the alphabet.  Her father, Bill describes how the revolution happened. Letter by letter. From A to Z Bill talks each night about a different uprising that saves another part of our world.

E is for Energy is the story of how we take back the world energy supply from greedy oppressive oligarchs and oil barons. E is for Energy describes our energy problems and how we the people solve them.

Tune in for more of this amazing story.