What community organisations can do about climate change
By Bridget Doran
We live in uncertain times, but there’s a graph that leaves little room for doubt. The graph of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and how it’s changed over the last million years, shows something dramatic has been going on since 1950. The line is very steep. If you want to know how much atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased in your lifetime you can check on this website: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/carbon-by-birth-year/
Figure 1 Atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last 800,000 years. Source: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/carbon-by-birth-year/
Those are drastic numbers and they might leave community organisations feeling helpless. What can we do in Aotearoa to change that graph? And what can a small community organisation do that’s meaningful?
Well, as I tell anyone who presents the old argument “New Zealand is too small to make a difference”, every person on the planet is just one person, and every organisation is one organisation: we are all in this together. We might as well act like it.
Besides, when it comes to local action, preparing for the effects of climate change are very similar to reducing our impact on the environment. And all of those actions can be used to tell the story for bigger picture change. Here are some examples of what community organisations can do.
Keep Calm and Carry On
It’s important to recognise that community by its nature involves sharing of resources and focusing on local resilience, delivered locally – a highly sustainable way of organising society! Anxiety about whether we are doing ‘enough’ is wasted energy. By all means support the mental wellbeing of your community group’s members, but don’t sweat too much about your ‘carbon footprint’ or whether you’re doing ‘enough’. Your existence is a good thing.
Work with other community groups as much as possible
Community already excels at sharing. It’s in the blood of community organisations to know others in their area and to collaborate on shared initiatives. In uncertain times, including with changing weather, it is more important than ever to know who does what in a community, and who has what resources at their disposal. For example, being able to share community vehicles in ‘peace time’ makes it easier to divert those resources where needed in a crisis. Knowing who has connections to whānau with young families will help provide nappies and baby food in an emergency. Food security is all the stronger when people know their neighbouring communities. The strength of community is in people knowing people. Supporting those relationships in any way possible, including with social interaction, builds resilience.
Share your stories to advocate for bigger change
There’s an excellent book about avoiding climate angst: We’re All Climate Hypocrites Now, by Sami Glover. It talks about doing your best, but not suffering undue personal anxiety about whether you personally (or as an organisation) are doing ‘enough’. The most important change is big picture, system change. No one organisation can do that, but together we can all contribute to shifting public opinion enough to encourage government to act in bigger ways.
That’s where storytelling comes in. The beauty of the modern world is that it is easier than ever to share stories. Online forums can be very useful for support networks, to learn, to collaborate and to advocate. The beauty of community stories is that they combine hearts and heads. The best stories have evidence of a return on investment – what does a dollar invested in your community organisation deliver? – and they also have heart. Personal anecdotes and tales of triumph at a local level are crucial to connecting at a social and emotional level with people who read or hear about what you do. Backing that hook up with evidence of dollars well spent is a great way to present a compelling case for ongoing investment in your cause. Sharing stories is also likely to attract more people to share their own community journeys, building a positive cycle of doing good.
No one community organisation can do much on its own about the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But more than ever, resilience means community strength and an openness to sharing stories. In the midst of unprecedented uncertainty, only good can come from efforts to strengthen communities. Our strength is, more than ever, in one another.