DO IT ACTIVISM
How to go Carbon Neutral in your Community
“Going Carbon Neutral” campaigns not only push for reduced energy usage and carbon emissions, they also strengthen community. The small town of Ashton Hayes in the UK launched the concept by conducting an audit of the town’s energy use, which helped determine which changes would reduce carbon emissions the most. To change their collective behavior, residents launched campaigns and projects – all with a light, festive, guilt-free approach and without government involvement. Since then, many other towns around the world have launched similar campaigns. Learn how to join them here.
Take action
- Launch your own campaign with Ashton Hayes Going Carbon Neutral’s guide A Practical Toolkit for Communities Aiming for Carbon Neutrality.
- Learn another perspective on launching a campaign with this guide from the Canadian town of Eden Mills, So You Want to Go Carbon Neutral: It Takes a Village.
- Develop a solid energy strategy for your town covering conservation, electricity, heating, and transportation with Local Energy Scotland’s Community-led local energy plan toolkit.
Get inspired
- A participant in Ashton Hayes found that the campaign not only enabled her family to cut their household energy use in half, it also led them to use green construction methods, start a garden, get to know their neighbors better, and participate more in community life. Read about it in The Guardian article My village is going carbon neutral.
- Eden Mills Going Carbon Neutral in Canada focuses on retrofitting buildings, planting trees, and celebrating all behavior shifts, large and small.
Source: Local Futures
Production: Mobilized News
Collaborate without Compromise
Every day, we are reminded of the unlimited power and potential of creativity. With the tools and talents the collective consciousness posses, we can overcome our challenges through solidarity, connection, progress and unity.
Creative thinking is a neccesary tool. It provides us with the ability to rethink, reimagine and restore our coexistence and creat a world where we overcome our differences, seek our similarities, and create the new.
We have the tools and technology that those who came before us couldn’t have imagined. We’ve gone to the moon and back, send remote-controlled rovers to Mars, cured diseases and prevented illnesses to spread. We’ve sent the James Webb telescope one millions miles from Earth to send back high definition images of the early forming Universe.
Since we can do that, imagine what else we can do!
“As men and women, we must proceed as if the limits to our imagination do not exist. We are collaborators in creation.” –Pierre Teilhardt de Chardin.
Solving our ongoing crises while preventing new ones from emerging required collaboration and cooperation, not proprietary thinking. Through open collaboration and cooperation, communities can amplify local voices, promote democratic discourse, call truth to power and so much more.
Mobilized continues to establish a community media commons that unites community initiatives worldwide into a Web of Life for all life. We can and will:
- Shared resources;
- Collectively amplify their impact on local communities, fostering a thriving community media commons;
- Effectively collaborate, share resources, amplify their reach, and collectively serve their communities more effectively;
- Establish effective collaboration among communities;
- Effectively unite their efforts, share resources, amplify their reach, and collectively serve their communities more effectively;
- Technology plays a crucial role in enhancing collaborations among communities;
- Providing tools and platforms that facilitate effective communication, coordination, and resource sharing;
- By leveraging these technological tools and platforms community media organizations can streamline their collaborative efforts, enhance resource sharing, amplify their reach, and create more engaging and impactful content for their communities.
Add your community to the Mobilized News Network
A Collaborative Network
A collaborative network of communities worldwide. This network can facilitate knowledge sharing, resource pooling, and coordinated efforts towards common goals.
Shared Infrastructure
A shared infrastructure such as a centralized hub of decentralized community media center. This can serve as a hub for content distribution, training, and resource sharing among community media initiatives.
Co-create Content and Initiatives
Collaborate on co-creating content, projects, and initiatives that cater to both core and new audiences. This can involve joint storytelling projects, cross-promotion of content, and shared community engagement strategies.
Communication and Coordination Tools
Utilizing communication and project management tools like Trello, Google Drive, and Airtable can enhance coordination and real-time collaboration among community media organizations. These tools enable seamless file sharing, task assignment, and project tracking, ensuring efficient teamwork and avoiding silos.
Conduct Community Needs Assessments
Conduct collaborative community needs assessments to identify new opportunities for collaboration and better understand the needs of the communities served. This can inform the development of relevant and impactful joint initiatives.
Content Verification and Fact-checking
Utilizing content verification and fact-checking tools like Truly Media can ensure the accuracy and credibility of community-generated content, which is crucial for maintaining trust and integrity within the collaborative network.
Data Sharing and Visualization
Platforms like data.world enable secure data sharing, visualization, and collaborative analysis among community media organizations. This can facilitate data-driven storytelling, investigative journalism, and evidence-based decision-making within the collaborative network.
Develop Shared Guidelines and Standards
Develop shared guidelines, standards, and codes of conduct for community media operations within the collaborative network. This can ensure consistency, quality, and ethical practices while respecting the unique identities of individual organizations
Establish Clear Communication and Coordination
Establish clear communication protocols, regular meetings, and coordination mechanisms to ensure effective collaboration and avoid silos. This can involve appointing a dedicated coordinator or utilizing online collaboration tools.
Foster Capacity Building Organize workshops, training programs, and knowledge exchange sessions to enhance the skills and capacities of community media practitioners. This can include technical training, journalism skills, and best practices in community engagement.
Leverage Diverse Expertise and Resources
Leverage the diverse expertise, resources, and strengths of the participating organizations to create synergies and maximize impact This can involve sharing technical expertise, fundraising strategies, or community outreach approaches.
Multimedia and Interactive Storytelling
Adopting multimedia and interactive storytelling formats, such as live-blogging platforms like ScribbleLive, can enhance the quality and engagement of community-generated content. These tools enable the integration of various media formats, fostering more immersive and impactful storytelling experiences.
Promote Collaboration and Networking
Facilitate collaboration and networking opportunities among community media organizations. This can involve joint projects, cross-promotion of content, and sharing of best practices. Regular meetings, conferences, or online forums can foster these connections.
Shared Online Platforms and Repositories
Developing shared online platforms or repositories can streamline content distribution, training resources, and knowledge sharing among community media initiatives.[ These centralized hubs enable easy access to co-created content, educational materials, and best practices, fostering collaboration and capacity building.
Social Media and Digital Outreach
Leveraging social media platforms and digital outreach strategies can amplify the reach and impact of community media initiatives, enabling cross-promotion of content and engagement with wider audiences. Social meddia can also facilitate networking and knowledge exchange within the collaborative network.
