Climate Cafe – A great start!

/ Environment and a Greener Community / By

Last Tuesday, our first Climate Cafe brought together a group of people eager to discuss climate action. Jess Pepper, founder of the Climate Cafe movement, captivated our attention with a compelling presentation, unveiling the stark realities of climate change in West Africa. The Climate Reality slides are regularly reviewed to enable sharing of the latest information and they provide perspective on whats happening in across the globe – as well as laying out the sobering facts of whats happening right now, they share the inspiring information that we have the solutions and the capability to implement answers to the climate crisis right now.

The meeting opened our eyes to the impact we can make by doing something local and there are many positive things happening right in our community. From community gardens to reuse projects, there’s a lot going on. We left feeling hopeful and committed to being a part of local positive change, knowing that even small actions can lead to big change.

The next cafe will be discussions around how we can heat and fuel our homes efficiently and we’re inviting a guest speaker to talk about the various options available – solar, heat pumps, insulation. A topic sure to be of interest to many. Date to be confirmed once speakers availability is explored but pencil in the 30th of April and stay in touch for updates.

Topics covered in the first session were wide and varied:

Home Heating / Energy Efficiency Solutions: Insulation, Solar Panels, Heat Pumps

School input – Encourage the young people to share their voice, either in their own Café or coming along. Speak with the Eco Committee Teachers and share Ruby’s success with Tayside Contracts (Bertha, Breadalbane and Crieff) Share info about the upcoming Climate Café Pack for Schools. Ideas about sustainable fashion (potential colab with Remake and Creative Hub??)

School Pollution – Chatted about volume of cars on campus and how people might think differently if pollution wasn’t invisible.

Refillable water bottles (I’ve enquired with Scottish Water about a Top Up Tap for Auchterarder, I’ll keep you posted)

Creating clear messages to share – statements to counter climate sceptics / images. Stories about what is happening locally – great business stories, community projects etc. Discussed the challenge of opening conversation around this topic and how good it is to chat with likeminded people.

Twinning with a Café elsewhere in the world to share ideas and perspectives.

Hustings: Could we host a hustings at election time? 

Conversation prompts: Should we have a slide at the start of each meeting to prompt conversation – Myth busting / a fact / Information ie Scope 1/2/3 emissions.

Auchterarder Picture House – would Peter run a climate related film?

Potential invites for future meetings:

  • Inviting Heat Project
  • Inviting Gillian O’s Solar Team
  • Inviting Remake to talk about what’s happening in the Crieff Climate Café
  • Recycling: Inviting along a member of PKC waste management team.

Locations discussed:

Pavilion

Creative Hub in the Picture House

School library – with the idea of encouraging Sports Hub people along

Town Library (exploring extended opening)

Is there something here that you’d like to see explored further? Share your thoughts here

Here’s some extra info and handy sites:

There was a collective hope that in a years time, we’d be able to look back and feel proud of whats happening in the Auchterarder and Aberuthven Climate Cafe – come along for a cuppa, some conversation and action.