Globalnet21

Black Lives Still Matter

In this Podcast we talk to Delia Mattis about racism in the UK and how she attempts to combat it in her own locality in Enfield North London.

Delia is a leading member in her locality of Black Lives Matters which became a global movement after the death of George Floyd at the hands of US police, and which took place on May 25, 2020.

Through her activities in Black Lives Matters and her engagement in local politics Delia has been involved in a number of local campaigns as well as having a national profile

LocalMotion - A New Approach To Place Based Funding

In this Podcast we talk to Kathleen Kelley about her work in LocalMotion “to support local people to address social, environmental and economic priorities selected and driven locally and derive as much learning as possible from that process”.

The circumstances facing communities and charities across the country are increasingly difficult. The long-term and continuing squeeze on funding to local government and for local services against a backdrop of long-established regional differences, has left charities – themselves resource constrained – increasingly having to pick up the pieces.

Kathleen Kelley is now working with a number of independent funders who have been investing and supporting charities to survive and adapt for a number of years but they know that there is more they should do to support and boost the potential of people and communities, and crucially to do so through a place-based approach.

Kathleen through her work is keen to understand how to be more effective collectively in supporting issues facing communities across the UK and how this might change practice

Kathleen has led the development of the National Lottery Community Fund’s partnership funding approach, establishing strategic partnerships across the charitable, public, private and funder sectors. More recently she was Assistant Director of Communities and Social Policy at Greater London Authority implementing the Mayor’s strategies on Social Integration and Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion. Previously she worked at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for 10 years

Cornwall County Council & The Doughnut Economics Wheel

In this Podcast we discuss with Alex Rainbow of Cornwall County Council how they are adopting the “doughnut economics” model of Kate Raworth to create a sustainable county that can deliver services within the planetary constraints of sustainability.

Cornwall Council has identified the ‘Doughnut economics’ model as a useful framework to pursue the goal of meeting people’s needs within environmental limits, and has developed a decision-making wheel based upon the model which it is using to assess the impact of specific policy decisions or interventions.

The hope is that with this model Cornwall can develop a higher-level assessment of the current state of social and ecological conditions across Cornwall to inform progress towards agreed strategic priorities.

This requires the identification of appropriate indicators of progress across all of Cornwall’s service delivery and the metrics of this will form part of the discussion in this webinar

This is a model that is increasingly being adopted across the globe and Amsterdam and Brussels are two Cities working with Doughnut economic.

Engaging Citizens To Make A Difference

n this webinar we interview Emmanuel Gotora the Lead Organiser of The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO), the founding Chapter of Citizens UK.

We will discuss what is Citizen UK and what it hopes to achieve and how it hopes to do it.

Citizens UK is a people power alliance of diverse local communities working together for the common good

Community Organising is a method of social change with a rich history in the US Civil Rights movement and a 30-year track record here in the UK. Their approach is to use Community Organising to build diverse alliances of local communities, capable of making change on a range of issues for the long-term.

Theur projects, grown out of the many successful campaigns our members have created, help underrepresented groups, like low-paid workers, refugees and new parents win justice, settle into our communities and achieve change.

Before joining the staff team at Citizens UK in 2008, Emmanuel was a TELCO Leader on the Living Wage campaign through the Wood Green New Testament Church of God. Emmanuel worked with cleaners, staff and students at the University of London to win the Living Wage for over 150 cleaning staff in 2010. In the lead up to the 2010 General Elections, Emmanuel worked with 10 Pentecostal churches across London Citizens to form the Black Clergy Caucus.

EnCaf Youth Interviews Alan Whitehead MP

In this webinar Alan whitehead MP the Shadow Minister (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) will be interviews by the young people of EnCaf Youth.

 

They will be discussing climate change, tackling waste and the future of energy. They discuss issues around climate change, the green new deal, incineration, community energy and more

Blood Of The Amazon - An Interview With Nicola Peel

In this Podcast we interview Nicola Peel about her work and campaign in the Amazon rain forests.

The Rainforests in the Amazon are one of the lungs of our planet absorbing carbon dioxide and helping us to combat climate change but they are under threat. But they are not just under threat because of deforestation. They are also threatened by oil spills. Nicola tells us,

'Where I work in the Amazon it is like heaven and hell. I can lie in my hammock and look one way at mango, avocado, coconut, sapote and it's paradise; look the other and it's huge gas flares and the oil industry. I've seen rivers running black with oil spills, kids covered in skin lesions and lots of sick people. When most people think about the Amazon they think of the deforestation but know nothing of the oil spills.”

In this podcast we will ask Nicola to tell her story and what lay behind her making of the film “Blood Of The Amazon.” 

Nicola Peel, environmentalist and film-maker, has spent the last five years in Ecuador working on rainwater catchment systems for families whose groundwater is contaminated from the oil industry; while at the same time filming the unfolding ecocide for her latest documentary, Blood of the Amazon.

Enfield Youth Talks To The Youth of Dubai

In this Podcast young people from the Enfield Climate Action Forum (EnCaf Youth) discuss with Lara Rudar form Dubai in the UAE the difference young people can make to tackling the climate crisis.

Lara Rudar is a 17 year old filmmaker, photographer and VR artist. She was also the official UAE Ambassador for Nature and Education Coordinator at the Re-Earth Initiative - a youth-led climate change organisation.

Lara was also selected by the Oxford Climate Society for the Hilary 2021 Cohort of School of Climate Change and joined 330 delegates representing over 140 countries for a Mock COP26 which helped produce a treaty for urgent climate action

At only 17 Lara is passionate about climate change as it will have devastating impacts in the Middle East.

Members of EnCaf Youth are also equally passionate about climate change and are developing ways to involve Enfield Schools in addressing this issue for young people.

So a cross border discussions like this is really exciting and illustrates that this problem is global and we must all work together.

A New School Based On A Community Of Equals

In this Podcast we interview Lucy Stephens who was tired of ‘shoehorning’ pupils through tests. Her new school has no Sats, no behaviour policy – and an idea for a novel funding system

The New School, based in Croydon, south London, opened its doors in September. It has no Sats and no behaviour policy, and operates on a “democratic” decision-making model for pupils and staff. It can escape statutory testing because it is a private school – but one with no fees. It is funded by philanthropic company donations – £1m of seed funding this year – although Stephens hopes to move to a completely different funding model involving her local authority, believing she can offer a social partnership approach which could be copied by other schools that want to innovate.

The main aim is to create a mini democracy. Many schools have become focused on maintaining a hierarchy to control children’s behaviour, rather than listening to them or building meaningful relationships with them, she says. “We live in a democracy, but we don’t practise that model in schools. And then we expect young people to come out aged 18 and operate democratically in society.” The idea is for “self-determination within a community of equals”.

Going Beyond The Conventional Local Climate Action Plan.

In recent months local authorities across the UK have been queuing up to declare a climate emergency but in the rush not to be left out have they really thought through what this means? They may have set net zero targets for the years ahead but have they gone beyond that or have the relied with on a conventional approach that is often consultant rather than community led.?

In this Podcast we will look at how some local authorities globally have gone beyond the conventional and have set up a process and outcome that is truly inclusive and comprehensive.

We will particularly look at two major initiatives that does this. One will be the development of local green new deals (GND) local GND hubs and GND Town Hall meetings.The second will, be those local authorities that have taken up the “doughnut economic model” to both pursue and also measure sustainability in localities.

These are exciting and organic developments that ensures that tackling climate change and sustainability locally is an ongoing process.

We will discover that these are initiatives that truly involve the local community from the start and right through the process. They are based on the principle that we are all in this together.

The Battle Against Incineration - David verses Goliath

In this Podcast members of EnCaf Youth (Enfield Climate Action Forum)  interview Georgia Elliott-Smith.

Georgia Elliott-Smith, a sustainability consultant who is fighting the expansion of the Edmonton incinerator, is seeking a judicial review of the omission of what legal papers say are “staggering” levels of CO2 emissions from waste incinerators. She is now waiting the decision of the Court.

Georgia has been a very brave person and this has been a David against Goliath story but thus far Georgia has been successful and has gained immense support from both citizens and professionals

In the UK, around 60% of our household waste ends up being burned in incinerators – even though most of it could be recycled if there were stricter government regulation. You know why there’s not? Because it’s cheaper to burn it.

Members of EnCaf Youth (sixth formers from Enfield schools) will question Georgia about her opposition to the Incinerator and why she felt it necessary to take legal action