Re-Imagining Community Climate Action

We were delighted to welcome a varied group of people to our recent event ‘Re-imagining Community Climate Action’ which was held in Kilcullen library on the 1^st March.  Davie Philip and Oscar Mooney from Cultivate facilitated the workshop and it kicked off with us discussing in pairs what our concerns for the world were.  Naturally climate was at the forefront of topics that came up, with many people feeling that we are not doing enough to prepare for future climate events.

Then Davie spoke about the Erasmus funded ‘Community Climate Coaches’ program. This program is developing a system to train, support and enable community facilitators, mentors, and animators across Europe.  Key to the program is an integration of all the different strands of community, encompassing climate action, social justice, just transition and a more holistic look at how we work together as communities.

Oscar spoke about Just Transition, which is a term originating with the Labour movement, and how, in order to have a ‘future of decency, equality and real social justice’, principles of equality and social justice have to be embedded into all future climate initiatives.

Another topic was that of planetary boundaries and how we are overshooting our planet’s resources.  The idea of donut economics which was pioneered by Kate Raworth, offers a new type of economic model which shows that we need to live within the ‘donut’ of resources and capacities we have, whilst caring for our society on all levels.

Overall, systems thinking and regeneration were key words which stood out. In order to create societal change (which is necessary to tackle the climate crisis), we need to change our thinking, move away from working in silos, and move towards a regenerative future which nourishes both the physical environment and ourselves as human beings.

It was great to have Davie and Oscar with us for the evening, and we all appreciated the cup of tea and chat afterwards.  Feedback on the event was really good, with people saying that they felt a renewed sense of optimism.

With thanks to Kildare County Council who provided grant funding for this event.