News / Shirehampton
Community unites to fight climate change during cost of living crisis
Residents in one part of Bristol are coming together to tackle climate change in their area.
Shirehampton Climate Emergency Group (SCEG) is working with the community to develop a new climate action plan.
They hope to combine the climate agenda with the cost of living crisis, creating a strategy to reduce residents’ energy bills and, in effect, Shirehampton’s carbon footprint.
is needed now More than ever
Two community groups in Shirehampton have joined forces to tackle climate change amid the cost of living crisis- photo: Ella Calland
Renee Slater, a founding member of SCEG, is confident that the need to reduce energy bills will drive climate action.
She says the climate action plan will be “based on the energy crisis because everybody has to reduce their emissions in order to be able to meet their bills.”
She said: “I think that’s where we are now, trying to help people find ways towards greater energy efficiency, which will both reduce their costs and reduce emissions, but let reducing their costs be the lead incentive.”
Renee campaigning with SCEG on the Portway – photo: SCEG
SCEG has now joined forces with Shirehampton Community Action Forum (SCAF) to deliver the climate action plan and also calculate the area’s carbon footprint.
They are calling on locals to get involved with the planning process, holding regular workshops to find ways to reduce energy consumption together.
The Climate Action Plan aims to reduce Shirehampton’s carbon footprint – photo: Ella Calland
SCEG was formed by residents in 2019 – but Renee says the group has found it increasingly difficult to engage the community since the pandemic.
She added: “All the momentum went, and only a few of us stuck with it because we couldn’t take much action at all.
“And so we resumed by having a day inviting speakers to explain what COP26 was and tell us what we could do. But almost nobody came. I mean people came, but they were all talking to the choir, so to speak.”
SCEG have been spreading awareness about climate change in their area since 2019 – photo: SCEG
Shirehampton’s climate action plan aims to unite local interest in helping the area become energy efficient. Renee believes it will be a milestone in the fight against climate change.
She continued: “Research shows that it only takes 3.5% of the population to get behind something for it to be a tipping point and move forward.
“Though I personally think if you look behind it, what is required is personal transformation. It requires enough people to change their worldview. So on the one hand, it’s not that many. On the other hand, everyone’s a big deal.”
Shirehampton Climate Emergency Group meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at the Cotswold Community Centre in Dursley Road from 7.30pm.
Ella Calland is reporting on Shirehampton as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo: SCEG
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