On Mon 23 Jan we heard from Kate Swindells about how her local St Albans community is tackling climate change and building resilience to its effects. The information she gave us is for sharing so we can multiply the effect everywhere.
There were 38 people on the Zoom call which was great – from Soroptimist groups far and wide including Western Canada, Yorkshire, the Midlands and the Chilterns areas. There were lots of guests as individuals and representing groups interested in finding out more about the Sopwell Eco-Stars manageable approach to building resilience to the effects of climate change. Kate is a founder member of the Sopwell Eco-Stars Group which is a sub-group of Sopwell Residents Association. The group supports local people in managing the uncertainties we are all facing because of global warming, ecological breakdown, and related disruptions around food, energy, and the general cost of living. Kate explained the approach that to cope with the uncertainty surrounding the effects of climate change, community resilience is vital at a hyperlocal level.
Baroness Brown, Deputy Chair of the Climate Change Committee, in Oct 2020 said “I would like to see us launch a race for resilience. We have a race for zero that’s been launched in association with the COP, where we’re getting businesses and organizations and community groups and local authorities all signing up to say they’re going to get to net zero. I would like to see businesses and local authorities and community groups all signing up to say that we’re going to be prepared for the changes that the climate is going to be bring.” Here’s the link to Baroness Brown’s ‘Race for Resilience’ presentation at the UK Climate Risk conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk_bCwH4OS8
Kate told us that climate change is part of a polycrisis (terminology we will all be hearing more about) with multiple crises all happening at once: Climate change: Economic fragility: Profits over people and planet: Divisive politics: Increasing social injustice: Resource depletion: Collapse of biodiversity and eco-systems. The UK is not doing very well, and we’re a leader so what about the rest of the world?!
Why take hyperlocal action? We were built for it! Agency: Connections: trust, working together, compassion: Tailor to community needs: Emissions & sustainability: Emergency preparedness: Funding! Sopwell eco-stars has created links to schools, faith groups, community groups and holds Community Events: Repair fairs, Seasonal cooking for less, Saving energy, cutting bills (next event 4 Feb 2pm to 4pm – https://SaveEnergy.eventbrite.co.uk), Clothes swaps/collections, Emotional resilience, Film nights….. Success factors are: Local environmental groups & awareness; Strong community spirit; Connections; Schools, faith & community groups, local gov and community stars; Communications; Twice-yearly printed newsletter to every household; Website & electronic mailing list; Other groups’ newsletters; Local community and street-level Facebook and WhatsApp groups; Community noticeboards. Kate said it’s all about CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS!
Click here to download and view Kate’s presentation: Sopwell eco-stars Jan 23 (Kate presents up to slide 35 then there is extra info on the Appendix pages).
Click on the arrow in the image below or here https://youtu.be/olpn7iGgRqk to view the whole of Kate’s presentation (33 mins), plus Q&A (19 mins).
There were lots of questions (included in the video recording), as we’d expect from a Soroptimist meeting where everyone is learning something new. Kate was able to respond positively with great advice.
The photo here is of everyone on the Zoom call applauding Kate and thanking her.
Everyone seemed to leave the meeting inspired to take action in their own locality. There were lots of positive comments in the Zoom Chat here is just one “Thanks so much Kate for the talk – lots to think about and lots of inspiration. Sopwell eco-stars are doing so much in their community.”
How about looking at our Soroptimist Club as a community? Linda Shall from the Club’s Planet Team introduced a proposal for the Club to have an Environmental Sustainability Plan (ESP). Click here to download and view SISTA Environmental Sustainability Plan 230123. With the urgency of the Climate and Biodiversity Crises it is vital that we all adapt our lifestyle and practices so they support rather than damage the planet. Individual Members have already been making changes and it’s important that Club activities are sustainable too. The proposal presented is for SI St Albans and District to develop an ESP to move towards a more environmentally sustainable way to achieve the SI Mission. We need to answer the before and after questions of – How environmentally sustainable is the way that the Club operates now? How much more environmentally sustainable can SIStA work to achieve the SI Mission. Will we be the first Soroptimist Club to have an ESP? The Planet Team will follow up on next steps.
If you have any queries please email: sistalbans@hotmail.com
Donations from the event will go to Sopwell eco-stars – please click here for more information sopwell.org.uk/sopwell-eco-stars. Any further donations can be made Paypal sigbi.org/st-albans/donate or we can send you bank transfer details if you email: sistalbans@hotmail.com.