Think and Do – tackling climate change at the heart of the community
An innovative pop-up community space, enabling local residents and community groups to take part in, run and grow activities that get people more involved in tackling the climate crisis has opened in Camden.
Located opposite Kentish Town library the pop up space is called ‘Think and Do’. The space was conceived in response to the proposal from Camden’s Citizens’ Assembly to do more to bring existing community groups together to work on tackling the climate crisis. Local community groups, residents and activists joined forces as co-producers to design, develop and curate the community pop-up and six week programme of events together.
At the official launch, held on Thursday 7 November, co-producers introduced the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and set a call to action to help localise them in-line with the work being done by the council, local residents and local organisations across Camden and for people to take a stand to support the achievement of these goals.
Entitled ‘Unleashing the Power of our Collective Imagination’ attendees took part in an exercise called "making connections". To kick start their imaginative journeys, they were given pieces of a jigsaw and asked to find the people holding pieces which fitted together to form pictures. Each jigsaw group then talked about how these pictures - of food, travel, fashion - were connected to the climate and ecological crisis.
Farhana Yamin, International Climate Change Lawyer & Activist, then gave a talk about the need for spaces where we made connections, with people in our communities and collectively tried to imagine a different future, one that not based on greenhouse gases and destruction of nature. This was followed by an introduction to how actions in Camden could support the achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by Shana Tufail.
Farhana Yamin, Climate Change Lawyer & Camden Activist said:
"People often feel too overwhelmed or small to make a difference but talking about the future breaks down the cycle of isolation and despair and enables bigger and bolder conversations about how to make change happen.
“It's clear the present economic system is broken as it’s not delivery well-being for people or the planet. People need to imagine a better future and have the courage to create new ways of living that put ecological and social justice centre stage. I call on everyone to add the word "activist" to their CVs because activism works and to help Camden become a prototype of ambitious people led climate action."
Shana Tufail - #SDGsforCamden and Extinction Rebellion Camden said:
“As a local resident and activist, it is heartening to see a physical space open up on my high street encouraging local action and partnerships. From experience, people are interested in contributing to climate action but often don't know where to start.
“Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals to set the context behind Think and Do's call to action, "think global, act local", we have a unique opportunity to engage, inform and collaborate with local residents and organisations on the urgency of the climate emergency as well as allowing serendipity to play a role through walk ins.”
Ben Smith, Arup and National Park City said:
“A brilliant use of a meanwhile space to engage the community on a critical issue – climate change. Great vibe.”
Everyone is invited to visit the space and attend events to learn more about the climate crisis and share ideas to tackle it. To find out more visit camden.gov.uk/thinkanddo or search #CamdenClimatePopUp and #ThinkAndDoCamden