People Power

Both climate change and the role of community were frequent themes in the speeches at the recent Capital Women conference, which saw over 5,000 women from London gathered at the event to talk about issues that matter to them. 

I thought Maria Adebowale, Director of Capacity Global made a powerful case for people getting together to create change.  Quite rightly I think, she positioned climate change very strongly as a social issue, not just an environmental one.  She highlighted some of the links between climate change, poverty and health, and the positive impacts on wider social issues that could emerge through us engaging with the difficult circumstances generated by climate change.  These are themes echoed in some of the applications to the Big Green Challenge.   Maria also higlighted for voluntary and community organisations Every Action Counts and the Third Sector Declaration on Climate Change.

Social Justice Activist and scholar Angela Davis made a plea for people to continue to build connections (and ways of connecting) within diverse communities and to harness the strength that comes from working together for positive social change.  Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London talked about the need for collective action to creative positive change for our environment.  Nicky Gavron, Samantha Heath from the London Sustainability Exchange, and performer Ife Piankhi talked about some examples of community and regional government led action in London.  Harriet Bulkeley, Associate Director of the Centre for the Study of Cities and Regions, talked about the power of disruptive innovation and of community responsibility, believing that collectively we can do something about climate change.  

The overall message was definitely one of people power, and as I look through some of the Big Green Challenge applications I’m encouraged to see real evidence of this growing across the UK.