Welcome to Hopenhagen.
On December 7, 2009, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen. Hopenhagen is a movement, a moment and a chance at a new beginning. The hope that we can create a global community that will lead our leaders into making the right decisions. The hope that by solving our environmental crisis, we can solve our economic crisis at the same time. Hopenhagen is change – and that change will be powered by all of us.
June 30th, 2009
I have to admit to being stupidly excited about going to Birmingham tomorrow for LocalGovCamp, which has been organised by Dave Briggs and a host of his contacts:
“LocalGovCamp is an unconference for local government. Taking place on 20 June 2009, at the Fazeley Studios in Birmingham, it will be a gathering of people interested in how local government needs to adapt to a world of social networks and data sharing”.
Apart from the chance to meet lots of people I’ve only “spoken” to on twitter, I’m looking forward to finding out what Local Authorities are doing to initiate better conversations with communities. If we are going to get serious about reducing carbon emissions then Local Authorities are going to have to work closely with “Low Carbon” communities to meet Defra’s per capita household reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
There’s an opportunity for real partnership here - and hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to meet some of the people working in local government who also see the wider benefits of active citizenship - of everyone taking an active and rewarding part in the decision making which affects their lives.
June 19th, 2009
Over the past few months my life seems to have been taken over by climate change related events and the blossoming of the Low Carbon Communities Network. Life - and writing this blog - seems to have been “on hold”. Apart from the essentials such as planting out the veg, feeding the family and dog walking I seem to have spent most of my time on trains, in meetings and maintaining a social life via email and twitter! Since the premiere of Age of Stupid and the launch of the Low Carbon Communities membership scheme it has become more obvious to me that there is real “grass roots movement” among communities who are developing sophisticated responses to the reality that climate change will affect all our lives in some way (indeed it has already affected many of here in the UK as well as abroad). These communities are actively seeking out ways to “engage” with their friends and neighbours, to make sure that everyone can make informed choices about how they use and generate energy in their homes. I am constantly inspired by their imagination and ingenuity and if anyone should wonder why I carry on doing this work the answer can be found in the people and places I have visited over the last 3 years.
P
June 19th, 2009
Today I’m at Trafford Hall in Cheshire running a workshop for North West Together We Can Partnership. This is event is for community volunteers in all sectors, not just environmental projects. One of the big issues that we’ve been discussing today is “What is a Community Activist”?
There has been quite a debate and it seems people are either proud to call themselves and activist or see it as somehow a negative term. For me, an activist is someone who is active in their community - or as one delegate put it “We’re the people who get things done”. There are some volunteers here from Creative Industries in Salford who are filming some of the sessions and interviewing people who are taking part - including me! I’ll add some information about them later.
I’m interested to know what motivates these volunteers to keep going, so in my session I asked the group to make a list of their successes and things they are proud of - it’s quite a list and I’ve posted here as an example of how proud we should be to be called “community activists” and the real difference we are making in our communities.
“It’s Not All Bad…”
- We’re child led / community led “We Listen”
- We have a knowledge of what local people want and need
- We cater for all ages, anyone is welcome “we are inclusive”
- We teach kids to grow veg - and to cook and eat it!
- There is a “knock on” effect, improved self esteem and confidence in kids who take part
- Be bold - convince people you can do “it” - even if you think you can’t!
- We are good at building relationships and finding key contacts in other organisations
- We all have success stories - but no-one to share them with
Of course there have been the usual gripes about lack of core funding, about local councils who invite communities to take part in “tick box” consultations and the need for support and advice for hard pressed volunteers.
What I will take away from here is a reinforcement of my belief that unpaid does not mean “unskilled” and that we have an under utilised, under resourced team of willing and able community volunteers who can, and are making a differnece in their own neighbourhoods. These are the people who don’t need to be “empowered”. But they do need support to enable them to help others in their communities to choose to get involved and recognise that a true community only exists when people who live and work in the same neighbourhoods spend time together learning to respect each other and share common aims for a better community.
May 20th, 2009
Watford Screening
It’s been a hectic few weeks leading up to the cinema release of the new British Climate Change Documentary Age of Stupid. Starting with the Premiere on 15th March, where low carbon community volunteers spoke on over 40 locations to share their stories about how grass roots communities are working to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. With the film now on general release across the UK, local groups have planned a variety of events and activities to tie in with local screenings.
Of course, there is hardly time to sit back and relax - with the Low Carbon Communities Network through to the next round of Defra’s Greener Living Fund - we’re all busy putting together our Smart Living proposal to prove that the peole we know and trust can help us reduce our doemstic energy demand while living rewarding, stylish lives. Reducing our consumption of the earth’s finite resources is not just about saving money, it’s about taking back control of our own energy demand, using what we need more efficiently and event exploring ways to generate our own power in our homes and communities.
March 21st, 2009
Possibly because I’m incapable of keeping my moth shut I’ve found myself following the online debate about the Government’s new initiative to create “Digital Mentors”. On a personal level it’s something I’m quite excited about, until a few months ago I had never posted a comment on a forum let alone designed and written my own blog!
Because I actively sought out people with the skills and enthusiasm to help me I’m now blogging, twittering and capturing on video the activities of grass roots communities. My confidence in social media and the web as a tool of communication means I’m able to instantly access all manner of information and helpful folk.
But, as the conversations continue I begin to feel a little bit uneasy that crucial partners are missing in the debate. Looking at some forums I’d make a guess that the majority of contributors are white middle class males with a university education and a plethora of social media whizzardry (is that a word?) at their disposal. I apologise immediately to Clare White and others who are also joining in - but forgive me for asking - how many of the contributors to this debate are real bona fide grass roots communities who are reaching out and getting these new technologies into their projects and communities? Where are the guys from the Traveller Community, the single women living on benefits in the “rough” parts of town, the wheelchair users, the deaf, the young? Some people might call them the “hard to reach”, but I prefer to think they are just being “easily overlooked”. How will those bidding for the Digital Mentor tender ensure that these grassroots groups (many of whom are volunteers but just as capable of sharing their skills and knowledge as the professionals) are heard and able to participate in the design and develoment of services?
I see the same thing played out in the world of community responses to climate change, villages like my own (Ashton Hayes) and the Transition Network get shedloads of media coverage, they are the focus of dozens of academic and government research documents. Why? Because their web presence makes “desktop research” simple and efficient. This means that community groups who don’t have access to broadband, computers, mobile phones or any of the other tools we can use to communicate our activities via the web simply don’t get acknowledged. Yet, these are the groups that are doing amazing grass roots stuff, exciting and innovative approaches which work in their own situation.
I’ll give you an example, last week I had an email from a “Transitioner”, full of excitement about a new initiative “which all started in Totnes“.
She told me “…It’s called Landshare“. This isn’t new, families and communities have been garden sharing for years, here in Ashton Hayes the Ash-Worth Timebank facilitates a similar scheme (I share a neighbour’s greenhouse) and Bollington started something similar last year. But, because these activities don’t appear on a website there is no way of communicating what’s going on to a wider audience and so they are simply “overlooked”.
There are dozens of ways we institutionally exclude people from participating in civil society, if we’re not careful then the digital mentor scheme could be just another. Luckily I have faith in my twitter friends that they won’t allow this to happen. I just hope that whoever reads the tenders and makes the decisions can see past the promises to reach the low hanging fruit (ie people like me) and get stuck in to building partnerships with real people doing real stuff in their own communities. AND, most importantly making sure that access to broadband, computers etc is improved so that income is not a barrier to participation as it is with so many other aspects of modern society.
November 7th, 2008
If you’ve been following progress over at the Low Carbon Communities website you’ll know I have a very good excuse for not blogging here recently. The pace of activity is astounding - suddenly everyone wants to hear what communities are saying and doing in response to the threats of climate change.
The most exciting thing that has been happening to me is my involvement with Franny and Clare over at Spanner Films. Franny is the film maker responsible for Age of Stupid, which will be hitting cinemas early next year. I’m convinced this is going to be the must see film of 2009. Not because it’s about climate change or because it stars the wonderful Pete Postlethwaite, but simply because is a great piece of film making, with stunning visuals and a great cast of real people who tell their stories with enormous passion.
After an NGO screening (watch the clip - but blink and you’ll miss me!) recently I spoke to Franny about how communities in the UK could support the film and how we could use it to convey the message that climate change is a global threat and that we must all respond in personal and political ways to ensure that we get the kind of robust climate policies we need at Copenhagen in December 2009. It seems other communities feel the same judging by this comment left on the LCCN site.
So, in addition to my work as a freelance trainer, helping to establish the Low Carbon Communities Network, being a Mum, housewife, chief dog walker and pony carer I’ll be blogging regularly about progress as the Age of Stupid gets closer to launching. You can watch the trailer here and find out more about how the film was made and funded on the website.
Next week I’m speaking at the catchily titled “The Economic Impacts of Climate Change Legislation for Cheshire and Warrington Stakeholder Workshop”, running a session with Paul Henderson from Ruralnet|UK at the CAfE conference in Oxford and spending three nights back stage helping with the village play here in Ashton Hayes - oh and somewhere in between all that I’ll be submitting a funding proposal and putting together an abstract on communicating behaviour change at the grass roots after my two days at the UKERC Meeting Place last month!
Sunnyside Film Festival
November 6th, 2008
What a week - we have just processed our 100th booking for the Low Carbon Communities Conference on 4th October in llangollen, completed 2 case study reports on low carbon communities in the North West, written two articles on low carbon communities, written a conference presentation, answered over 200 emails and still found time to walk the dog!!
For the time being I’m saying goodbye to the Low carbon Diary Blog, but you can still keep up with me by checking out the Conference website, reading my posts for the Chester chronicle or following progress on Sustained Magazine’s Staff Blog. Or you can email me: lowcarbondiary@gmail.com or follow lowcarbondiary on twitter. See you after the conference x
July 31st, 2008
Finally home after two inspiring days at 2gether08, there’s lots of video footage and comments on the site about the presentations and what we all got up to, so go take a look. I’ll write more later, but before I attack an email inbox that’s not been touched for three days, just a quick thank you to everyone who made the event such a huge success. Count me in for next year!
July 4th, 2008
Yesterday I went to Salford to run a workshop on “Motivators and Barriers in Your Community”.
The day didn’t start well due to trouble with the trains which meant I was late (but fortunately in time to hear Toby Blume from Urban Forum give a very entertaining presentation about Government policy on community engagement).
Then Straight into presentations and workshops without even time for a coffee! Things got worse when I found my room had been set out “theatre style” instead of chairs in a circle and 2 other workshops were in the same marquee with what looked like office display boards to screen us from each other. We could hear the adjacent presentation very clearly and some of my participants had trouble hearing what I was saying, I certainly had trouble hearing them.
I had to abandon my plans for a participatory workshop and debate, but we still managed to raise some of the issues which influence successful community projects (although the lady at the back who sat filing her nails was clearly disappointed).
To be honest, the person who should have been running my workshop was Gerry Stone a resident and chair of the Seedley and Langworthy Development Trust, who put it in a nutshell in her presentation “People are at the heart of what we do”, she’s right. As community development workers we all know it’s not what we do “to” or “for” a community that leads to success it’s what we do with them that leads to long term sustainable parterships. The most important motivator in any community project is the people and we have a duty to listen to what the community wants or needs rather than imposing our perceptions of what would lead to improvement.
Some people in my workshop had clearly “got it”, but there were others who openly admitted they still fly because it’s cheap, haven’t take energy reduction measures in their own homes or kicked the standby habit and couldn’t see much point in taking action other than recycling or reusing their shopping bags. I’m left wondering they came to a workshop entitled “Community Action on Climate Change” in the first place?
I decided to walk back to the station and revisit the place where I used to live, wandering through Seedley and into Manchester I came home feeling proud of Salford and the people who live there and hopeful that the stories I heard of active community engagement and empowerment can be told to others and that more residents will be inspired to get involved and supported by adequate funding and professional support to make the changes they want to see in their areas.
June 25th, 2008
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