Building Community Climate Action – in your Street, School, Workplace

Want to do something practical about the climate and nature in your community? Now we can share ideas, inspiration, and practical steps.

We all know we need serious, systemic change to address the climate and nature crises, but there are direct practical things we can do as communities too. We can find ways to share and re-use things beyond just recycling, we can increase biodiversity in our green spaces, we can learn more about reducing our energy demands through insulating our houses, we can make it easier to walk and cycle… and lots more things too.

The South Yorkshire Climate Alliance (SCA) is bringing together community-based climate and nature groups from across South Yorkshire to describe what they are already doing on 1st October at the Central United Reformed Church in Sheffield city centre. If you want ideas for getting started, how to expand what you are already doing or want to offer your own ideas to others, this is the place to come.

SCA is also creating an online hub for community groups in South Yorkshire to capture these ideas and build a much bigger resource over time. If you’d like to hear how that is intended to work, and say what you would like to see it provide, come along and talk to the people involved.

This event is free to attend.

Open from 1pm for cake and chat with stallholders – see below for details.

1.30pm – Introduction from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard

1.40pm – Community speakers, followed by discussion:

– Helen Francis, Waverley Rotherham – on Recycling

– Charles Booth, Booth Brothers Barnsley – on Renewable Energy Powering a Business

– Muna Taha, Hadfield Institute Darnall – on Community Food

– Johnathan Partridge, High Storrs Environmental – on Retrofitting

– Lindy Stone, Greener Greenhill – on Active Travel

– Cathy Rhodes, Mike Green, Colin McCulloch – on Eco Church SY activities including Biodiversity, Community Energy Trust and Congregation Eco-survey

2.30pm – Break to browse stalls and have some cake

2.45 pm – Introduction to the vision for the digital climate action hub.

2.55pm – Round-table discussions – a chance to pick a topic – such as active travel, biodiversity, community food growing, the sharing economy, renewable energy, retrofit/insulation – and share ideas, hints and tips and practical steps.

3.20pm – Next steps

3.30pm – Close

The following climate, nature and sustainability groups will be having stalls:

EcoChurches

Green City Action

Plastic Free Sheffield Central

Schools Climate Education South Yorkshire

Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust

Sheffield Renewables

ShefFood

South Yorkshire Climate Alliance

Sustrans

Zero Carbon Yorkshire

And did we mention the cake?! Everyone welcome, see you there!