Most of us think of a community as our neighbourhood. True enough, our neighbours, local businesses, community services and organizations are the lifeblood of a community. They can make your neighbouhood a great place to live
We also think of our culture, our faith, our hobbies, and our work as communities. A community is any group of people that share a common connection.
Wherever people come together, there is the opportunity to work together for the benefit of all. That is community action.
A community plan can be simple, or detailed.
The more complex the community and issues, the more detailed the up-front research and planning should be in order to build trust and common ground with the participants. You will probably need a sponsor and funding to launch a community planning project.
Where there is already strong cohesion, a simple planning process may be all you need.
No two communities are the same, so each community climate plan will reflect both the priorities and the available resources.
Think about what you want to accomplish. If you want to educate and mobilize people to lobby for climate leadership, then your proposed activities will centre on a combined effort to engage people and raise awareness,
If you also want to find ways to promote climate solutions and actions within your community, then you will want to be sensitive to how climate solutions can also help people save money, be healthy, and enjoy life. Or, if there are strong social issues and priorities in the community, such as unemployment, poverty, safety, traffic congestion, then you should focus on climate solutions will result in a healthier community.
The end goal is to identify a series of actions and projects that will improve the community and tackle climate change at the same time!
Here are the key steps:
A Lead Group: a convenor for the process
A Coordinator: a staff person or volunteer to organize the project
A Community Network: list the groups, businesses, and individuals who can contribute to a plan
A community scan: what are the community needs and assets
An action plan: focus on what can be achieved, and with whose help
Campaigns and Projects: carry out the plan, especially the actions you can do with existing resources in your network
Celebration and Review: Take time to celebrate with the community, review you successes, and begin to think about updating the plan.
From the Climate Action Canada website, here are some resources on community organizing:
Cool-Communities – 50+ Ideas
The bottom line is that every community is different, and every plan will be different.
Use these guides to help you think about how to organize your “community.” and who could be involved. Scour the web for community-based environmental or climate plans, or neighbouring communities and networks that can help you get started.
This site contains ideas you can adapt and use in your work to support climate leadership and action. All ideas and graphics are free to use under a Creative Commons 0 licence. They are ideas, nothing more. Feel free to adapt and adopt, and to suggest other ideas for a stronger climate movement.
