Virtual climate cafe connecting people and planet

Local people removed from isolation for one hour a week through the virtual Horsham Climate Cafe. Saturday 11th April saw the numbers grow from 7 the first planning week, to 15, with 24 turning-in last week to learn about frugal and free wild cooking from Fiona founder of Earthkind and an eco art competition which Sussex Green Living are running with the South Downs National Park.  With lots of other exciting local and countywide ideas materialising.

The Horsham Climate Cafe normally pops up once a month at the Quaker Meeting House in Horsham, but quickly adapted with lockdown to go online using Zoom free video conferencing. Last week saw people from Horsham, Billingshurst, Lindfield, Worthing, Chichester, Peacehaven, Petworth and Leeds tuning-in! The aim is to remove people for social isolation for an hour a week to discuss ideas for supporting community and planet in this uncertain time. The organisers are very heartened to be receiving such a positive response and great engagement!

Carrie Cort the founder of Sussex Green Living and co-founder of the Horsham Climate Cafe says “A plethora of great ideas which have been shared each week in addition to an informal talk or two. These ideas can be seen on this section of our website ‘Ideas to Help Community and Build a Better Future“.

Our Upcoming Schedule – to book any of these virtual events visit this Eventbrite page

Saturday 18th April – Saving money through growing and swapping food – Our theme for this session is ‘grow your own’, with encouragement and advice for families taking advantage of having more time at home to plant in their gardens or on their windowsills – let us help you create a cheaper and greener source of food! Let’s have some discussions around garden sharing, seed and plant swapping and food swapping in the growing season. We’ll also have some chats about community sources of help and money-saving ideas!

Saturday 25th April – Develop a Horsham Local Trading Scheme (H-LETS) – How about furthering conversations around setting up a Horsham Local Exchange Trading Systems or Schemes (LETS)? A LETS scheme is a local community-based mutual aid networks in which people exchange all kinds of goods and services with one another, without the need for money, through which people swap services within the community on a money-free basis. Learn more here https://www.letslinkuk.net/.

Saturday 2nd May – Thoughts around Corvid-19 and the environment, by Sussex Wildlife Trust President Tony Whitbread – Get the chance to talk to Tony Whitbread, President of Sussex Wildlife Trust! As humans have been forced to make radical lifestyle changes, we have begun to see incredible signs of recovery in the natural world. Tony will be sharing insights into the impacts of coronavirus on local wildlife and ecosystems, how having intact ecosystems reduce our risk of getting zoonotic diseases in the first place, and how the virus might be impacting our attitudes towards nature. This will be a very thoughtful, insightful and relevant discussion and is not to be missed!

Saturday 9th May – The health and economic value of preserving the natural world – We will bring you a special message from Nicola Peel, who is currently in a cloud forest in Ecuador  full of yet to be discovered plant and animals. Plants which will provide cures to diseases, trees which give us oxygen to breath, things we often take for granted. The debate is – do we use such a habitat for gold and copper mining for new phones, or for medicine and oxygen? Also Victoria Wyllie de Echeverria will give an informal talk about the deep connection indigenous people have to nature, their stewardship of the land and water and how they are adapting to climate change.

​Saturday 16th May – Recruiting schools for free solar and cheaper electricity​ – We will be furthering our conversation from 11th April around recruiting schools who would like free solar, to save money on their electricity costs and free environmental education. Shannon from Solar for Schools has been working with Sussex Green Living to recruit a cohort of schools, larger schools/big energy users and small schools who could bring with them grant funding. We are looking for parents, teachers and members for the public who would like to learn more and help recruit schools.

Helen Whittington from the Horsham Quakers closed by saying “It would be amazing to continue to see familiar faces as well as meet some new ones, don’t forget to bring a cuppa and a piece of cake to your computer or phone screen. We look forward to seeing you at the Horsham Climate Cafe”.If anyone has any suggestions, questions or talk requests, or you would like to give an information talk yourself, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on .