Ben & Jerry’s stands behind wind power, and names clean power and climate justice as part of the “issues we care about” page, and although the iconic ice cream maker is now owned by global heavyweight Unilever, it is still lending its weight to helping usher in solutions for a low carbon future.
The company is currently backing a UK campaign from 10:10 that aims to “unlock onshore wind” in the country by delivering large numbers of signatures to the government in favor of developing more onshore wind power, which is in contrast with the position of certain elements in the government who believe that people are “fed up” with wind farms.
This sort of environmental activism isn’t out of character for Ben & Jerry’s, which has long advocated for climate and environment issues, but in this case, it’s said that the company is even renaming some of its flavors as more wind-centric versions of themselves, and offering those flavors (Strawberry Breeze-cake, Cherry Gale-cia, Caramel Blew Blew, etc.) for half price on “windy Wednesdays” in at least one scoop shop in the UK.
Would you be surprised to hear that the vast majority of Brits support onshore wind? New government figures show 76% of us love it! Find out more & join us by signing the petition! https://t.co/5oANc1YOrL #windpower pic.twitter.com/5UtCUpyEg4
— Ben & Jerry’s UK (@benandjerrysUK) June 13, 2018
The petition begins:
“The government has banned new onshore wind in England – putting our national action on climate change at risk and rejecting one of the public’s favourite types of energy. Meanwhile, fossil fuels like fracking are being forced through the system – even when communities say no.
It’s time to send the government an urgent message about the kind of future we want.”
And then it includes one single request, to remove “the additional planning requirements introduced by the written ministerial statement on onshore wind, issued 18 June 2015.” At this point, the campaign, which has been dubbed “Blown Away,” has garnered a bit more than 26,000 signatures.
Re-energizing onshore wind in the UK is not only good for reducing carbon emissions and reducing pollutants, it’s also an economic win/win for both the producers and the consumers of electricity from wind power, with a new report claiming that by awarding contracts for 5 gigawatts worth of new onshore wind power between 2019 and 2025, UK consumers would enjoy a net benefit of some £1.6 billion.
Here’s Ben & Jerry’s turning a weather gripe into an renewable energy asset:
The UK is lucky enough to have a wealth of renewable energy sources right on its doorstep. Sure, us Brits like to grumble about the grey days, but let’s look on the bright side – our weather gives our country a huge potential to tap into clean energy, in particular wind, which we think is pretty awesome!
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
