What events are part of a climate action festival?
The beauty of a climate action festival is that you could find any sort of event – there truly is something for everyone. From outdoor activities to film screenings, demonstrations to hands-on activities. The only common thread is that climate action festival events get people talking about climate and/or raising their interest in climate action.
For Lanarkshire Climate Action Festival, events tend to fall into one of five categories:
🚲 Active Travel
♻️ Circularity
⚡ Energy
🐝 Food & Nature
💬 Community Engagement
Lanarkshire Climate Action Festival is an opportunity for organisations to showcase the fantastic work they are doing within their community or, indeed, to try out something new. For example, if you are an active travel organisation, you might try out planting spring bulbs in your community cycle park.
Let’s break down the categories a bit more:
Active Travel
Active Travel events are ones which promote people ditching the car and walking, wheeling or cycling. This can include:
-
Bike demonstrations where the community gets the opportunity to try out different types of bikes like mountain bikes, e-bikes, balance bikes for the little ones.
-
Led bike ride where the community can join you on a cycle around a local route.
-
Bike maintenance workshops in your community – you could arrange a Dr. Bike (or equivalent) session where people can bring along their bike for a tune up and also to learn the skills to be able to mend and maintain their bike themselves.
Circularity
Circularity refers to keeping items in use and keeping them out of landfill for as long as possible. Circularity events can be anything from:
-
Repair Cafés where attendees bring along some items which are needing fixed and they can access the tools and help to be able to repair them.
-
Seasonal swap shops – this could include swapping items such as school uniforms, winter coats, plants, books – the list is endless. They may also inspire future seasonal swap shops for example around Halloween and Christmas.
-
Mend and Repair workshops – these are similar to Repair Cafes but focus on clothing. Participants can bring along items of clothing which may have a tear in them, or they need altered slightly and they can learn how they can easily do this themselves. This ultimately leads to fewer pieces of clothing going to landfill.
Energy
Energy events can be anything from demonstrations of renewable technologies to information on how to reduce energy usage at home. Events may include:
-
Showcasing renewable energy installs - providing information on how they work and inspire others to consider these for their home or community space.
-
Information session with an energy advice agency (such as Home Energy Scotland) where the community can come along and discuss their energy concerns
Food & Nature
Food and nature events are those which demonstrate the importance of the local environment – for biodiversity and food growing. Events could include:
-
Community Garden open days
-
Nature walks through a local greenspace
-
Seed saving events
Community Engagement
Community engagement events are when the community come together to learn or take part in an activity that could benefit their local area or raise discussion about climate. Events may include:
-
Community cinema
-
Community discussions on local climate concerns
-
A talk from a local beekeeper, for example
If this has got you thinking about what you could do for Lanarkshire Climate Action Festival and you’re looking for more event ideas, check out our event inspiration page!
