The Runaway Climate Challenge (Oxfordshire’s Community Climate Conference)
Building on the success of last years’ Big Climate Event, this stimulating and inspirational conference for those supporting and taking community action on climate change was held on Saturday 13th November 2010 at Oxford University Centre for the Environment.
The event was run and funded in partnership with Climate Xchange and Oxfordshire Rural Communities Council and under the guidance of an advisory group made up of representatives from CAGs, OCC, Oxfam, People & Planet and Climate Outreach Information Network (COIN).
The conference provided a range of information packed and interactive workshops including:
- Including everyone – making community action work accessible and relevant to all, even those deemed as ‘hard to reach’. How climate change groups can listen to and create entry points for everyone and collaborate with other local and diverse community groups
- A strategy for a Greener Oxfordshire – taking climate change to a new level in Oxfordshire, thinking big, building cross-sectoral links and playing to the strengths of communities, council, leadership, and opportunities
- The emotions of climate change – reflection on the direction the world is going in, our own efforts and the long term outcomes of our decisions
- Case studies from Oxfordshire - a showcase of inspirational groups in Oxfordshire working on transport (OxCar), energy (Transition Eynsham Area), and 'Food initiatives in a village environment' (Sustainable Blewbury)
- Community Funding Sources - agencies who can help community groups obtain funding and Low Carbon West Oxford explain their approach to generating renewable energy and funding through their social enterprise
- Engagement models – community engagement models, how they work and practical discussions
- Demystifying marketing – Adrian Smith, Associate of the National Social Marketing Centre and a consultant working with Unique Improvements, shared his work from the health arena to show how social marketing has a role to play in achieving low carbon living and how local people can be engaged in the most unlikely ways with creative and inspiring results
- Climate Reach - a government-funded pilot project working with low-income and other ‘excluded’ groups in Oxfordshire to ensure as many people as possible learn about climate change and do something about it. Co-ordinator Sally Ramsden, director of local social enterprise ReachAbility introduced some of the tools used in Climate Reach
- In practice - Charlie Luxton http://charlieluxton.com/ from Hook Norton Low Carbon http://www.hn-lc.org.uk/ talking about their inspiring approach to local carbon ( reduction, plus Eco-renovating a local home (this is the 2 part presentation)
What people said about the event:
Ros Kent from Transition Eynsham Area said: ‘we listened to some inspiring accounts of the activities of other groups in helping their communities to become more resilient in the face of climate and fossil fuel threats. The useful sessions on motivation and marketing equipped us all for even greater efforts!’
Sam Clarke from Low Carbon Oxford North reported on the event: ‘The Runaway Climate Challenge Conference, was a great event with an amazing array of workshops all designed to provide stimulation, inspiration and support for taking community action on climate change.’
Watch this space for announcements of future exciting events and visit www.cagoxfordshire.co.uk to view and download the presentations from this conference.
To find out more about our CAG Oxfordshire project or to explore what community-focused events we could develop for you – contact our CAG Oxford Project Manager, Simon Kenton on 07793 647190.
