'Friends of the Earth Melbourne to hold a Climate Adaptation Fair on Saturday 8 Feb'
The Act on Climate collective at Friends of the Earth Melbourne is holding a Climate Adaptation Fair this Saturday the 8th of February at the Borderlands Cooperative in Footscray as part of the National Sustainability Festival. It will showcase all things community-led climate adaptation through stalls, workshops, and talks.
"Even if we do everything possible to reduce fossil fuel emissions, we are already facing locked-in impacts of climate change. We're currently experiencing another heatwave in Victoria, and the Grampians fire continues to wreak havoc on the area. Communities need to work together, be proactive and learn to adapt to climate impacts that are here now," India Rowles, Act on Climate Community Organiser, said.
The fair will focus on the following themes:
What can we - the people - do to keep each other safe?
There will be information on adapting to locked-in climate change impacts - how we keep each other safe.
What are we - the people - already doing to keep each other safe?
Those already implementing projects in their communities will share their story and knowledge, so others can be inspired and learn how to do the same in their communities.
Climate adaptation is focused on lessening the negative outcomes of climate impacts on people, animals, infrastructure and the environment and improving our resilience to the impacts of climate change. Community-led adaptation is pivotal because it is grounded in community knowledge, expertise and priorities. It takes into account local knowledge and experiences of climate impacts. Localised solutions are more just and maladaptation is avoided. Sharing knowledge and resources will help to keep everyone safe and better prepared for the changing climate.
Act on Climate shifted its focus to climate adaptation after traveling down the West Coast of Victoria in Winter 2023. On that tour it spoke to communities already experiencing the effects of climate change. It was clear that community members were very concerned about climate change impacts and how they were going to keep themselves and their community safe.
Subsequently, Act on Climate started advocating for government funding for communities to implement local adaptation projects, and started working with communities to empower them to get started on adaptation initiatives. The collective is calling on the Victorian Government to establish a permanent Victorian Community Climate Adaptation Fund (VCCAF). The Government's investment in climate adaptation needs to be larger, ongoing, and localised to ensure Victorian communities are as prepared as possible for now unavoidable climate impacts.
Speaking about climate adaptation can be daunting as it is so broad, but it is often more achievable than it seems. Come along to the Climate Adaptation Fair this Saturday to hear from and be inspired by organisations and communities who are already implementing adaptation projects.
There will be panel discussions on: Indigenous-led and community-led adaptation, heat impacts, energy/comms security during disasters, food security, social infrastructure for resilient communities, and climate impacts at work.
Workshops on the day include ones on commoning and resilient community organising, climate emotions and collective care, everyday sustainable choices, preparing for storm and flood emergencies, as well as an interactive temperature monitoring walk.
See the links below f
