Yesterday, I sent a petition to save Martin Crawford’s forest garden—his pioneering example of agroforestry in temperate regions.
But there’s a fundamental flaw in how this campaign against Dartington Trust is being run.
Despite widespread social media posting, there’s no way to follow up with supporters.
Yes change.org allow you to email petition signers from within their platform, but that doesn’t help once your petition campaign has run its course.
This brings up something I need to impress on you. Not everyone will sign the petition on first contact. It’s called a touch point.
It might take multiple touch points before someone is in a place to take the action you want them to take. Whether that’s sign a petition, get to a book signing, attend a demo or buy a product or service.
Throughout this series of essays, I will use my own book publishing business as an example. But it isn’t so much the example I use. You could transpose this to pretty much anything that needs to be promoted.
It is the principles I will be teaching you, that are important. Not the example I am using.
Not having an email list that you regularly use to stay in touch with your audience, incapacitates you. Period.
You are continually at the beck and call of corporate platforms who do not have your interests at heart. Despite any rhetoric to the contrary.
In my example of Martin Crawford’s campaign, he stated on Devon Live that he wants to buy the land from Dartington Trust. That makes perfect sense—ownership (whether individual or collective) would give him control.
But without a direct way to communicate with supporters, how does he mobilise them when it really counts?
This lack of strategy frustrates me. The campaign was set up only five or six days ago—fire, aim, ready. I respect the urgency, but imagine if this had been strategically thought through?
If Martin had built an email list over the years, he’d have tens of thousands of people ready to take action instantly.
Yet he does have a list. He just isn’t using it!
I’ve bought from him in the past, yet I heard nothing about the campaign until one of my readers brought it to my attention.
Instead, all the momentum so far generated is fleeting—scattered across social media, where engagement is shallow and platforms dictate visibility.
Organic posts that contain a link get very little traction, unless by chance, a post goes viral, which is very hard to do without a strategy.
This is the single biggest mistake I see activists, artists, writers, small business owners, and creators making.
Whenever my writer and artist friends come to me for advice, I tell them the same thing I told Polly Higgins, the Ecocide lawyer, when she asked how to promote her organisation:
If you’re dependent on people talking about you and sharing your information, there is only one effective way to stay in control—email.
Social media is not a free space. It’s a corporate, profit-driven environment designed to keep users scrolling, not taking action elsewhere.
You have about three seconds to capture attention—most of your followers won’t even see your posts.
That’s the business model. The longer people stay on the platform, the more money they make through advertising.
Right or wrong? I don’t care. You choose to use social media, so don’t play the victim.
If you don’t want to be controlled by a corporate platform, don’t bloody use it. No whining.
In recovery, we have a phrase: life on life’s terms. Accept the reality and work with it strategically.
The most secure, effective action you can take—whether you’re an activist, writer, artist, or small business owner—is to start an email list.
Unlike social media, email is a protocol, not a platform. No single company controls it. You do.
Yes, you need to host your list somewhere, and some providers are better than others. But at the end of the day, it’s yours. You can download it. You can move it. You’re not at the mercy of an algorithm.
I’ve seen people mess this up, though. They build a list and think it’s just for selling. That’s not how this works.
You have to nurture it—build a real relationship with your audience. Otherwise, you’ll burn through your list and lose credibility.
I know this because I’ve been in the author-publishing game for 30 years.
I’ve spent decades publishing controversial material—material that got me in trouble with both the US and British governments. I know what it’s like to face Goliath and feel powerless.
But with an email list, you are not powerless.
Here’s a classic example: When I send an email with a link, it goes directly to the people who want to hear from me.
No algorithm decides who sees it.
But only if I use an email service with good deliverability. Hosting your own mailing server? That’s old-world thinking. It doesn’t work anymore—big players block those messages. You have to adapt.
Martin Crawford’s campaign made a critical mistake: all those petition signers, and he has no way to contact them again.
Change.org, not Martin, controls those emails. That means if he needs their support later, he has to start from scratch.
The first step should have been simple: a one-page sign-up form before the petition link.
That way, the supporters belong to the movement, not to some corporate platform.
If you think your work matters, stop making excuses. Start an email list now.
This is how you break free from reliance on social media.
This is how you build something lasting.
This is how you ensure that when you need people to act, they’re already listening.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: drop everything and start an email list.