Across the county individuals and organisations are already taking the action that will propel us towards the vision. By sharing some of these below the aim is to encourage their sustainability, replication, and escalation.
Weymouth Together
Following People's Assemblies (PAs) which were held in February 2020 in Portland, Dorchester and Weymouth (in response to Dorset Councils call for climate ideas for the Climate & Ecological Emergency Plan) Weymouth Together held an initial zoom meeting in May 2020.
Working together, sharing, and connecting communities were recurrent themes and the Weymouth PA was keen to see a place for community groups to work together. So, several people started mapping the Weymouth community and thinking about how to engage people in such an idea and consider what sort of group would work for Weymouth. Then Coronavirus happened and communities sprung up in a way no one had predicted. There has been a big coming together in most communities and an unusual situation arose and persists with opportunities to do things differently as people adjusted to life with Covid-19.
In the period of readjustment and lockdown the community mapping project continued, and the shared experience of coronavirus became the catalyst to bring the various groups together and explore what they shared, how they might continue to work together and increase future resilience. The network did not have a specific environmental agenda, instead the space was open for people to share the full range of interconnected challenges and opportunities within the local community.
Although not a climate group, the facilitation, communication and conflict resolution skills, as well as inclusivity values many of the facilitators gained from involvement with Extinction Rebellion were instrumental to the success of meetings which were seen as inspiring and energized because everyone is given space and encouraged to be an active participant.
A year on and the group have taken time to review what’s happened to date and define more explicitly what their core objectives are; summed up by one member as Talk. Share. Act.
Talking and connecting people who have shared challenges or with opportunities to link & work together. Sharing resources or forming a focused working group that then acts – e.g. collaboration over foodbanks and the securing of a food hub.
Although the network has not got a specific climate change agenda, they are very much focused on building resilience by connecting with and learning who and what their community is and does. They also consider that learning how to collaborate effectively over issues now will enable us to better cope with “the bigger challenges that decarbonising (or not!!) will bring.”
The Weymouth Together Network is also seeking to establish a Climate Emergency Centre (CEC) (see below) in Weymouth. The aim for the CEC in Weymouth [1] is threefold: to promote and develop solutions for emissions reductions for individuals, organisations and businesses; to inform, educate and engage people in issues surrounding the climate crisis; to provide a hub for environmental and social groups to promote greater co-operation. Initially the Weymouth CEC team is looking to establish a location in the centre of town that could house a permanent information display and resource centre, where residents could drop in during certain hours to consult with local climate-aware volunteers. They are presently still searching for suitable premises in Weymouth.
Community Action in Charmouth
Prior to lockdown, handyman and firefighter, Tim Holmes had picked up shopping and prescriptions for a few elderly neighbours in Charmouth. When the virus took off, he became swamped by calls for help and appealed for support on the Charmouth Facebook Notice Board. Within 20 minutes he had 20 offers of help and the numbers kept rising. “One of the first volunteers was Judy Fellingham from the local estate agents,” he said. “She and I met and chatted about what could be achieved and made plans for a leaflet delivery to all the households in the village.” Jo Seaman, former British Council leader and author, also saw the Facebook page and thought that the rapidly increasing supply of helpers, might need a bit of co-ordination. “During my career I managed teams of people living through some challenging circumstances, from a break-down in law and order in Georgia, to earthquakes and 'cartoon riots' in Pakistan. I always like to find ways to bring a sense of calm control if I can to what could be, or was, a dangerous situation.” She called Tim and offered to help pull together a spreadsheet. Within hours they had put together a Facebook messenger group of the volunteers.
Within a week a core team were talking every few hours by phone and via zoom. The information leaflet was almost complete and an idea was put forward to use the classic Thumbs Up image - the national sign for I'm OK. By turning the poster upside down, anybody, not just volunteers, could see a person might need assistance.
A Safeguarding Policy and ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ for volunteers was prepared and Charmouth Parish Council helped with a series of leaflets for village-wide distribution and wrote the proposals for funding from Dorset Coronavirus Community Fund and managed the budget of £1700.
Once the project took off, volunteers delivered leaflets to 930 households, around 160 of which took up the offer as volunteers delivered shopping and prescriptions, gave telephone support and even walked dogs.
[1] www.weymouthtogether.org/climate+emergency+centre
Volunteers found themselves learning new skills, not least how to balance their new tasks with their own commitments, one volunteer was even able to step in to help when discovering one old lady who had fallen on her living room floor. Other than a nasty cut on her leg she was otherwise okay, however, it was lucky that one of the volunteers was there at right time to help. The Chemist and local stores began to work in partnership with the volunteer group, one store reporting requests for home deliveries to people isolating grew from 8 to 156.
This is a brilliant example of a community coming together at speed with innovative ideas and enthusiasm to confront a major crisis and it doesn’t end here. Plans are now being developed with the Charmouth Parish Council to create an Emergency Plan for the future.
Bournemouth University
The power of collective action is evident at Bournemouth University where the Student Union (SUBU) and staff unions UCU and UNISON have begun coordinating activities and initiatives, including holding the university to its stated commitments around sustainability and upholding and supporting the progress already made.
In 2015 the NUS green impact programme was first introduced at Bournemouth University encouraging staff and students to reduce their environmental impact. SUBU strongly encourages commercial stall holders to not use plastic bags, balloons and/or stickers on their stands, use electronic devices to collect data instead of paper, only hand out flyers only to those students who express genuine interest and ensure all items/flyers being handed out are easily recycled and composted – with no single use plastic items. They ask stall holders to keep the volume of waste is kept to a minimum, and that any waste should be 100% recyclable or biodegradable. Progress has been made around the use of non-recyclable coffee cups at the university, but these are still in use at the time of writing and will be a continuing target for the unions. Another target for next year will be poor recycling and waste collection off campus at student digs, the amount of disposed food and personal belongings including kitchenware, furniture etc. that students throw out at the end of their year in student accommodation.
UCU and UNISON are also coordinating activities with local environmental campaigners and groups, including Zero Carbon Dorset. Their targets for further action include transport, energy, food, waste and various ethical issues. UCU is campaigning for a Green New Deal and the two UCU local branch Environment Reps will be negotiating with the university, and lobbying local councils, on a number of related issues.
Through their attendance of the Travel Plan Implementation Group UCU will continue to press for the university and local council to coordinate on building safe and separate cycle routes to and from the university to the centre of town and to other locations. Existing cycling ‘lanes’ (narrow painted strips on busy roads) offer little protection and the high number of cycling causalities each year on the road into university must be prioritised urgently in their view. Many European cities have shown that safe, separate cycle ways encourage people out of their cars and onto their bikes which is good for their health and the environment.
The unions are pressing for more transparency around contracts, food supplies, waste disposal, energy use, pension schemes and investment portfolios. They are also opposed to local incinerators due to pollutants and its effect in discouraging recycling. They plan to work with local activists to highlight and oppose fossil fuel extraction in the county, such as Wytch Farm oil field, and encourage renewable energy schemes (especially wind and solar), whenever possible. The unions run student and staff facing events around these issues including the building of support for the UK Student Climate Network and the global campaign for climate action, not words, at COP26.
Dorset Equality Group
This group, who are politically non-aligned, works to raise awareness of inequality, to promote social justice, and to campaign for greater equality. They campaign, especially by engaging policymakers, to
publicise the inequalities around us (and the damage they cause) and make presentations, drawing on local case studies. They are applying ongoing pressure on local political and economic decision makers, urging them to be as energetic in promoting economic and ecological justice in the wake of COVID 19 as they have been in tackling the pandemic.
Dorset Equality Group is affiliated to the (national) Equality Trust and draws on many Equality Trust resources for campaigning and engagement with policy makers. The Equality Trust was created following research undertaken and published in The Spirit Level, research which shows how equality is actually better for everyone.
The Dorset group holds business/planning meetings every few weeks, open to anyone interested. Currently these meetings are held in Poole (although they have been virtual during COVID 19 pandemic). You can email [email protected] for further details about their work and meetings.
Livability Holton Lee
Predominantly a wellbeing discovery centre set in 350 acres of beautiful Dorset countryside, Livability Holton Lee is part of the Livability family of services, aiming to support visitors in feeling good about themselves by encouraging them to build friendships and develop a sense of accomplishment.
Services include gardening, forestry therapy, arts and ceramics, bird watching, walking and accessible camping, all aimed at ensuring visitors benefit from an inclusive and supportive community. The centre is open to the general community and also has a particular understanding of disability and mental health.
One of their services, worthy of a Case Study in the Eat Well chapter, is a Weekly Veg Box, organic seasonal produce grown as part of their horticulture therapy project.
Affordable & sustainable community livingBridport Cohousing are pioneering cohousing as a means of enabling affordable and sustainable community living for local people. They have been working for more than 11 years to create a cohousing model in Dorset that offers an alternative, socially connected way of life where neighbours support and share with one another. This involves:
‘Hazelmead’ is being built on the north-western edge of Bridport, just north of Allington Hill and next door to the Community Hospital. It is currently the largest cohousing neighbourhood in the UK, offering 53 affordable eco-homes for sale and for rent. There are seven south-facing terraces of two-, three- and four-bed family houses, and two two-storey apartment blocks of one-bedroom flats for single or double occupancy. Half of the homes are available for social rent through our housing association partner, Bournemouth Churches Housing Association (BCHA). The other half are for shared ownership either at 80% leasehold purchase, or through the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Designed to be affordable, high quality, energy efficient, climate resilient and nature friendly, Hazelmead will be managed by the community itself. Car-free streets will provide safe space for children to play. The Common House and outdoor areas will give opportunities for socialising, companionship and mutual support.
Sheltered Work Opportunities“Caring for People, Caring for Plants”Through the use of Therapeutic Horticulture, Cherry Tree Nursery helps to restore mental well-being, and give purpose to people’s lives. The Charity provides meaningful occupation in a supportive environment, aiming to restore well-being to people with mental illness. Cherry Tree Nursery is the first project of the registered charity the Sheltered Work Opportunities Project (SWOP). The charity currently has two projects, Cherry Tree Nursery in Bournemouth, established in 1990, and Chestnut Nursery in Poole, established in 2001.
Cherry Tree Nursery is a 4.5-acre site in Bournemouth that produces over 100,000 high quality garden plants every year and is well-known in the local community for its friendly atmosphere. The volunteers find the nursery a safe and non-threatening place to work, where they can receive support from staff, gain strength from developing friendships with each other, share problems and experiences, and build social networks through working together.
There are many different types of work available, all of which contribute to the running of the nursery and to the strengthening of a mutually self-supporting community. Confidence is boosted through the knowledge that all play a part in keeping a thriving, popular and successful nursery project running.
Weymouth Together
Following People's Assemblies (PAs) which were held in February 2020 in Portland, Dorchester and Weymouth (in response to Dorset Councils call for climate ideas for the Climate & Ecological Emergency Plan) Weymouth Together held an initial zoom meeting in May 2020.
Working together, sharing, and connecting communities were recurrent themes and the Weymouth PA was keen to see a place for community groups to work together. So, several people started mapping the Weymouth community and thinking about how to engage people in such an idea and consider what sort of group would work for Weymouth. Then Coronavirus happened and communities sprung up in a way no one had predicted. There has been a big coming together in most communities and an unusual situation arose and persists with opportunities to do things differently as people adjusted to life with Covid-19.
In the period of readjustment and lockdown the community mapping project continued, and the shared experience of coronavirus became the catalyst to bring the various groups together and explore what they shared, how they might continue to work together and increase future resilience. The network did not have a specific environmental agenda, instead the space was open for people to share the full range of interconnected challenges and opportunities within the local community.
Although not a climate group, the facilitation, communication and conflict resolution skills, as well as inclusivity values many of the facilitators gained from involvement with Extinction Rebellion were instrumental to the success of meetings which were seen as inspiring and energized because everyone is given space and encouraged to be an active participant.
A year on and the group have taken time to review what’s happened to date and define more explicitly what their core objectives are; summed up by one member as Talk. Share. Act.
Talking and connecting people who have shared challenges or with opportunities to link & work together. Sharing resources or forming a focused working group that then acts – e.g. collaboration over foodbanks and the securing of a food hub.
Although the network has not got a specific climate change agenda, they are very much focused on building resilience by connecting with and learning who and what their community is and does. They also consider that learning how to collaborate effectively over issues now will enable us to better cope with “the bigger challenges that decarbonising (or not!!) will bring.”
The Weymouth Together Network is also seeking to establish a Climate Emergency Centre (CEC) (see below) in Weymouth. The aim for the CEC in Weymouth [1] is threefold: to promote and develop solutions for emissions reductions for individuals, organisations and businesses; to inform, educate and engage people in issues surrounding the climate crisis; to provide a hub for environmental and social groups to promote greater co-operation. Initially the Weymouth CEC team is looking to establish a location in the centre of town that could house a permanent information display and resource centre, where residents could drop in during certain hours to consult with local climate-aware volunteers. They are presently still searching for suitable premises in Weymouth.
Community Action in Charmouth
Prior to lockdown, handyman and firefighter, Tim Holmes had picked up shopping and prescriptions for a few elderly neighbours in Charmouth. When the virus took off, he became swamped by calls for help and appealed for support on the Charmouth Facebook Notice Board. Within 20 minutes he had 20 offers of help and the numbers kept rising. “One of the first volunteers was Judy Fellingham from the local estate agents,” he said. “She and I met and chatted about what could be achieved and made plans for a leaflet delivery to all the households in the village.” Jo Seaman, former British Council leader and author, also saw the Facebook page and thought that the rapidly increasing supply of helpers, might need a bit of co-ordination. “During my career I managed teams of people living through some challenging circumstances, from a break-down in law and order in Georgia, to earthquakes and 'cartoon riots' in Pakistan. I always like to find ways to bring a sense of calm control if I can to what could be, or was, a dangerous situation.” She called Tim and offered to help pull together a spreadsheet. Within hours they had put together a Facebook messenger group of the volunteers.
Within a week a core team were talking every few hours by phone and via zoom. The information leaflet was almost complete and an idea was put forward to use the classic Thumbs Up image - the national sign for I'm OK. By turning the poster upside down, anybody, not just volunteers, could see a person might need assistance.
A Safeguarding Policy and ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ for volunteers was prepared and Charmouth Parish Council helped with a series of leaflets for village-wide distribution and wrote the proposals for funding from Dorset Coronavirus Community Fund and managed the budget of £1700.
Once the project took off, volunteers delivered leaflets to 930 households, around 160 of which took up the offer as volunteers delivered shopping and prescriptions, gave telephone support and even walked dogs.
[1] www.weymouthtogether.org/climate+emergency+centre
Volunteers found themselves learning new skills, not least how to balance their new tasks with their own commitments, one volunteer was even able to step in to help when discovering one old lady who had fallen on her living room floor. Other than a nasty cut on her leg she was otherwise okay, however, it was lucky that one of the volunteers was there at right time to help. The Chemist and local stores began to work in partnership with the volunteer group, one store reporting requests for home deliveries to people isolating grew from 8 to 156.
This is a brilliant example of a community coming together at speed with innovative ideas and enthusiasm to confront a major crisis and it doesn’t end here. Plans are now being developed with the Charmouth Parish Council to create an Emergency Plan for the future.
Bournemouth University
The power of collective action is evident at Bournemouth University where the Student Union (SUBU) and staff unions UCU and UNISON have begun coordinating activities and initiatives, including holding the university to its stated commitments around sustainability and upholding and supporting the progress already made.
In 2015 the NUS green impact programme was first introduced at Bournemouth University encouraging staff and students to reduce their environmental impact. SUBU strongly encourages commercial stall holders to not use plastic bags, balloons and/or stickers on their stands, use electronic devices to collect data instead of paper, only hand out flyers only to those students who express genuine interest and ensure all items/flyers being handed out are easily recycled and composted – with no single use plastic items. They ask stall holders to keep the volume of waste is kept to a minimum, and that any waste should be 100% recyclable or biodegradable. Progress has been made around the use of non-recyclable coffee cups at the university, but these are still in use at the time of writing and will be a continuing target for the unions. Another target for next year will be poor recycling and waste collection off campus at student digs, the amount of disposed food and personal belongings including kitchenware, furniture etc. that students throw out at the end of their year in student accommodation.
UCU and UNISON are also coordinating activities with local environmental campaigners and groups, including Zero Carbon Dorset. Their targets for further action include transport, energy, food, waste and various ethical issues. UCU is campaigning for a Green New Deal and the two UCU local branch Environment Reps will be negotiating with the university, and lobbying local councils, on a number of related issues.
Through their attendance of the Travel Plan Implementation Group UCU will continue to press for the university and local council to coordinate on building safe and separate cycle routes to and from the university to the centre of town and to other locations. Existing cycling ‘lanes’ (narrow painted strips on busy roads) offer little protection and the high number of cycling causalities each year on the road into university must be prioritised urgently in their view. Many European cities have shown that safe, separate cycle ways encourage people out of their cars and onto their bikes which is good for their health and the environment.
The unions are pressing for more transparency around contracts, food supplies, waste disposal, energy use, pension schemes and investment portfolios. They are also opposed to local incinerators due to pollutants and its effect in discouraging recycling. They plan to work with local activists to highlight and oppose fossil fuel extraction in the county, such as Wytch Farm oil field, and encourage renewable energy schemes (especially wind and solar), whenever possible. The unions run student and staff facing events around these issues including the building of support for the UK Student Climate Network and the global campaign for climate action, not words, at COP26.
Dorset Equality Group
This group, who are politically non-aligned, works to raise awareness of inequality, to promote social justice, and to campaign for greater equality. They campaign, especially by engaging policymakers, to
publicise the inequalities around us (and the damage they cause) and make presentations, drawing on local case studies. They are applying ongoing pressure on local political and economic decision makers, urging them to be as energetic in promoting economic and ecological justice in the wake of COVID 19 as they have been in tackling the pandemic.
Dorset Equality Group is affiliated to the (national) Equality Trust and draws on many Equality Trust resources for campaigning and engagement with policy makers. The Equality Trust was created following research undertaken and published in The Spirit Level, research which shows how equality is actually better for everyone.
The Dorset group holds business/planning meetings every few weeks, open to anyone interested. Currently these meetings are held in Poole (although they have been virtual during COVID 19 pandemic). You can email [email protected] for further details about their work and meetings.
Livability Holton Lee
Predominantly a wellbeing discovery centre set in 350 acres of beautiful Dorset countryside, Livability Holton Lee is part of the Livability family of services, aiming to support visitors in feeling good about themselves by encouraging them to build friendships and develop a sense of accomplishment.
Services include gardening, forestry therapy, arts and ceramics, bird watching, walking and accessible camping, all aimed at ensuring visitors benefit from an inclusive and supportive community. The centre is open to the general community and also has a particular understanding of disability and mental health.
One of their services, worthy of a Case Study in the Eat Well chapter, is a Weekly Veg Box, organic seasonal produce grown as part of their horticulture therapy project.
Affordable & sustainable community livingBridport Cohousing are pioneering cohousing as a means of enabling affordable and sustainable community living for local people. They have been working for more than 11 years to create a cohousing model in Dorset that offers an alternative, socially connected way of life where neighbours support and share with one another. This involves:
- Providing permanently affordable rental and ownership options for beautiful homes and shared spaces that benefit the wider community.
- Pioneering sustainable living and energy solutions that aim to reduce the community's carbon footprint by 40% within 5 years.
- Creating a culture of sharing and connection within the community by offering common spaces, facilities and activities including classes, community food growing areas, a car club and meals.
- Showcasing the benefits of a different model of affordable and sustainable cohousing that can be replicated in other areas of the UK.
‘Hazelmead’ is being built on the north-western edge of Bridport, just north of Allington Hill and next door to the Community Hospital. It is currently the largest cohousing neighbourhood in the UK, offering 53 affordable eco-homes for sale and for rent. There are seven south-facing terraces of two-, three- and four-bed family houses, and two two-storey apartment blocks of one-bedroom flats for single or double occupancy. Half of the homes are available for social rent through our housing association partner, Bournemouth Churches Housing Association (BCHA). The other half are for shared ownership either at 80% leasehold purchase, or through the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Designed to be affordable, high quality, energy efficient, climate resilient and nature friendly, Hazelmead will be managed by the community itself. Car-free streets will provide safe space for children to play. The Common House and outdoor areas will give opportunities for socialising, companionship and mutual support.
Sheltered Work Opportunities“Caring for People, Caring for Plants”Through the use of Therapeutic Horticulture, Cherry Tree Nursery helps to restore mental well-being, and give purpose to people’s lives. The Charity provides meaningful occupation in a supportive environment, aiming to restore well-being to people with mental illness. Cherry Tree Nursery is the first project of the registered charity the Sheltered Work Opportunities Project (SWOP). The charity currently has two projects, Cherry Tree Nursery in Bournemouth, established in 1990, and Chestnut Nursery in Poole, established in 2001.
Cherry Tree Nursery is a 4.5-acre site in Bournemouth that produces over 100,000 high quality garden plants every year and is well-known in the local community for its friendly atmosphere. The volunteers find the nursery a safe and non-threatening place to work, where they can receive support from staff, gain strength from developing friendships with each other, share problems and experiences, and build social networks through working together.
There are many different types of work available, all of which contribute to the running of the nursery and to the strengthening of a mutually self-supporting community. Confidence is boosted through the knowledge that all play a part in keeping a thriving, popular and successful nursery project running.
Further Information
Mutual Aid
The term ‘Mutual Aid’ can be used in local government planning and other organizational scenarios however in this context it describes an organizational approach where “mutual aid is a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit. Mutual aid projects are a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions”.
It isn’t new, in fact it reflects the approach taken by humans throughout history to come together and cooperate to address issues of survival or development. Although examples can be found even in modern times, it become less common during colonial times and as wage-labour and private property became the dominant features of society.
Although groups of people coming together to help others can sound similar to charity; mutual aid is very different. Typically it doesn’t just seek to ‘help’ people who require assistance but, by acting as a collective group seeks to provide a solution to the structural reasons for people being unable to meet their needs. This could be the provision of free meals, free medical assistance, transport, support for strikers, refugees etc. or practical provision such as training. More often than not participants are part of the very communities affected by the issue. Also unlike many charities a key role of mutual aid organisations is to recognise and develop a shared understanding of the structural issues that are creating the problems and to work together to mobilise people to address these.
Like any organisation, mutual aid ones face the same challenges of paternalism, domination by individuals or groups but, where true to their collective nature, where decisions are made by the whole group and everyone is engaged in the process, they can become powerful vehicles for ground up change. Many see this type of structure as key to facing the issues of climate and environmental devastation; not least building the resilience to deal with the issues we will face while fighting for the transformative change that will be needed to prevent environmental breakdown.
Stockton: Putting people at the heart of urban planning.
“What they are doing in Stockton is quite different. It seems to be more of a kind of wellbeing approach to urban development, forgetting about the property sector and its needs”.
Stockton Council has “ripped up the rule book” and taken direct action, including buying a hotel, to ensure that their urban centre with a vision to “vision is to buy up, repurpose, restore and reconfigure the heart of the town, emphasising events, independent enterprise, green space and conviviality”. It’s a strategy that doesn’t seek to return to the singular focus of chain stores and consumer capitalism, but rather creates a place people want to visit for a variety of social reasons.
Opportunities for Social Housing
In this Conversation article Claire Brown highlights how new social housing can help the property and climate crisis. “In 2018, 10.3% of UK households experienced fuel poverty. This means these households were in a situation where spending money on energy services would push the household income below the poverty line.
On-site renewables can be part of the solution, especially for social housing, where significant numbers of families are currently facing a choice between heat and food.
This awful situation can be avoided – or at least stemmed – by building renewable power generation and low carbon heat sources into the homes themselves, like integrated solar or thermal panels in roofs. By constructing these into the fabric of the roofs, they can be a design feature while providing a viable energy generation source for the home”.
The Cartwright Moms
Hear how one a community in one of the most polluted areas in the USA took a stand against diesel school transport and secured funding for an electric bus and the associated infrastructure.
Read the story and see the video here
Climate Emergency Centres
The Climate Emergency Centres (CECs)[1] project enables the development of a self-funding Eco Centre that brings together a diverse alliance of groups and individuals in the local community to build solutions, relationships and resilience in the face of the Climate Emergency and multiple social crises. Each centre is autonomous but interconnected with a broader network of Centres across the UK that support each other, sharing skills, resources and knowledge.
The project has grown out of 30 years of grassroots environmental community centre projects, which began in 1992 after the Rio Earth Summit. Knowledge from this experience has been collated into the CEC handbook.
At this critical time for our planet what is needed is spaces and infrastructure to help people connect and gather resources to take action for a sustainable future. Local communities can come together to set up self-funding Climate Emergency Centres that meet local needs in a sustainable way. These Centres will work to improve community resilience by focusing on solutions to social and environmental crises.
Local communities create a team and identify a vacant building, either owned by the Council or a private developer, that can be used for a CEC for the benefit of people and planet. They are supported by being connected to a network of other groups working in their own communities, and sharing experience, knowledge and skills.
The term ‘Mutual Aid’ can be used in local government planning and other organizational scenarios however in this context it describes an organizational approach where “mutual aid is a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit. Mutual aid projects are a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions”.
It isn’t new, in fact it reflects the approach taken by humans throughout history to come together and cooperate to address issues of survival or development. Although examples can be found even in modern times, it become less common during colonial times and as wage-labour and private property became the dominant features of society.
Although groups of people coming together to help others can sound similar to charity; mutual aid is very different. Typically it doesn’t just seek to ‘help’ people who require assistance but, by acting as a collective group seeks to provide a solution to the structural reasons for people being unable to meet their needs. This could be the provision of free meals, free medical assistance, transport, support for strikers, refugees etc. or practical provision such as training. More often than not participants are part of the very communities affected by the issue. Also unlike many charities a key role of mutual aid organisations is to recognise and develop a shared understanding of the structural issues that are creating the problems and to work together to mobilise people to address these.
Like any organisation, mutual aid ones face the same challenges of paternalism, domination by individuals or groups but, where true to their collective nature, where decisions are made by the whole group and everyone is engaged in the process, they can become powerful vehicles for ground up change. Many see this type of structure as key to facing the issues of climate and environmental devastation; not least building the resilience to deal with the issues we will face while fighting for the transformative change that will be needed to prevent environmental breakdown.
Stockton: Putting people at the heart of urban planning.
“What they are doing in Stockton is quite different. It seems to be more of a kind of wellbeing approach to urban development, forgetting about the property sector and its needs”.
Stockton Council has “ripped up the rule book” and taken direct action, including buying a hotel, to ensure that their urban centre with a vision to “vision is to buy up, repurpose, restore and reconfigure the heart of the town, emphasising events, independent enterprise, green space and conviviality”. It’s a strategy that doesn’t seek to return to the singular focus of chain stores and consumer capitalism, but rather creates a place people want to visit for a variety of social reasons.
Opportunities for Social Housing
In this Conversation article Claire Brown highlights how new social housing can help the property and climate crisis. “In 2018, 10.3% of UK households experienced fuel poverty. This means these households were in a situation where spending money on energy services would push the household income below the poverty line.
On-site renewables can be part of the solution, especially for social housing, where significant numbers of families are currently facing a choice between heat and food.
This awful situation can be avoided – or at least stemmed – by building renewable power generation and low carbon heat sources into the homes themselves, like integrated solar or thermal panels in roofs. By constructing these into the fabric of the roofs, they can be a design feature while providing a viable energy generation source for the home”.
The Cartwright Moms
Hear how one a community in one of the most polluted areas in the USA took a stand against diesel school transport and secured funding for an electric bus and the associated infrastructure.
Read the story and see the video here
Climate Emergency Centres
The Climate Emergency Centres (CECs)[1] project enables the development of a self-funding Eco Centre that brings together a diverse alliance of groups and individuals in the local community to build solutions, relationships and resilience in the face of the Climate Emergency and multiple social crises. Each centre is autonomous but interconnected with a broader network of Centres across the UK that support each other, sharing skills, resources and knowledge.
The project has grown out of 30 years of grassroots environmental community centre projects, which began in 1992 after the Rio Earth Summit. Knowledge from this experience has been collated into the CEC handbook.
At this critical time for our planet what is needed is spaces and infrastructure to help people connect and gather resources to take action for a sustainable future. Local communities can come together to set up self-funding Climate Emergency Centres that meet local needs in a sustainable way. These Centres will work to improve community resilience by focusing on solutions to social and environmental crises.
Local communities create a team and identify a vacant building, either owned by the Council or a private developer, that can be used for a CEC for the benefit of people and planet. They are supported by being connected to a network of other groups working in their own communities, and sharing experience, knowledge and skills.