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We are keen to recruit enthusiastic and self-motivated community-based volunteers to become Carbon Cutters (CC). As a CC, you can help and empower your local communities to reduce their carbon footprint through a variety of fun and interesting projects. You do not need to have any experience, just a passion for the planet and an interest in reaching out to your community.
Your community can be anyone you chose, family, friends, work colleagues or the public.
You decide what projects you want to set up with your community. These will vary, being guided by you with ACT’s support. Projects could include:
- helping your family reduce their energy consumption and associated costs,
- organising a tool and gadget borrowing scheme,
- setting up a clothes swap,
- setting up a community owned renewable project,
- run your own energy roadshow or piggyback on an existing event.
ACT will provide initial free training and continue to support you as you develop your skills. Follow-up training, support and request for further resources can be accessed via the CC coordinator (cc@actionclimateteignbridge.org).
CC Training
The purpose of this training is to ensure CCs have the necessary level of knowledge, skill and resources to engage members of their community on how to mitigate Climate Change (i.e. acts of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of Climate Change).
There will be 3 x 1.5 hr training sessions for CC volunteers followed by ongoing support and mentoring as required. These sessions can be by zoom or in person. They will cover the following:
1- The science that relates our use of energy to Climate Change, answering question such as:
What Energy is and why it is central to life on earth!
Where does the energy we use come from and what are the consequences of using it?
What do we need to do in the activities we have some direct control or influence over, to stay within the 1.5OC increase in atmospheric temperature?
How to determine effective actions and for what purpose?
2- How to identify the audience and the messaging, considering aspects such:
Who are the people CCs should talk to and why.
How to capture the attention of people, what is an appropriate message and how to maintain momentum.
The reasons why more than 90% believe there is a Climate Emergency yet less than 5% are acting effectively to mitigate this.
3- What materials and support ACT can provide, things like:
Hands-on training on using the available resources/materials.
CC Support Group
Trained Carbon Cutters can join our informal support group on WhatsApp where we share ideas, challenges and general information, and our support lead can ask for expert advice from within ACT if needed. All of this gives us extra resource and confidence to pass the right facts to our communities along with effective ways of reducing emissions.
contact rob@actionclimateteignbridge.org
Feedback
Here’s a sample of some of the attendee feedback we have had from the CC Lite course:
“I really enjoyed the course – it’s a shame it was only a couple of hours!”
“The workshop was very informative, and clearly explained in ‘real terms’. Refreshingly jargon-free, too!”
“An excellent introduction to the science behind climate change and gives you the tools to decide what personal actions you might be able to take to reduce your emissions.”
What was the most important point you remember from the workshop?
- Understanding how ‘footprinting’ works, what the carbon budget actually is and the demonstration using the beaker really helped to make it much easier to understand.
- We’ve only got 5.5 years to get this sorted before we’re at the point of no return.
Was the workshop relevant to you?
- Yes, very. I am starting to plan out a series of engagements with communities across Dartmoor based around Community Climate Actions – and this forms an ideal basis for those discussions.
- I am a member of my organisations Climate Action Group and I wanted to better understand what my options are for cutting carbon within my team.
Has it changed your thoughts on carbon reduction.
- Yes, it has – it’s much clearer now that we have to do everything possible to cut emissions, and how to think about it in a positive way.
For example, I have been thinking about getting an electric car, but as I drive so few miles, at present it doesn’t seem like an effective action. - It emphasised the importance of personal action, not just focussing on industrial scale emissions.
Could you tell us why you wanted to attend the workshop?
- To further / improve my own knowledge, learn more about what I can do to reduce emissions, and how to form the basis for community work.
- To find out some options for emission reductions in my workplace/operations.