Resilient Communities: Empowering Local Initiatives

This session (part of a mini-series on Resilient Communities) will spotlight several community-led initiatives transforming local societies from the ground up. We will be joined by Quaker speakers involved in Transition Towns and community energy projects.

In this inspiring session, we’ll explore how these examples can offer us a sense of agency and support our local witness:
• Empowering for individuals and communities alike.
• Countering climate anxiety
• Strengthening local resilience and building local connections
• Breaking down inequalities and giving everyone a voice.
Can we conjure up a vision based on our Quaker testimonies that is so attractive that people may simply want to join? The transition that is needed is a great movement of the spirit. A revelatory space where we can think otherwise to the prevailing culture, and grow together outside the ruling assumptions of neo-liberalism.
• Can our Quaker communities join with this movement to help create a new world?
• Can our meeting houses and Quaker communities become patterns that encourage and inspire those in our local networks to join the movement too?

Guest Speakers:
Gerry Winnall (Exmouth) and Jane Habermehl (Okehampton) from the Transition Towns movement, reshaping local communities toward a greener, fairer, and more resilient future. This grassroots change is practical, achievable, and in our hands!
David Saunders (Bristol) from the Resilience Network, focusing on figuring out ways of how to adapt and ensure our neighbourhoods are great places to live and that they function in a way that supports all the people who live there. Currently developing a community-owned solar scheme aimed at supporting 20,000 homes, starting with a pilot of 100 homes.

This course is part of a series exploring re-visioning, click here to discover other courses in this series.