Shell claim to play a key role in helping to meet the world’s growing energy demand in economically environmentally and socially responsible ways. The facts are that this couldn’t be further from the truth; everyday Shell ruthlessly pursue maximising profits with little concern for the environment or the communities they operate in.

Recently it was announced at the United Nations investors’ summit that global investment in clean energy reached a new high of £169 billion. As a supposed leading energy company one would expect Shell it contribute considerably to this figure. But you would be wrong, Shell in fact have dropped their investment in most renewable energy sources, with the environmentally damaging Biofuels being the only ‘renewable’ they are investing in.

Essentially Shell’s environmental policy is non-existent, and they need you to tweet them one of horror facts we have uncovered about Shell.

Choose a tweet from below and give Shell hell.

@Shell why do you shun renewables such as solar, wind and hydro in favour of environmentally destructive Biofuels? #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

@Shell how can you claim to be environmentally responsible when you cause oil spills every day in the Niger Delta? #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

@Shell your advertising says “every drop counts” – will you clean up every drop of the 13 million barrels of oil you’ve spilled in the Niger Delta? #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

@Shell makes £2m an hour. It will cost and estimated $500bn to clean up the Niger Delta. Can you afford to pay for your pollution? #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

@Shell’s profits this year: £18 billion. @Shell’s investment in sustainable energy sources: £0. #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

@Shell a 2009 FoE report found you to be the world’s most carbon intensive oil company. Are you prepared for the future? #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

@Shell in 2009 you called #TarSands a “sustainable energy source” in UK ads. When will you learn what sustainable means? #shellishell Tweet to @Shell

The historical act of civil disobedience that inspires me the most is the Memphis Sanitation Strike.

The strike was during a time of economic injustice and social inequality. Two rubbish collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were killed when using a faulty truck. In response to this 1,300 men went on strike against the unfair and racist treatment they received at sanitation workers. Henry Loab, the Mayor of Memphis refused to pay overtime that the workers were forced to work or risk losing their jobs, and the salary they did receive was so low that many sanitation workers were dependent on food stamps and food aid.

A coalition was made between workers and religious leaders and a union formed to resist the degrading treatment the workers received. They demanded to be treated with dignity and with respect. They wanted to be recognised as being people despite the racism they fell victim to alongside the poor treatment they received for being manual labourers in a job that was considered to be dirty and low-skilled. They decided to march wearing sandwich boards that said, “I am a man”. It was a slogan that cut through racist ideas and addressed their inhuman working conditions. Martin King gave a speech on the dignity of working, saying that “whenever you engage in work that serves humanity it has dignity and it has worth”.

The workers held mass meetings every night and during the day workers and religious leaders marched as well as organising peaceful sit-ins and rallies, they boycotted stores and two newspapers. The strike was declared illegal and police officers used mace, tear gas and batons to try to disperse the peaceful strikers. College and high school students, nearly a quarter of them white, joined the workers strike. On the 28th of March a 22,000 students skipped school to attend a rally but sadly it turned violent, shops were looted and a 16 year old boy was shot dead by a police officer. On the 4th of April Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Four days later Coretta Scott King led 42,000 silent marchers through Memphis in honour of Martin Luther King Jn, and to demand that Loeb give in to the sanitation workers demands.

Fifty six days after the strike started an agreement was formed between the workers and the city of Memphis. The sanitation workers received a ten cent per hour pay increase and were able to move into supervisory positions, new regulations made working safer and the workers union was officially recognised by the City Council.