Up and down the country – in church rooms, village halls, back-rooms of pubs, and elsewhere – people meet. Civic societies and friends of parks, beauty spots and countless other local treasures gather together, drink tea and eat homemade cake. They meet to discuss how they can keep – or improve – the areas that they each hold dear, or defend them from threats.
Unscrupulous property developers, poorly considered road building, “litter louts” and changing rates of crime or “antisocial behaviour” are among the matters commonly discussed. What is much less often seen on the agenda is the greatest threat to any precious or beautiful place in the world; climate and ecological breakdown. Last Tuesday, I and two colleagues from CEM set out to shift the balance just a little, by giving a talk entitled “Climate Change – what does it mean for Manchester?” for the Northenden Civic Society. The talk was recorded and is available below for you to watch and share. I’d like to thank the hosts for inviting us, and all those who attended for their thoughtful questions (unfortunately, the Q&A was not able to be recorded for technical reasons).
If you’d like someone from CEM to do a similar talk (or a related topic, or a workshop, etc) at your meeting in the Greater Manchester area, whatever it may be, we’d be more than happy to do so. Contact us on Twitter or email.