Event report – Launch event for “MCC for Beginners”

On Thursday 13th February, a dozen or so of us gathered at the wonderful Sandbar, 120 Grosvenor St,  for pizza, beer and chat to celebrate the launch of “Manchester City Council and Climate Change: a guide for beginners.” At 8ish we went upstairs and had a short facilitated discussion about the future work of CEM.

We did some enforced mingling/pairing off and then each person introduced the other and their completion of the sentence “In six month’s time, CEM should have…”

Chatham House rule and all that, here were the answers-

  • brought down The System (it was agreed that this was possibly a leetle ambitious, and undefined)
  • kept going with forensic bullshit detection (this got applause and we started thinking about it as our (un?)official logo)
  • passed The Petition
  • had fun and stayed alive
  • got clarity which organisation and why is making the 13 per cent reduction which is supposed to be happening each year in this city
  • got a lot more people involved in ways that our key supporters have already been, and support them
  • called the council to account
  • established a legitimacy debate to the widest possibly constituency as possible
  • helped councillors really understand the reality of the climate emergency (two people)

We came back downstairs for more beer and pizza and SOME people were even given hugs by core group members of CEM.  More dates of meetings at the end of this post. For now, two things –

1) If you’ve read the truly awesome report please get in touch and tell us what you liked, what you didn’t and how the second edition (released late May) could be better: we have some ideas, but we’re very interested in yours. Please email contact@climateemergencymanchester.net with “MCC 4 beginners’ in the header.

2) Please sign the petition, share the petition on social media and via word of mouth, read the how to collect valid signatures advice and then download and print off copies, go round your place of work (if it’s in MCC boundaries), where you live etc.  Once you’ve got a full sheet, let us know and we will collect…

 

Dates for your diary

Tues 25th Feb release of what is likely to be a horrorshow of a climate “plan”. Brace for impact.

Thurs 27th Feb, 7.30pm  End of the World Reading Group: Animal Farm by George Orwell. (Full free text here) The Sandbar, 120 Grosvenor St, Manchester Facebook event

Weds 4th March, 12 – 1.45  Pre-meeting for the next NESC,  at Patagonia 51 King St, where you can pick up an agenda, a spotter’s card, meet other people who have been to these meetings before etc. Facebook event: 

Weds 11th March evening –  hold the date – more details to follow

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