Inspired by the environmental activism of Sudbury student Sophia Mathur, the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury hosted the city’s climate conscious citizens last weekend at the organization’s first Climate Change Cafes.
Climate Change Cafes are volunteer-based workshops introduced with the goal of encouraging participants to build their political will and reduce their carbon footprint. Interested parties were invited to attend these free workshops at any six hosting locations, where they would learn about climate change, take action and have the opportunity to connect over a shared concern.
The Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury chose to launch its first Climate Change Cafes Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 to coincide with the climate strike of 11-year-old Mathur, who has joined the global #FridaysforFuture. After learning of 15-year-old Swedish youth activist Greta Thunberg’s environmental movement, Mathur decided that she too would strike from school.
Mathur has chosen to host a climate strike on the first Friday of every month, until significant action is taken by levels of government to improve the earth’s diagnosis. Mathur has asked the adults in her life to take action in protecting her future and from the looks of it, people have begun to listen.
On Jan. 8, the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, rethink Green, Citizens’ Lobby Sudbury and Sudbury Naturalists partnered together to host a presentation by Ontario Environmental Commissioner, Dr. Dianne Saxe.
“We have a tendency to think, ‘Oh we’re isolated up here, we’re going to be fine,” said member of the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury Rachelle Niemela; but according to Saxe, that is not the case.
“Dr. Saxe did tell us that we would be hit harder than many other places in Southern Ontario, just looking at the different things that have been happening to our environment up here,” said Niemela, in reference to the dramatic temperature changes and wind storms of this past year.
Based on the information provided in the Climate Change Café, the current generation is the first to have experienced the effects of climate change and is the last generation that can prevent its worst impact. According to the ‘tipping-point theory’ described, only 10-25 per cent of the population need to adopt a new norm in order to achieve this change.
Many of the Climate Change Café participants had also attended the presentation by Saxe and welcomed the workshops as an opportunity to develop a plan of action. “It just feels like you have a big meeting and you feel all inspired, but then you get home and you don’t know what to do with that energy, that inspiration,” said workshop participant Jo Duke.
So Duke, along with many other motivated Sudburians, attended the cafes to learn how they can introduce change. Participants were given two tasks; to speak up and to reduce their carbon footprint. “We have the technology to act, the knowledge to act, what we really need is the societal and political will – that’s what missing,” said Niemela.
For their first step in expressing political will, participants were asked to write a short letter to the Mayor’s office at City Hall, outlining the changes they wish to see in their community. Areas of concern for one Climate Change Café group were transportation, housing, renewable energy, diet and lifestyle.
The City of Greater Sudbury is currently in the process of approving an omission’s as well as an adaptation plan, which will not only look to reducing carbon footprint but prepare the population in the event of a storm, said Niemela. “What I personally want to see are some really aggressive targets and some concrete answers – we want something that will make an impact,” said Niemala.
The Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury is an umbrella organization that facilitates moving issues forward and connecting people, groups and organizations, said Niemela. In addition to advocacy, the coalition participates in the community through their own projects and the funding of other’s.
Their bi-yearly micro-grant program Project Impact, has funded 34 grassroots community projects to date; including a non-profit grocery store, bee hotels and day camps.
The Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury looks to host additional Climate Change Cafes in the future so as to motivate a larger audience and address present issues. For more information on the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, visit their website or Facebook page @LiveableSud.
