As part of our ongoing commitment to tackling climate change, we recently hosted two Climate Fresk workshops for councillors and officers.
The Climate Fresk is an interactive workshop which is based on scientific evidence gathered from all over the world.
It not only makes complex and often at times overwhelming science of climate change accessible to everyone, but also helps to foster a shared sense of purpose amongst the participants.
As a council we are committed to providing climate awareness training for our employees and councillors, to empower them to embed climate change mitigation and adaption into all service areas and decision-making.
Cllr Nigel Barker, Leader of the Council, said: “We all have a part to play in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. The workshop provided a great opportunity to work together, discuss solutions and address the actions the council is taking to ensure we are doing our part.”
Cllr Steve Pickering, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Place, said: “In order to inspire and empower positive action, climate change awareness, education and training is crucial. Climate Fresk is a very engaging and interactive way to not only provide such training, but also create a space for meaningful discussions.”
During the workshop councillors joined forces with officers, working as ONE TEAM to take part in a creative card game, laying the cards out to form a comprehensive ‘fresk’ – a visual and conceptual representation of climate change.
They were guided by Local Authorities Energy Partnership (LAEP) manager Rina Jones, who facilitated the workshop and provided additional context and answers during debriefing sessions.
For the final part of each session, Rina brought all participants together for the reflective part of the session. Here, both officers and councillors shared their thoughts about the experience of working together to build ‘the fresk’, the urgency of addressing the impacts of climate change and exchanged their ideas of what can we do, as a local authority and individuals to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure a more sustainable future for generations to come.