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Central Victoria experienced a warmer, drier July than normal in 2019 (Bureau of Meteorology), consistent with long-term warming trend across the globe. This has raised concerns for many locals on what the future entails and what can be done about it.

A community event coming up in Inglewood on Thurs 8th August called Expand Your Impact – Caring for Climate is aiming to bring people together who care about their community and the environment, to develop and expand solutions to address this.

Facilitated by Bendigo-based Make a Change Australia, this event is part of Ramp Up Resilience: ‘a series of thoughtful programs about climate, how it impacts us and what we’ll do about it

“Now more than ever we need to support and encourage local communities to create their own solutions to climate change challenges such as more extreme weather events, harsher fire seasons, hotter and drier seasons. A community-led approach is critical for long term resilience and viability of solutions” says organiser Karen Corr of Make a Change.

“Bringing different groups and sectors together is also critical, as this is where new ideas and solutions can be created, different and more effective approaches can be discovered, and new partnerships for implementation can be formed.”

Attendees to the upcoming workshop in Inglewood include: school teachers, Landcare groups, health workers, community leaders, people from neighbourhood houses, government agencies, interested individuals who care, and more from across Central Victoria.

People are coming to the day for all different reasons. Some are coming because they have ideas and projects they are forming or already working on, that they want to build upon and grow. Other people are attending because they are interested to hear what others are working on and want to network with like-minded people.

Wendy Murphy, secretary of Inglewood Tourism Development Group, is attending because she is concerned about the impact of longer periods of hot weather on the local economy, and her group wants to do something about it.

“Local businesses are seeing a reduced number of travellers stopping on hot days. Our group is looking to green the main street of Inglewood so it can be cooler and more enticing for travellers to stop and shop in our town.”

Other examples include a farmer who wants to establish a local compost service and an educator who is working with students to create their own environmental projects for their school.

Cr Colleen Condliffe, Loddon Shire, is looking forward to tuning into the enthusiasm of the day and seeing what projects can be created. “We need to seriously look at our environment, what’s happening and how we can address it, and we need to do this in ways that suits our own towns.”

“These days are quite inspiring, they give you the drive to do more and achieve a lot.”

People of all ages and skill levels are welcome to attend Expand Your Impact – Caring for Climate, 10am – 4pm Thursday 8th August. Registrations are still open, however there are only a few places left. Bookings can be made via: bit.ly/expand-impact or by calling Karen Corr on 0419 006 243

For media inquiries, images and interviews contact Karen Corr on: 0419 006 243 or [email protected]

MORE INFORMATION

This event is part of Ramp Up Resilience, an initiative being delivered in Campaspe, Loddon and Bendigo Shires from April to October 2019.

Ramp Up Resilience is a series of thoughtful programs about climate, how it impacts us and what we’ll do about it. Find out more.

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For enquiries contact: Karen Corr at [email protected] or 0419 006 243
For more information about Make a Change Australia, visit www.makeachange.org.au