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Get Climate Ready
New campaign launched to support communities dealing with climate change
We’ve launched a new crowdfunding campaign called Get Climate Ready to support 10 community organisations prepare for the impacts of climate change.
Back in May, the Climate Change Committee’s report, A Well Adapted UK, warned that the UK was built for a climate that no longer exists. This summer of climate chaos with heatwaves, wildfires, droughts and record temperatures has highlighted with devastating impacts how ill-prepared the country is.
Now, with the UK Government warning us to prepare for emergencies and the first of this year’s named storms already causing flooding, travel disruption, power outtages and devastating loss of life, we are crowdfunding to raise £25,000 to co-design and deliver a practical new programme.
10 communities
We’ll work with the 10 trailblazing organisations to create the programme, ensuring that its development is framed around the needs of communities. Four of these communities will be in Wishaw in North Lanarkshire, Sanday in Orkney, Easterhouse in Glasgow, and Montrose in Angus.
The resulting Climate Resilient Charities programme will support the community organisations to understand how climate risks could affect them, practical workshops on climate resilience and preparedness, and peer learning with other community organisations facing similar challenges.
Such organisations, often run by volunteers, are already at the heart of their communities, stepping in when times are hard, looking out for those most in need of help, and coordinating responses to emergency situations.
By building their climate resilience they will be able to support their communities even more, and ensure that future climate impacts don’t hit so hard.
Why we need to be climate ready
Jo Kerr, our CEO explains more: “The first named storm of the winter has shown once again that we’re not Climate Ready yet. Emergency responses will always be needed, but we can’t keep waiting for the next flood or heatwave. We have to prepare communities now.
“Climate impacts hit the most marginalised hardest, deepening poverty and isolation. Communities know what their people and places need. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and resilience has to be rooted in lived experience.
“With the right support, communities can do more than survive a changing climate. They can thrive. That’s what Get Climate Ready is about.”
We specialise in bringing together local, regional and national organisations to deliver climate adaptation action, rooted in lived experience, for those experiencing climate impacts.
Our Creative Climate Futures partnership project based in Glasgow’s The Gorbals and Easterhouse helped raise the issues of urban heating and urban flooding that these neighbourhoods experience. Working with Crossroads and Pavillion, two locally based community organisations the neighbourhoods were supported to develop the responses they needed to these climate impacts and raise them with Glasgow City Council.
Why we are doing this now
The Get Climate Ready campaign marks a new approach for us as our first public funding drive.
Jo added: “We’re really proud of what we’re already delivering at Verture to help Scotland adapt to climate change but as a country we need to be picking up the pace of our climate adaptation and resilience efforts so that they aren’t overwhelmed by the pace of climate change.
“Everyone needs to be thinking about their climate resilience and it needs to have the support and investment that climate mitigation already has.
“Get Climate Ready is our response to this challenge. We want to do more to help communities create a better future for themselves whatever climate impacts they face through this autumn of adaptation action. Please support us in this vital work.”
You can donate to our campaign here: verture.org.uk/getclimateready
